Day 61: Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

Today we felt like we straddled the boundary between Heaven and Hell. Let me explain…

Our morning hike was the alternative trail to Lassen’s most popular hydrothermal area, called Bumpass Hell. It is so named because its discoverer had the last name Bumpass and while showing off the area, he fell through the fragile ground up to his thigh in boiling mud. His leg had to be amputated, which I assume is where the “hell” part of the name came from. We took the alternative trail that accesses the area from the opposite direction (it is slightly longer and requires hiking more elevation than the main trail) because the easier way is closed until mid-July when the snow melts off the path.

Aside from the hell part in the name, the trail wove through the charred remains of a burned forest. The tree trunks looked like a ghostly skeleton army standing at attention.

We passed a boiling pool ringed by the dead forest and after some uphill hiking (par for course for us at this point) we arrived at an otherworldly landscape that steamed from fumeroles connected by boiling acid lakes and streams that smelled strongly of sulphur. Hell-like, indeed.

Interestingly, our day encompassed equal parts of heaven. To get to Bumpass Hell we walked along sandy paths lined with colourful forest flowers between enormous dark green pines. The forest smelled heavenly of sweet, dry pine. 

We hiked through fields of the most glorious wildflowers. There were bunches of so many different types and colours of flowers swaying in the warm breeze. The air smelled sweet with a hint of herb. We could hear birds chirping and insects buzzing about their business. The sun was warm on our faces. Pretty close to my idea of Heaven.

One of the coolest parts of the hike was that we had the trail all to ourselves. While Bumpass Hell is crowded in the summer, many fewer people trek in along the alternate route so we had the pleasure of experiencing the whole thing completely alone. We didn’t see another group until we were headed back on our return journey. 

Our afternoon was quiet, filled with reading, relaxing, and listening to the Blue Jays game. We did the easy, flat walk around Manzanita Lake right from our campsite and collected some huge pine cones. The boys cooked up campfire corn on the cob and pork ribs for supper. 

Ali found the mother lode of pine cones.

This is our last day here at Lassen. We move along tomorrow - off to see the enormous redwood forest near the coast.