California has a park with bubbling mud and zero crowds — and it rivals Yellowstone

It’s Yellowstone’s wilder cousin

Lassen Volcanic National Park sits at the southern end of the Cascade Range in northeastern California, and fewer than 500,000 people visit each year. That’s a fraction of what the big-name parks pull in.

The place covers about 106,000 acres of volcanic terrain, alpine lakes, dense forest and hydrothermal features, and it’s one of the few spots on Earth where you can see all four types of volcanoes in one park.

The remote location keeps the crowds thin, but what’s inside rivals anything in the West.

Three million years of eruptions built this place

The volcanic history here goes back roughly three million years.

An ancient stratovolcano called Mount Tehama once stood about 1,000 feet taller than Lassen Peak before it collapsed and wore away. Lassen Peak grew on Tehama’s remains about 27,000 years ago as a plug dome volcano.

Between 1914 and 1917, it erupted in a series of blasts. The biggest one, on May 22, 1915, sent ash hundreds of miles east.

No Cascade volcano erupted again until Mount St. Helens blew in 1980. President Woodrow Wilson signed the park into existence on Aug. 9, 1916.

43 switchbacks to the top of a dormant volcano

Lassen Peak stands at 10,457 feet, the largest plug dome volcano in the world.

The trail to the top starts at 8,500 feet along the park highway and climbs nearly 2,000 feet over 43 switchbacks across five miles round trip. Plan four to five hours.

From the summit, you can see Mount Shasta, the Devastated Area below, and the volcanic crater itself. A faint whiff of hydrogen sulfide near the top reminds you this volcano is dormant, not dead.

A man lost his leg in these boiling mud pots

Bumpass Hell covers 16 acres of boiling springs, mud pots, steam vents and fumaroles.

It got its name from Kendall Vanhook Bumpass, an explorer who stepped through thin crust over a boiling mud pot in the 1860s and scalded his leg so badly it had to come off.

You reach it on a three-mile round trip rated easy to moderate, with a boardwalk through the basin. Big Boiler, the largest fumarole here, has hit 322 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heavy snowpack keeps the area closed until early July most years.

Pull over and smell the rotten eggs

Sulphur Works sits right along the main park highway near the southwest entrance, and scientists think it marks the volcanic center of ancient Mount Tehama. You don’t need to hike at all.

A short paved walkway takes you past bubbling mud pots and hissing steam vents.

The smell of hydrogen sulfide hits you before you even park the car, like someone cracked a thousand rotten eggs at once.

For anyone who can’t do the longer trails, this is where the park’s underground heat shows its hand.

Climb a cinder cone and look down on painted dunes

Cinder Cone rises 700 feet in the park’s remote northeast corner near Butte Lake.

The four-mile round trip starts through ponderosa pine forest, crosses the Fantastic Lava Beds, then hits the base of the cone. The final push is steep and loose, every step sliding back on volcanic cinder.

But from the summit crater, you look down on the Painted Dunes, a spread of orange, red and gray pumice fields formed when volcanic ash landed on lava flows that were still hot. Far fewer people make it out here than the western side.

Over 200 lakes hide in this volcanic landscape

Snowmelt and underground springs feed more than 200 lakes and ponds across the park. Manzanita Lake, near the northwest entrance, reflects Lassen Peak and Chaos Crags on calm days like a mirror.

A flat 1.5-mile loop circles the shore, easy enough for families.

Lake Helen sits along the park highway at the base of Lassen Peak, a glacially carved pool over 100 feet deep with sapphire-blue water.

Summit Lake, deeper in the park, gives you a quiet place to swim, have lunch and watch for wildlife.

Wildflowers and waterfalls along the meadow trails

Mill Creek Falls drops 75 feet, the tallest waterfall in the park. You reach it on a 3.8-mile round trip from the Southwest campground.

Kings Creek Falls plunges about 50 feet into a shady canyon on a 2.4-mile round trip that winds through a green meadow. Both hikes are moderate and good for families.

In July, bright yellow mule’s ears line the Mill Creek trail.

The 2021 Dixie Fire touched parts of these areas, but new growth already pushes up through the forest floor.

The park’s quiet side has its own boiling lake

Warner Valley sits in the southern part of the park, and most visitors never make it down here. Devils Kitchen, the second-largest hydrothermal area in Lassen, waits at the end of a 4.2-mile round trip.

Boiling Springs Lake steams along its shore with mud pots and vents, reachable on a three-mile trail. Terminal Geyser sounds dramatic, but it’s actually a big steam vent sitting in the middle of a creek.

You get the same geothermal action as Bumpass Hell with a fraction of the foot traffic.

Black bears, muskrats and some of California’s darkest skies

The park sits where the Cascade Range, the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin meet, which creates a wide mix of habitats. Black bears, mule deer, muskrats, beavers and over 200 bird species live here.

Manzanita Lake is especially good for spotting ducks, geese, woodpeckers and deer along the trail. After dark, the park’s distance from any city makes it one of the best places in California to see stars.

The National Park Service runs astronomy programs on summer nights.

The Dixie Fire burned 69 percent of the park

In 2021, the Dixie Fire, California’s largest single fire, tore through about 69 percent of Lassen. The main draws, Bumpass Hell, Lassen Peak and Manzanita Lake, all stayed open and accessible.

You’ll see burned hillsides and charred trees in many areas, but patches of green are already coming back. Fire is part of how this ecosystem works.

Lodgepole pines actually need fire’s heat to release their seeds.

The park road itself served as a firebreak during the blaze, protecting features along the highway corridor.

30 miles of volcanic highway and every major stop along it

The main park road, a stretch of Highway 89, runs roughly 30 miles through Lassen and belongs to the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

It climbs to about 8,500 feet at its highest point and passes Sulphur Works, Lake Helen, the Bumpass Hell trailhead, the Devastated Area and Manzanita Lake.

If you’re short on time, the drive with a few quick stops takes about four hours.

Snow closes the road in late October or November, and it doesn’t reopen until late spring or early summer, depending on the snowpack.

Visit Lassen Volcanic National Park in California

You can reach the park in about an hour driving east from Redding, Calif. The nearest airports sit in Redding, Sacramento and Reno, Nev. The park stays open year-round, but the main highway and most trails only run from roughly June through October.

In winter, you can snowshoe and cross-country ski near the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center at the southwest entrance. The center opened in 2008, and its name comes from the Mountain Maidu phrase for “snow mountain.”

Check the official website for current hours, road conditions and entrance fees before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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