Lassen Volcanic National Park

As part of Henry's mission to visit every National Park in America, we set off to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park in California. Heading south on scenic Highway 89 we stopped on the way at McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. We couldn't miss visiting another waterfall, they seem to be everywhere in this region!

After driving miles and miles on roads lined with Ponderosa, Lodgepole, Sugar, Gray and Western White Pines and the occasional domineering Douglas Fir, we crossed the gorgeous bright green Lake Britton bridge and turned off onto a shady tree lined lane, arriving at the State Park nice and early.

The park itself is geologically located in the Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau region of Sisikyou County, created by volcanic activity that you can see in the black and basalt peaks, and gradual erosion from the weather, especially seasonal ice melts, and many rivers. The park's centerpiece is the 129-foot Burney Falls, which is not the highest or largest waterfall in the state, but is certainly the most dramatic that we have seen so far on our travels. The water originates from underground springs emerging to create Burney Creek and then flowing at the rate of 100 million gallons a day over the falls and then in to Lake Britton.

It was a warm day and butterflies were everywhere. We walked the short hike from the car park to the impressive falls. The falling water cooled the air and we could feel the spray on our faces when the gentle breeze blew it in our direction. If we'd have had more time we would have stayed all day exploring the trails, but this was just a quick stop on the way to Lassen.

After driving another hour or so through more idyllic California meadows and pine forests we finally turned into Lassen Volcanic National Park and immediately stopped for a lovely lunch of sandwiches and crisps on the banks of Manzanita Lake. Cheese and Branston, thanks for asking.

We then continued on to explore the park with a loose plan to hike Bumpass Hell, the heaving, panting and bubbling geothermal area, most popular with day visitors. Circling around the ice topped Lassen Peak at a lofty 10,456 feet tall, we stopped at rivers, meadows and the trailhead for a good look at the impressive peak itself. We stopped at some bubbling mineral-rich mud pots and steaming features beneath Brokeoff Mountain. Henry had never seen anything like it. The underground, active volcanic activity creating an environment where the earth was literally letting off steam. 

At the Visitor Center they were preparing for the Annular Solar Eclipse that would be visible at the park on September 14th. We picked up some postcards for my Dad, a metallic staff medallion for Kim's new walking stick and of course the cancellation stamps for our National Park Passport books.

We stopped to marvel at the mountain lakes that were impossibly clear and seemed to be absorbing the light into their deep blue/green water. Summit Lake, Emerald Lake and then finally parking up at Lake Helen. After admiring the lakes we set off to find the trailhead for Bumpass Hell.  

Just visiting a place called Bumpass Hell was exciting! We wondered what to expect! It sounded like a place where Gordon Ramsay would hang out and angrily cook wild beasts with his bare hands on an open fire, shouting obscenities to anyone who happened to walk by. In fact it turned out to be an area of surreal geothermal features brought to the surface from the park's deep volcanic roots. Lassen is the only National park with all four types of volcano; plug dome, composite, cinder cone and shield and the superheated molten rock just below the surface was evident at Bumpass Hell. It was a seething, steaming, hissing hydrothermal landscape full of hot springs, fumaroles and even more boiling mud pots. The colors were stunning.