Hot or Not?

We had a beautiful clear sunny day to explore Lassen Volcanic National Park, home to the 4 different types of volcanoes (cinder cone, shield, composite and lava dome for all you budding volcanologists) which is a rarity. I love that this park is also far from the maddening crowds – hardly a fellow hiker or scenic drive driver in sight!

We stayed at the Manzanita Lake Campground in the Northwest corner of the park and had a nice little campsite. Our drive from the Redwoods took a little longer than anticipated with traffic backups so we arrived around 4:30 pm, enough time to get a view of Manzanita Lake and check out the Loomis Museum which has Benjamin Loomis’ 6 photos he took of Lassen Peak erupting in June of 1915 on display. Lassen Peak (the largest lava dome on Earth) actively erupted between 1914-1917 the largest and most destructive being on May 22, 1915 (the first volcano to erupt in America in the 20th century).

We took the RV a few miles down the Lassen Volcanic Scenic Highway and stopped at the interpretive trail at Devastated Area though it seems to have recovered remarkably.

I overheard a park ranger tell a visitor that it was OK to harvest some pine cones so we gathered a couple for future Christmas decorations.

Lassen Peak in the background with a huge pumice boulder that traveled 3 miles from its peak when it exploded in 1915.

That evening we also drove to the King’s Creek Falls trailhead which lead us on a beautiful trail through King’s Creek Meadows and forests before dropping steeply down to the cascades and falls. I made a new goal with my husband on that hike – I’d like to see all the waterfalls in America.

The cascades were lovely and for awhile we thought that they were the falls until we saw a trail sign that suggested they were even further down the trail.

Definitely a gorgeous falls and the return trip was stunning in the golden sunset.

We slept well and arose the next morning to finish the 30-mile scenic byway. I didn’t think it was possible but it got even more beautiful as we wound our way higher and more south. Unfortunately the Bumpass Hell Trail (I didn’t name it) was under construction so we didn’t get to go down to the large and active hydrothermal basin.

We stopped at the Lassen Peak trailhead and watched some ambitious climbers gear up to reach the top via a steep trail.

We did pause at Lake Helen and Emerald Lake to enjoy the view and snap some pics before pulling into the parking area for the odorous Sulphur Works.

Sulphur Works was a colorful area of fumeroles and boiling, steaming mud-pots. The hillside was smoldering and the landscape unique.

The Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center in the southeastern section of the park had a nice interactive display along with a good park video. My husband and I had fun seeing who could make a bigger wave on the seismograph.