California & Oregon Road Trip Planning - Lassen Volcanic National Park

As I mentioned in one of my previous entries, I plan to share my research about places you might want to visit in preparation for our road trip in Northern California and Oregon. Planning a great trip takes a lot of time, and I hope these posts - this one included - will give you some helpful ideas for your next outdoors trips without taking too much of your time.

There’s no doubt that we'll be visiting Lassen Park as our first stop from the Bay Area. In Lassen Volcanic National Park, visitors get to see sizzling fumaroles, volcanoes (yes, I said volcanoes), charming meadows filled with wildflowers and crystal clear mountain lakes - sounds incredible doesn't it? Lassen Park actually has a lot of lakes, and a variety of campgrounds allow you to stay inside the park. Most incredibly, Lassen Volcanic National Park is the only place on Earth where all four types of volcano can be seen!

photo by Lassen National Park Service

Lassen Park Campgrounds

It seems some of the campgrounds (Manzanita, Summit Lake) are along the main road, and another set of campgrounds (Juniper Lake and Warner Valley) are only accessible from Chester Road rather than from the main park road. Manzanita is probably the most popular campground in the park - it is reasonably big (180 sites), has a camp store and offer some cabins! These extra services, plus a lively area with views of Mt. Lassen from parts of the lake, can make it a busy place. It has sites for RVs too. There are more services at Manzanita with store and boats and lively area with views of Mt Lassen from parts of the lake. 

Compare this to Summit Lake campgrounds, which each has a little less than 50 sites - still popular, but a lot fewer people. It is a pretty location, plenty of trees, with a place to swim off of a nice sandy beach on the north end of the lake and it isn't very busy. It’s actually considered to be remote in comparison to Manzanita Lake. 

Manzanita Lake, photo by Lassen NPS

 If we make it to Chester. . .(which makes the road trip on each end 1.5 hour longer) and to Juniper Lake, we'll get a wonderful mountain lake to swim (with water that's supposed to be crystal clear) and a nice pebbly beach. The lake is shallow for quite some distance before it starts to get deep, so it is not too cold. A short but steep hike above Juniper Lake brings you to Crystal Lake, which is great for swimming as well. Accommodation options near Juniper Lake are Juniper Lake and Warner Valley campgrounds and Drakesbad Guest Ranch which has a hot spring swimming pool to soak in and that's definitely a selling point for us! 

Because of the lack of facilities, small campgrounds and farther driving distance around Juniper Lake and Warner Valley, this area will be a lot quieter with more secluded campgrounds.

Hiking trails:

 The park offers over 150 miles of hiking trails for visitors of levels of ability. After hours of research, here are the trails that I found that would appeal to my kids. I've also included a map of the park with the suggested trails in blue oval.

 

1. Bumpass Hell is a must if you haven't visited the park before.

Start: Bumpass Hell parking lot

Round Trip Distance: 3 miles

Round Trip Time: 2 hours

Terrain: easy 300 foot descent

Elevation: 8000 feet

Bumpass Hell is the largest hydrothermal area in the park, and marks the principal area of up flow of steam and discharge from the Lassen hydrothermal system. The trail is quite easy, though the altitude (8,000 feet) can make the trail seem moderately difficult. Many argue that a trip to Lassen is not complete without a visit to Bumpass Hell, which got its name from Mr. Kendall Bumpass who unfortunately seriously burned his leg when it broke through the thin crust layering the boiling pool.

2. Boiling Springs Lake: This seems like a very interesting trail. It’s an easy gradual trail crosses through meadow and forest and around the 125 degree boiling lake. It also has some of the best mud pots in the park plus numerous trees, wildflowers and bird watching make this a must see!

Boiling Springs Lake, photo by Lassen NPS

3. Devils Kitchen: a moderate two hour round trip hike through the meadow to the head of Warner Valley, along Hot Springs Creek and into the forest to the “kitchen’s” bubbling mud pots, steam vents and boiling springs.

4. Crystal Lake: It’s a short hike from Juniper Lake. It winds through forests where there's a great swimming spot and incredible views. It’s only 0.6 miles, but it’s very steep.

For more information about all trails of the park, click here. 

Since most of these interesting trails are in the south side of the park, I guess we're going to stay at Juniper Lake or Warner Valley campsites though they add 2 to 3 hours to our driving (and we don’t enjoy long car rides that much!). But for the experience of seeing mud pots and boiling, steaming lakes, we are going to make the effort! What’s nice about Warner Valley is that it’s only, first come - first serve which means we don’t need to make a reservation ahead of time. We wish we could have stayed at Drakesbad and enjoy its hydrothermal pool and the convenience of not camping out for just 1 night (that's all we have!) but it's unfortunately booked!

Stargazing at Lassen Volcanic National Park

Half the fun of spending time at Lassen Volcanic National Park is stargazing, something that I had read is often overlooked, even with its amazing, dark, night's sky. Far from the light pollution of civilization, Lassen is one of the last remaining sanctuaries of natural darkness. Lassen's dark skies offer unparalleled views of the celestial wonders and we plan on attending one of the parks ranger led, "Starry Night" programs in the park.

Check back in to find out how our road trip vacation will turn out - I'm sure it's going to be phenomenal! 

Lassen Volcanic National Park, photo by California Travel and Tourism Commission