The spectacular Mill Creek Water Fall.
The National Park Service as done a great job of making Mt. Lassen a very family friendly destination. From the visitors center, informative signs, bathroom facilities to the museum, Lassen Volcanic National Park offers much for folks driving through the area. But spectacular as it is, Mt. Lassen is not Disneyland. Young children and older adults will quickly grow tired, and cranky, on many of the hikes.
Hiking trail central
Lassen is probably one of the best places in California if you really want a good work out of a hike. Even the shortest hikes, like down to Bumpass Hell, have significant elevation changes. Some of the most spectacular features of the park can only be visited with hardy a hike down steep inclines, rough paths or both.
Although, Lassen offers one of the few hikes that will take you to the top of a volcano within a couple of hours. Unfortunately for us, on our recent visit, the trail to the top of Mt. Lassen was closed so we were stopped at the Grand Overview point. The upside for serious hikers is that the congested trails quickly thin out once folks realize how strenuous the trek can be and drop off.
High altitude training
A great example is the hike to Ridge Lake. This short one mile hike gains 1,000′ in elevation. Upon
“Where did I put my watch.” You’ll come back for it tomorrow.
reaching the top you are greeted with a shallow warm mountain lake in a perfectly quiet environment. My son went for a swim once we reached the top. The next morning he realized that he left his expensive GPS running watch on the shore of the lake. His training run was to hike up as fast as he could to retrieve his watch. He reported making the mile in 27 minutes!
While he was doing high altitude training, we took the hike to see Mill Creek Falls. There is something about seeing the headwaters for creeks and rivers and at the same time gazing out to the valley they eventually empty into that gives you a particular perspective on the enormity of the volcano.
Some one told me to go here
The Bumpass Hell hike is fun with lots of different panoramic views. Look closely at the geologic process going on with the steam vents, boiling water and mud pots. The sticky bluish clay like substance that was a burden to early Comstock miners in Nevada turned out to be sulphates of silver. Most of the gold and silver in the Comstock was due to ancient volcanic steam vents that brought the gold and silver into ore bodies under pressure and heat.
Outdoor classroom
In short, Mt. Lassen is not only an education of the events of the past but also the discoveries of the future. We have all seen some geologic anomaly, like the chalk lens in the road cut on Hiway 299, and ask, “How did that get there?” Lassen Volcanic National Park is showing us the process of how futures soils and landscapes are formed.
