Lassen National Volcanic Park, California

Some pictures of the park: Lassen Volcanic Park

We visited one of the most gorgeous parks of California in July 2011 - Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is a US National Park in northeastern California, around 150 miles from Sacramento, on the way to Redding.
The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak; the largest plug dome volcano in the world.

We stayed in a small town called Susanville which is 50-60 miles from the park. There are not many hotels available near the hotel and they get booked pretty fast. My favorite spot in the park was the Cinder Cone which is a 700-foot-high volcanic cone. Now dormant, the cone was formed in two eruptions of ash and volcanic cinders in the 1650s. The cone was built to a height of 800 feet above the surrounding area and spread ash over 30 square miles around it. The Cinder Cone Trail is a worthy hike at Lassen. The trail is 4 miles long and starts from the Butte Lake

Campground located at the far northeast corner of the park. To get there we had to drive out of the park and back in on a dirt road. The first 2 miles of the hike are flat, going through forest area but the last half mile includes a fairly steep 800 feet ascension of the cone itself. The cone is made of pure gravel and this makes it hard to climb it - one step forward followed by two involuntary steps backward. But seeing the bare volcanic landscape is worth the effort. Taking a wooden stick for support on the trail is a good idea. Painted dunes can be seen from the top of the cone. The beautiful colors are formed by oxidation of the cinder rocks and ash that fell from volcanic eruptions. Round trip to and from the cone takes around 3-4 hours.

Drive to the Manzanita lake from this end of the park is around 60 miles. It is a beautiful drive. Manzanita Lake is located close to the northwest entrance of the park.

Next is the Bumpass Hell trail, which is the largest area containing geothermal features in Lassen Park. It is a 3-mile round trip and has steaming fumaroles and mudpots. The active area can be seen from some distance away. We could not hike this trail since it was closed due to snow. We could walk through the snow on the roads as the roads were closed for traffic. It was pristine - thick pure white snow on the huge mountains all around. Bumpass hell is a shorter version of the Yellowstone volcanic park.

Another side, Sulphur Works is one of the sites of Lassen which is right next to the main road through the park. To get there one needs to park the car and walk for a very short distance.

We also walked to the Kings Creek falls which was beautiful. It is an easy trail.

Two-night stay is good for venturing Lassen park, without climbing the 5-mile strenous Lassen Peak which I guess takes 3-4 hours. One of the most amazing parks in the US - I loved Lassen Park.

Here are some pictures of the park: Lassen Volcanic Park