Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
Lassen Volcanic National Park
We visited Lassen Volcanic Park in north-central California because we'd never been to a place with so much volcanic activity. There are a few "hot springs" in Saratoga, NY, in our home state, but nothing that compares to the other-worldly look of parts of Lassen. We drove past the Sulphur Works but didn't stop; we wanted to take the hike in to "Bumpass Hell," so-named because Mr. Kendall Vanhook Bumpass, a hunter and mountain man, suffered a severe burn when he accidentally stepped on the thin crust over the geothermal feature in the 1860's. Flowing away from some of the boiling springs in this area (which are fed by fresh-water mountain streams flowing into the area) are streams filled with sulfur which turn the underlying rock black. The sign
at the boiling pool says: "Small wonder Bumpass Hell is called a hydrothermal (water/heat) area. At this elevation (7800') water boils at 193�F and steam is often several degrees hotter since it is heated under great pressure." The park guidebook says that rainwater trickles down through the earth and is heated by the underlying magma which then forces steam up through the vents that are located in Bumpass Hell and other locations in Lassen park. Lake Manzanita in the northwest part of the park was formed when an ancient avalanche dammed a creek. Now it's a popular place for fishing and other summer activities. Manzanitas are common shrubs/small trees with distinctive reddish bark whose fruits are tiny and apple-shaped (manzanita=little apple in Spanish).