Picks and Pans – Lassen National Park

While in Lassen, we had the opportunity to walk through the prehistoric equivalent of a subway tunnel, formed by underground lava flow from ancient volcanic activity. The Native American tribes in the region thought the tubes were inhabited by a devil, understandable given that if you walked in without a flashlight you’d be likely to bonk your head or stub your toes multiple times, which could more easily be attributed to a devil than to the uneven surface of hardened lava.

Hot water, a clean shower stall and a minute per quarter is about as good as it gets for showers, unless of course they’re free. These weren’t free, but they were everything else we needed to defunkify.

Mt. Lassen most recently erupted in 1915, shooting enormous chunks of volcanic rock out into the valley below and blanketing much of the surrounding area in a viscous and destructive mixture of mud and lava. The Devastated Area has a self-guided nature trail that explains how the 1915 eruption affected the lives of people living near Mt. Lassen and does a great job pointing out the evidence of the volcano that still covers the valley today, including a huge volcanic rock that landed about a mile from the volcano and was steaming hot for days to weeks after the eruption.

This 3 mile hike was a perfect way to introduce us to the idea that fall really and truly is approaching. We hiked through meadows of golden yellow grass, spotted with grazing deer, and then into the forest along Kings Creek, enjoying the crackle of dry pine needles and leaves beneath our feet. The volcanic rock of the area often creates stairstep-like walls with their perfectly rectangular forms and when Kings Creek runs over this rock it turns from a burbling little creek to a ethereal cascade down the volcanic rock gorge… and all this before we even reached the falls, which were spectacular.

Not surprisingly, given its volcanic nature, Lassen has its fair share of geothermal features. The 3 mile Bumpass Hell hike, which contains many of the geothermal highlights in the park, is named after John Bumpass, the first settler to discover the hot springs and geysers of the Lassen, and who, in the process of trying to develop the area as a tourist spot, fell through the thin crust above a geyser, burned his leg quite badly and subsequently died of gangrene. We had better luck and quite enjoyed the hike.

Surrounded by the towering peaks of Mt. Lassen and Brokeoff Mountain, Lake Helen is a clear alpine lake right across the road from the Bumpass Hell trailhead. We enjoyed a dinner on the lakeshore and watched the moon rise over the park.

Since the hike to the summit of Mt. Lassen was closed due to a deadly rockslide earlier in the summer, we opted to scale one of the other tall peaks in the park, Brokeoff Mountain. The 7 mile  hike (with 2600′ elevation gain) took us through coniferous forest and up above treeline to the peak where we could see what remains of the gigantic caldera rim that includes both Brokeoff Mountain and Mt. Lassen