Highlights:
– One of the most underrated parks!
– Thermal features
– Easy volcano hikes (including to the bottom of an extinct volcano cone)
– View of the destruction from wildfires
We added Lassen National Park to our itinerary at the very last minute on our way to Redwood National Park from Crater Lake National Park, and I am so glad we did. What a cool park!! Lassen is definitely a lesser known park, but it was one of our favorite parks. The campgrounds were closed for the winter (car/van camping in certain parking lots was still allowed), but we were glad to see that Lassen National Forest abuts the park to the north. We easily found a place to set up camp in the forest and spent the next day exploring the park. NOTE: once it begins to snow in northern California, it may not be possible to drive through the park, so keep an eye on snow conditions if you visit in later autumn. We were there at the beginning of November and there was no snow (but this is not guaranteed).
The two best hikes we did in Lassen National Park were the Cinder Cone (with a view of the Painted Dunes) and Lassen Volcano. The Cinder Cone hike is any easy hike (6.4 km out and back) that you can do in a few hours from Butte Lake. We left early in the morning to catch the sunrise and were completely alone on the way up. The path is mostly volcanic ash and flat for the first half before going up the extinct cone of a small volcano. The view from the top is stunning, with a view of the rest of the park and, most notably, the painted dunes below. These smooth dunes with colorful rocks lie at the base of the volcano and hikers have a great view from above here. At sunrise, the light on the dunes was a bit harsh, so I might try a sunset hike instead. Another great bonus from this hike is that the trail actually continues down into the volcano, if you ever felt the urge to climb inside a volcano!!
Lassen Volcano is another great day hike option is the Lassen Peak trail (8 km out and back). This trail starts in the parking lot at the base of the Lassen Volcano and climbs nearly 600 m to the top of the volcano. While this hike is straight up and down, the switchbacks ensure that the grade is never too steep to handle. There were lots of older hikers enjoying the sunny, warm weather! The view from the top of this volcano (at 3,187 m) is unbelievable. You really get a sense of the Pacific ring of fire by seeing the different volcanoes in the distance and a view of the destruction from the Dixie Fire of 2021 (which destroyed nearly 390,000 hectares of forest, including forest in Lassen National Park). Best of all, there are funny golden mantled ground squirrels that will greet you at the top of the volcano (and try to get snacks, which you should avoid giving them!).
Finally, if you are done with hiking, there are plenty of thermal features throughout the heart of the park with board walks for visitors to get up close and personal with. The vents and bubbling mud pools were reminiscent of Yellowstone, but without the crowd! Finally, an extra note: bear spray is prohibited in this park (we asked a ranger why, and she wasn’t able to give us a good answer), so don’t carry it around. There are no grizzly bears, only black bears, here so the danger is much lower than elsewhere