Are you planning a trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park this summer? Read this post before you go.
Make sure that your car is ready for your trip, especially if you are pulling your RV. Read our post, Getting The Car Ready For A Road Trip, to see the checklist we use before we hit the road.
Lassen Volcanic National Park was the 9th stop of our 14 National Parks road trip. We knew we were close when we looked out the car window and saw this landscape.
When we arrived at the campground we would be staying in for two nights, we thought we were led to the wrong campsite when we saw this huge, paved luxury site. Turned out we did reserve the premium KOA site. We found that out when we looked at our receipt and saw the huge price tag. We still don't know how we managed to screw up this reservation but we made sure we sat outside A LOT and got our money's worth :)
The following day was our one day to explore Lassen Volcanic National Park.
There were plenty of interpretive signs throughout the park and we were able to learn a lot about the history of the area. This sign told us about a huge rock avalanche that happened here 150 years ago.
We learned that this enormous rock was named Hot Rock because it stayed hot for weeks after it landed 5 miles away from where it was hurled out of Lassen Peak during an explosion on May 19, 1915.
We learned the story behind the 1915-1916 eruptions of Lassen Peak after reading the interpretive signs along the short 1/2 mile trail at Devastated Area.
Our next stop was Kings Creek Trailhead. All of our stops were off Lassen Volcanic Hwy which was convenient.We went a short way to see Kings Creek but didn't do the 3 mile uphill hike to see the 30 foot Kings Creek Falls. We will put that hike on our list if we ever get back to this park again.
We spotted Lake Helen as we were making our way to our next stop. It looked so beautiful from above that we had to pull off the road for a few minutes to enjoy the view.
The view was equally as beautiful when we got up next to it. We had to take a couple more pictures.
There was a parking spot across the street from the lake. We decided it would be the perfect time and place to have our picnic lunch. The parking spot was also near Bumpass Hell Trail, the next stop on our list.
The Bumpass Hell Trail is rated easy to moderate and is 3 miles round trip.
The trail elevates to more than 400 feet so we enjoyed a gorgeous view as we hiked.
I sent Soko up to stand by this enormous rock that a moving glacier transported to this spot.
There were some narrow parts of this trail and I held my breath until the trail got wider again but overall it was a pretty easy trail.
At the end of the Bumpass Hell Trail is a hydrothermal area. We could smell the sulphur and hear the gurgling of boiling water way before we got there.
Bumpass Hell Trail was named after explorer Kendall Bumpass who filed claim to these boiling springs intending to mine here and turn it into a tourist attraction. That was until his leg ended up in the mud and he was severely injured. We did not go off the path here!
The path was a boardwalk type walkway that took us around this very cool, or actually hot, area.
And then we were out and on the trail back to the car. Although we were on the same trail as we were coming in, it looked completely different going the other way.
It was a short walk from the parking lot to this paved bridge where we got an up close look at a very big and active mudpot and also learned more about them thanks to another interpretive sign.
Our last stop of the day was to the Kohm-Yah-Mah-Nee visitor center where we watched a movie to learn even more about the park.
We didn't know this park existed until we started to plan our 14 national park road trip. We hadn't expected much from it and were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful, interesting and fun it was!
Read about our stop 8 here.
Have you been to Lassen Volcanic National Park? We would love to hear what you thought about your visit!
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