2003/10 Lassen Peak trip - Lassen Peak and Bumpass Hell |
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On Friday morning the weather was perfect and I headed back through the park to the 
trailhead for Lassen Peak. It’s a simple hike, and there were a couple of school parties already setting out as I arrived. But it is a slog, a 2000 foot switchback up to 10500 ft, and the air’s a bit thin. It was also very hot in the sun, up in the 90s again. One of the schoolteachers said it was 106 in Shasta, California the previous day.
Most people just walk to the top of the trail and the snowfields, as the actual summit is a steep heap of shattered boulders that have to be climbed. However, the view is worth the climb, with lava walls on one side, avalanches on the 
other, and ash dunes, trees, lakes, and cinder cones off in the distance. Mount Shasta, another, bigger volcano, sits on the horizon, a hundred miles away.
Below the summit was the volcanic crater, which last erupted back in 1915. It was a jumble of lava cliffs, snowfields, clinker, and giant blobs of lava. Rather like Mt St Helens, but without the risk of poisonous gas and hot spots. I spent a couple of hours climbing around the crater trying to get the pictures I wanted, including this one here of Mt Shasta framed by the two lava pillars in the crater wall.
The hike back down the mountain was not as interesting as the climb, as the fire that started that morning had got a lot larger and filled all the valleys with smoke and haze.
The surrounding area is a lot like Yellowstone but on a smaller scale. The Sulphurworks area has hot springs and fumaroles, as well as hills coloured by sulphur deposits. I also took a long hike to the Bumpass Hell area, named after a Mr Bumpass who
was unlucky enough to find out how thin the crust is, and to lose his leg to scalding in one of the mud pots. Bumpass Hell was bubbling and fuming, just like Yellowstone, except that it was missing the geysers. Luckily it was also missing the traffic and the crowds.