United States: California: Lassen County: Lassen Volcanic National Park

rspress
Yuba City

Worth visiting!

A review of this place: Most excellent place!

Lassen Volcanic National Park is a place of several kinds of beauty. The beauty of the Sierra Nevada mountains and the beauty of an active volcano.

Lassen is best viewed from then of spring to the beginning of winter. Spring in the Sierra Nevada can be from April till July. Some years the park was still snowed in on the 4th of July but this does not happen often. No you won’t see any vats of lava here….unless there is an eruption! There are plenty of steaming vents and bubbling mud pits. Old landslides and lava beds abound as do beautiful alpine lakes.

Be prepared to do some serious walking and hiking to see all the park has to offer. Stay on the trails! I started a rock slide the narrowly missed several people as the rocks went across the trail that crisscrosses several times. I should have heeded natures call in the ample rest rooms they have at various sites.

This whole area of Northern California is a rock hunters dream. With everything from large chunks of pumice that weight only a few pounds to giant deposits of black obsidian with chunks the size of your head. You can also find many quartz deposits, gold bearing quartz deposits.

Comments:

cartwheeling
San Francisco

correction

Okay, I’m being picky here, but Lassen is actually not in the Sierra Nevada but at the Southern end of the Cascade Range. Very different geology and looks!

rspress
Yuba City

That's True

No problem, you are correct. For those not familiar with the area they would be hard pressed to know when they left the Sierra Nevadas and went into the Cascades. Also most people assume that the cascades means Oregon, which is just not true.

It is still a great place to visit if you have never been there before. As are the Lava Beds National Monument near Tule Lake California.

Thanks for the letter it is nice to know someone actually read the review. ;-)

cartwheeling
San Francisco

On to the Lava Beds!

I see you had your geology straight in your Lava Beds entry! Yes, the Lava Beds are on my list as well, haven’t made it there yet. Nice entry about those! You’re definitely right about it being a forgotten or unknown part of California. Mount Shasta is a beauty too… We’ve been to that area a few times already and still have lots more to see and explore. And it’s quite a contrast when, after a few days of nature, beauty and almost-solitude, you see all those cars snaking back from Lake Tahoe to the Bay Area…

rspress
Yuba City

Really Cool Spot

There is a spot somewhere in the area of the lava beds, within 30 miles I think, where there is a large deposit of black obsidian. When I say large I mean LARGE! Sizes run from arrowhead sized shards to some several feet around. Most are the size of your head or so.

I want to say that it is in the area of Glass Mountain but it has been so long, around 1970 and the road was off the beaten path. I have never seen so much obsidian before or since.

Shasta is very nice. My dad goes to Trinidad California every year for about 2 or 3 weeks during the summer. While it is 105 here he is sitting in the fog at around 60 degrees. I have a friend who used to live in this area but he moved to Gold Beach Oregon several years ago. I can always expect a call from him when the temps get to 105-110 here and he will say the heat wave hit him as well, it got to nearly 76 there.


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