Day Trippin' through Lassen Volcanic National Park - CA

Old Station, CA
Cave Campground, NF 

We were up early on Saturday morning to spend the day in Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It was only a 20 minute drive to the north entrance from our wonderful boondocking spot outside of Old Station.  Since it had been so many years since we were here last, we looked forward to going back.

As expected, it was pretty crowded for a Saturday but this was the only day that we could come.  We went to the museum first, looked around and watched the movie.

Long before 1916 when the park was given its National Park status, it was home to many Native tribes such as the Astugewi, Yani, Yahu & Maidu.  This lesser-visited National Park sits in the NE part of California.  It contains the largest Plug Dome Volcano (Lassen Peak) in the world.  It is also one of the few areas in the world to contain all four types of volcanoes: Plug, Shield, Cinder Cone and Stratovolcano.  The area around the peak is still active with boiling mud pots, fumaroles and hot springs.  Immigrants used the peak as a landmark in their travels westward.  The last eruptions occurred between 1917 through 1921.  

This 300 ton rock was blown 5 miles out of Lassen Peak when it erupted in 1915.  It was said to still be sizzling days later.

That same eruption destroyed a 3 square-mile section now called the Devastated Area.

Above is Crescent Crater.  At the base you can see a patch of forest that escaped the explosion and helps the park managers understand the forest of the past to compare.

The comparison shows how the valley was swept clean of all trees.

I was surprised to see just how much damage the Dixie Fire did to the park in 2021.  It burned 73,240 acres which is 69% of the park! Quite sad.

First we came upon Manzanita Lake.  There is a campground here and picnic area.  The campground here is very popular.  The lakes here tend to be shallow but are so beautiful in color and clarity.

I'm not sure if this is Juniper Lake in the distance or one of the many others. This was zoomed in from one of the viewpoints.

The meadows are still full of run-off and are super green with wildflowers growing all around.

Plenty of snow left.

Mt. Lassen

The road that travels the park north to south tops out at an elevation of 8,511 making it the highest road in the Cascade Range.

This is the beginning of the trail to the top of Lassen Peak. We hiked it with the kids when they were very young.

It is not uncommon for 600 - 700 inches of snow to fall in a year here.  The road usually isn't fully plowed until June/July.

When the temps warm at high elevations carotenoids in the algae can cause it to turn red.  This is sometimes referred to as Blood Snow or Watermelon Snow.

Lake Helen

We pulled out at the Bumpass Hell Trailhead and were very disappointed to see it was closed due to much of the boardwalk being damaged from the winter storms.  Darn.  We were most excited about this hike as you see so much hydrothermal activity.

A precariously perched boulder.

This is 11,500 feet tall Brokeoff  Peak.  It is the remnants of a large composite volcano that erupted over 360,000 years ago.

Mount Lassen in the background.

We thought this was funny.

Another pull out was covered with wildflowers.  All down the meadow.  Just beautiful!

  

Flowers and waterfalls were everywhere.

One of the mudpots.

Boiling Mudpot!

A pretty spot with all the colorful hillsides.  There was a big washout of the road they are repairing  here but you could walk to this part.

Brokeoff Mountain.

More of the fire.

On the way back up we laughed at what looked like half of a face in the rock.

See the eye?

It was a nice leisurely drive.

We stopped at Emerald Lake for lunch and a hike around the lake.  The color was amazing.

More beautiful flowers.

The flowers grew right up the mountain at the far end of the lake.

A little boulder hopping.

The water was very cold but we did see one person swimming.

This is the path of the early pioneers on what they called the Noble Pass.

In some areas the boulder fields are tremendous.

What a great day!  We drove out of the park just down the road a bit to the Cave National Forest Campground.

This campground is popular as the Subway Cave is just across the road.  It is another small sized campground with no utilities except central water, vault toilets and garbage.  $8 with our Sr. Pass.  We found a great spot across from Hat Creek.

We relaxed with our chairs in front of the river.

Tomorrow we'll hike the Subway Cave which is an underground lava tube.