Tame the Volcano

After our super fun kayak tour at Whiskeytown NRA this morning, we drove about an hour east to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Our first stop was the Loomis Museum, which is located near the northwest entrance to the park and by Manzanita Lake. We went through our usual visitor center routine - watch the park movie, work on junior ranger activities, and get the passport stamp.

Just a short distance from Manzanita Lake was the first interpretive stop along the scenic drive through the park. Chaos Crags are the lava domes in the background, while Chaos Jumbles are the rock debris that were brought down from the crags by massive rockslides.

Our next stop was the 0.5-mile Devastated Area Interpretive Trail. Lassen Peak last erupted in May 1915, causing a pyroclastic flow which melted snow as it swept down the northeastern slope and devastated a three square-mile area, hence the name. Nearly 100 years later, as the forest has regrown, the scars caused by the eruption are less obvious.

This red dacite rock was carried here from Lassen Peak
by the avalanche which followed the eruption.
Of course, J couldn't resist climbing on it!

Our last stop for today was Lake Helen, which sits at the base of Lassen Peak. It was named in honor of the first non-Native American woman known to have reached the summit.

Can you see J skipping rocks on the shore?

Close-up of Vulcan's Eye on Lassen Peak

The water was cold!

By the time we were ready to move on, the Kohm Yah-mah-nee visitor center had already closed -- no problem since we still have another whole day here. Just had to get my obligatory sign pic on our way out of the park...

Tonight we are staying at a small motel in Mineral, which is not too far from the southwest entrance to Lassen. While it has a nice sleeping arrangement (see my earlier twin bed comment here), the boys are less than enthusiastic about the lack of television and internet in the room. Oh, such tough first-world problems. But R and I came up with a pretty good entertainment alternative for the evening - we taught them how to play hearts! Shoot the moon!