The Turn East

2018-09-20
Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

Today I started back home. Apparently California wasn't too keen on the idea; when I got up Google told me that the road I was going to take was closed and so I had to go around adding about an hour to my drive. Then there were traffic stoppages where they are cleaning up after the last huge fire. That added another hour or so to the drive as well.

I actually didn't expect to stop at Lassen when I was preparing my trip. There was a huge fire to the east of the park, the biggest in California history. That seemed ominous. However, when I plotted the route from Redwoods National Park to Great Basin National Park, it literally when right past Lassen. On the road you learn not to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I planned to make a day of it.

On the map, Lassen is pretty tiny and I figured it for a one-day park. It's almost two-thirds of the way down the list of most visited parks list but still pulls in half a million people per year. There's nothing wrong with a small park, and by the time I arrived I had maybe six hours of daylight remaining, if I hurried. I now think that Lassen is at least a two-day park. It has a number of very different hikes, and some of them require you to leave the park and come in on a different road which adds travel time. It has a lot of different aspects to it as well; volcanic and waterfalls and forests. If you have extra time, this was a great park.

Of course the main attraction (Bumpass Trail) was closed. They have been replacing the boardwalk, which they've been removing and installing via helicopter. Unfortunately for me there was no construction on the trail that day so I just had to go look at nature. The construction they did have, the curb they were replacing at the visitor center, wasn't nearly as exciting.

On to the visit. I started out at the Sulfur Works where they have boiling mud and great mineral colors. Color is a bit of a theme for me in this park; the sky was very blue, the trees very green, even the dead trees were vibrantly gray. I took a lot of pictures just based on colors today.

I continued driving around, and took a few good pictures from the pullouts. Here's a couple of Lassen Peak from different directions and different water features.

I did a short 3 mile waterfall hike. I thought it would be shadier in the heat of the day. The waterfalls are really nice on this hike though. There's a one-way trail up beside a cascade falls that is as enjoyable as a staircase at 6000 feet can be.

I had decided to do the Cinder Cone hike before I got to the park without understanding that it required a fairly long drive out side the park plus six miles on a terrible dirt road. However, it was on my way to Reno so I justified it that way. This hike is difficult; it starts with a mile in powdered cinder (think sand) with a climb of 200 feet or so, and then up the cone for half a mile and 1000 feet of climb in basically loose gravel. It's the first hike that has beaten me. I made it 1.25 miles out but I had nothing left in the tank to keep climbing. Since there are a lot of excuses to use here I'll let you choose your favorite.

There's something for everyone at this park, even a big lake. This was taken from the boat ramp so if you have a speedboat tucked inside that RV you're all set.

As a special bonus, this picture fulfills the request for a "yoga pose on a mountain." Apparently that's a thing on Facebook or something and one of my loyal readers asked me to do one. I think this meets the spirit of the request without me risking injury.

Hiking distance: 6 miles