Today we are going to tour a more active volcano site. You can see the volcano from miles away. Especially when you are driving on straight roads again.
We arrived at the park with no traffic.
That is, until we got to the entry gate. We waited almost six minutes for the first car to go through the gate. It looked like we were in for a long delay. The second car took almost as long as the first one. Finally, some rangers came out to check entry cards and passes. Some cars were guided around the line to an open gate. Others were directed to the slow line. We were waived through with our senior pass. It appears they were having payment processing issues.
At the museum, they had some photos of the 1915 eruption. The pictures showed a massive eruption. One sign said that if the ash from the volcano was spread evenly over the state of Oregon, they estimated the ash would have been 8 inches deep.
Our tour of the area began outside of the caldera. Our first hike was to Lily Pond. The picture explains the name. It was a short nature trail.
We saw some interesting parts of old dead trees. If you look closely at this dried up trunk you will notice that the interior portion is entirely empty.
Our second hike of the day was a walk around Reflection Lake. At the far end of the lake there is a beautiful view of Mount Lassen, which is over a large active magma field.
This is another view of Reflection Lake from the opposite end.
We next walked around Manzanita Lake. The lake is a weekend retreat for picnicking, swimming, canoeing, paddle boarding, reading by the shore, or just taking a nap. We saw many people on this walk.
When we got past the crowds, the hike changed to a pleasant hike around the lake. Because it was the weekend, we still saw a lot of hikers.
At one point during the hike, we got our best view of Mount Lassen.
We could also see other mountains as we continued our walk.
This was one of the first places that we saw the fields of stones and boulders that are prevalent in the area.
After we finished our hike around Manzanita Lake, we drove to the Devastated Area on the opposite side of Mount Lassen . We got to see first hand some of the power of the 1915 eruption of Mount Lassen. If you look at this side you can see the void created by the eruption.
The Devastated Area Trail has numerous signs describing the events related to the eruption. This picture of a man next to a boulder laying three miles from the site of the eruption seemed implausible for a short while.
Then we found a smaller but still impressive boulder just a short distance from the sign. When you look back at the volcano from here you get a quick sense of the power of a volcano.
The last eruption of Mount Lassen occurred over several days. Three days after the first massive explosion an even larger one followed. It was fortunate that those examining the results of the first explosion came in the morning, because they left the site before the afternoon’s activities.
The picture on this sign is from a photo taken almost 50 miles from Mount Lassen.
Our last hike was a short trek next to King’s Creek. We followed the creek down a nice trail that is no longer maintained on a regular basis. We were glad we chose to hike it anyway because we saw several cascades in our short walk.
From King’s Creek, we drove to Red Bluff Oregon. Lassen Volcano is very remote so it was a long drive. On the way we finally got close enough to determine that the white spot at the top of Lassen is snow pack from the previous winter.
We also drove by Lake Helen. Lakes high in the mountains have a special quality to them.
The other lake we saw was Emerald Lake. The variety of colors in mountain lakes is surprising.
We saw a wide selection of animal and plant life again today. Here is a sample of what we viewed.
Lassen Volcanic National Park is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde place. There is a bounty of beauty sitting on a destructive force that defies comprehension. Walking through such a place makes you think about how fragile life really is. We truly need to have days like today to appreciate all that we have.