Lassen Volcanic National Park

Park Information

• Date Established: August 9, 1916
• Location: Northeastern California
• Area: 106,372 acres

Overview

Lassen Volcanic National Park is among America’s oldest national parks and is home to nearly every type of volcanic activity. The park’s volcanoes have been dormant since an eruption in 1917, but they are thought to be the most likely volcanic site in America to experience a new eruption. The site bubbles with activity from underground lava flows, which create the mud pots, boiling hot pools, and holes that emit plumes of steam and volcanic gas that draw tens of thousands of visitors to the park each year.

These hydrothermal features make the park more dangerous than the average national park. Visitors who have strayed from the marked paths have been burned by boiling hot mud or acidic water resulting from underground volcanic activities. The effects of centuries of volcanic activity can be seen both above and below ground, as visitors can also tour lava tube caves. Lassen Volcanic National Park offers more features than its larger California sister park, Yosemite, but is visited by far fewer people annually.

History

Lassen Volcanic National Park was founded in 1916, right in the midst of significant volcanic activity. It was America’s most recent volcanic eruption until the Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington State in 1980. The park’s volcanic activity began in 1915 and continued into 1917, when the volcano let loose with a final blast before going dormant again.

The twentieth-century eruption was part of a three-million-year cycle of volcanic action in the Lassen area. When the flow began in May 1915, it unleashed avalanches and flooding that washed away a number of homes. The pyroclastic flow—a fast-moving wave of hot gases and ash—decimated the area and left a stark landscape in its wake.

The mountain that was later known as Lassen Peak was first discovered in 1821 by Mexican explorers. It was later renamed after Peter Lassen, a Danish-born explorer, prospector, and pioneer who helped establish several communities in the nearby area. The name was formally adopted on June 2, 1915, just weeks after the volcano had started erupting. On August 9, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that made the area America’s seventeenth national park.

Over the next decade, numerous geologic studies were done of the area. Additional land was added to the park, and the boundaries were adjusted in 1928 and again in 1930. The first entry fees for the park were collected in 1931, and numerous trails were added over the following decade. In the 1970s, the park service worked with the US Geological Survey to add monitoring equipment to detect changes in volcanic activity.

In 2021, the Dixie Fire, a large-scale wildfire, burned large portions of the park. It quickly became the largest wildfire in the park's history. By the time the fire concluded, it had burned more than 73,000 acres, encompassing more than 69 percent of the park's total area. The National Park Service quickly began emergency stabilization of the park's environment, as well as beginning plans for long-term recovery and restoration. These efforts included the removal of downed trees from access roads and remaining infrastructure and the reconstruction of damaged park infrastructure. They also included reforestation and seeding in areas deemed unlikely to naturally recover.

Geology and Ecology

The park is 166 square miles (429 square kilometers) and includes examples of all four types of volcanic activity. The main volcano, Mount Lassen, is a plug dome. The park also has a large barren cinder cone, although few visitors see it because it is in a remote portion of the park. The other two types of volcanoes, composite and shield, are also represented.

This geologically active area is part of a collection of volcanoes that stretch around the earth and are known as the Ring of Fire. It has created a number of hydrothermal features in the park that boast colorful names such as Devil’s Kitchen, Boiling Springs Lake, Chaos Crags, Bumpass Hell, and Sulphur Works. Some of these areas came by their names because of past events.

Many also bear hidden hazards, such as areas that look stable but are in fact just an inch or less of solid ground covering boiling acid hot springs or steaming hot mud. For instance, Bumpass Hell is named after Kendall Bumpass, a cowboy who discovered the area, which now bears his name, around 1864. While walking through the area, Bumpass broke through a thin crust and landed in a boiling hot spring, which seared his leg so badly it needed to be amputated.

Lassen Peak is the largest, at 10,463 feet (3,189 meters) in height. It is a plug dome volcano, formed when lava broke through a crack on the side of another volcano and formed a new volcanic dome. It is one of many geographic features of the park that were created by volcanic activity. Others include Sulphur Works and Devil’s Kitchen, two areas where visitors can see active steam vents and boiling mud pots. Terminal Geyser is a large steam vent in the middle of a creek that spouts water and steam high into the air. Boiling Spring Lake features mud pots and steam vents that bubble and percolate around a lake with temperatures that top 125 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Celsius). Cold Boiling Lake is a body with normal temperature water that bubbles like a glass of seltzer.

Lassen Volcanic National Park also includes Subway Cave, a 20,000-year-old cave system formed when the surface of a layer of hot lava cooled while more lava continued to flow beneath. When the lava flow ended, the area was left with a series of caves that resemble the tubes that subway trains run through.

In addition to the many volcano-created features at the national park, Lassen features several clear water lakes fed by melting glaciers. These include Manzanita Lake, Juniper Lake, Summit Lake, and Butte Lake. Visitors can enjoy water sports such as canoeing and kayaking, paddleboarding, and fishing. Other areas include several natural meadows and forests filled with plants and animals native to the area.

Like many other national parks located far from heavily populated areas, the night sky over Lassen Volcanic National Park benefits from the absence of any nearby large cities. The lack of this light pollution makes conditions at the park favorable for stargazing. The park offers nighttime astronomy programs, but the sights can also be enjoyed from one of the camping areas throughout the park.

Bibliography

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“Hike a Volcanic Landscape at This National Park.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/lassen-volcanic-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Lassen Volcanic.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/lavo/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Lassen Volcanic National Park.” American Southwest, www.americansouthwest.net/california/lassen‗volcanic/national‗park.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

McClure, Rosemary. “Lassen Volcanic National Park Is Unmatched in the Park System.” Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2014, www.latimes.com/travel/california/la-tr-d-lassen-intro1-20140810-story.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

"Post-Fire Recovery." National Park Service, 3 Apr. 2023, www.nps.gov/lavo/learn/management/post‗fire‗recovery.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Principle Types of Volcanos.” US Geological Survey, pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Volcanic Hazards of the Lassen Volcanic National Park Area, California.” US Geological Survey, pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs022-00/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.