Lassen Volcanic National Park |
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Lassen Volcanic National Park located in northern California, preserves a landscape nearly as it existed six hundred years ago, before European-American settlement: The park has beautiful waterfalls, gemlike lakes, painted dunes, and four kinds of old growth forests. But beneath the park's peaceful surface lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past. Mt. Tehama started forming 600,000 years ago and eventually collapsing completely beneath Ice-Age glaciers in the more recent geologic past; Brokeoff Volcano is its most prominent visible remains. Lassen Peak, which developed on the flanks of Mt. Tehama, erupted thousands of years ago and then again in the early 1900s. The park includes all four kinds of volcanoes - shield, cinder cone, strato (composite cone), and dome - and other volcano-related features, including old lava flows, steam vents, mudpots, and hot springs.
A scenic highway provides access to volcanic wonders by car. And there are more than 150 miles of maintained trails, including a trail you can hike to safely enter an extinct volcano. But don't walk around indiscriminately in this park; stay on the trails. Mineral crusts that appear to be solid ground can form over boiling hot mudpots, vents, and springs. The part of the park called the Bumpass Hell geothermal area is named for a man who, years ago, broke through a mineral crust and lost a leg due to the severe burns he sustained. Current Internet Travel Offers for Lassen Volcanic NP...
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