Welcome to Lassen Park

In May 22, 1915, witnessed a violent eruption of Lassen Volcano in Northern California, the most powerful event in a series of eruptions to occur in the area from 1914-1917, the last last time a volcano has ever erupted in California.

Lassen Peak is the largest of a group of more than 30 volcanic domes erupted over the past 300,000 years in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Every type of active Volcanic and hydrothermal feature is found in the park. Boiling mud pots, steaming ground, roaring fumaroles, and sulfurous gases are linked to active volcanism and are all reminders of the ongoing potential for eruptions in the Lassen area.

The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak; the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southern-most volcano in the Cascade Range. In 1916, the surrounding area was designated a national park. The 1915 eruption devasted a large swath of area and rained volcanic ash for hundreds of miles. It was the last major volcanic event in the western continental U.S. until the 1980 eruption of Mt Saint Helens.

Lassen Volcanic National Park
PO Box 100, Mineral, CA 96063; 530-595-4480;

Campgrounds:
Most campgrounds are only open from June to September

• Butte Lake - 101 sites for tents or RVs - near Old Station
• Crag's Campground - 45 sites for tents or RVs - near Manzanita Lake
• Juniper Lake - 18 sites for tents or RVs plus two large group sites -
• Lost Creek Group Site - 8 Large group sites
• Manzanita Lake - 179 sites for tents or RVs
• Summit Lake North - 46 sites for tents or RVs
• Summit Lake South - 48 sites for tents or RVs
• Warner Valley - 18 sites - tent camping only.

Local Climate:
Weather plays a dramatic role at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Winter, especially, shapes the landscape; snow generally begins to accumulate each year in October, doesn't melt in most places until July, and can remain in isolated areas year round. Summer weather is more predictable, with warm, dry days, blue skies, and cool nights. Visitors to Lassen Volcanic National Park should be prepared for any kind of weather, any time of the year.

Volcanic Features:
All four types of volcanoes found in the entire world are represented in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

• Brokeoff Volcano - composite volcano
• Cinder Cone Peak - cinder cone
• Lassen Peak - plug dome volcano
• Prospect Peak - shield volcano

  Hydrothermal Features:
  The remarkable hydrothermal features in Lassen Volcanic National Park include roaring fumaroles (steam and volcanic-gas vents), thumping mud pots, boiling pools, and steaming ground.

  • Bumpass Hell - 1.5 mile nature trail (elev. 8000 ft / trailhead at Lake Helen) takes you to the best collection of hydrothermic features in Lassen Park -a wide basin filled with various steaming pools and unusual multi-colored soils, stained orange, brown, yellow and green by sulphur and other minerals.
  • Little Hot Springs Valley - rocks have been chemically altered into bright-colored clays by hydrothermic activity.
  • Pilot Pinnacle
  • Suphur Works - rocks have been chemically altered into bright-colored clays by hydrothermic activity.
  • Devils Kitchen - In this geothermal area the hot springs are so acidic that they have eaten pits and holes in the bedrock - 7 miles southeast of Lassen Peak
  • Boiling Springs Lake - 1.5 mile nature trail (elev.5800 ft / trailhead at Warner Valley Campground) - Many steam vents heat this lake to 125 degrees. The nature trail passes thick forests and active mud pots. Popular bird-watching area.
  • Terminal Geyser - not actually a geyser, but rather a cold stream flowing over a steam vent. Southeast of Lassen Peak.
  • Fart Gulch

  

  Hiking Trails:
  There are over 150 miles of wilderness trails in Lassen Volcanic National Park:

  • Cold Boiling Lake Trail - fairly level 1 mile trail crosses meadows and forest
  • Crumbaugh Lake Trail - passes several meadows at the base of Mt Conard.
  • Lassen Peak Trail - Strenuous 5 mile trail to the top of the volcano
  • Manzanita Lake Trail - Easy 1.85 mile circuit of the lake.
  • Mill Creek Falls Trail - secluded 4.5 mile trail to a 75 foot waterfall