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Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeastern California is not one of the grand national parks, but it is a beautiful, unspoiled place to be. Babbling brooks, flower fields, volcanoes.

We stopped over for a picnic in the flower fields which were still quite glorious, even in early October. And there were plenty of other families doing the same thing.

Not unnaturally, Lassen Volcanic Park has volcanoes. The last one went off quite spectacularly in May 1914 and kept going for seven years. I guess if, at picnic time, the grass beneath your ass feels quite warm, you should consider moving to a different spot.

There are plenty of fumaroles and mud pots where the underground activity reveals itself. Most of them can be seen easily in a day.

Bumpass Hell is the place to head for, if you can take the smell of rotten eggs. Bumpass was an early explorer who had an unfortunate but very salutary lesson on the geology of the area.

Walking along the undeveloped trail, he stepped onto a thin crust over a boiling mud pot. Fortunately his other leg was ok. It is quite remarkable to see all the people who know better than the guides, still walking into some of these danger areas.

Don't do it. This is a perfectly safe area, so long as you heed the signs, (and the volcano behaves).

lassen volcanic lake
lassen volcanic national park stream
Lassen Volcanic National Park
flowers lassen
bumpass hell
mud pot lassen volcanic
All images Copyright Avery Little