Lassen Volcanic National Park

We’ve connected really well with some really amazing families in the past couple weeks we’ve been here.  The Rugg’s from England, the Carr’s from North Carolina and the Collins’ who moved here from New York a year ago.  We all decided to go up to Lassen Volcanic National Park.

We made it an all-day event, caravanning from Redding 45 minutes East toward the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  We stopped briefly at a small, stoned-mason building, paid our dues to the park ranger and Yogi Bear, and continued on.  Brilliant, blue high-mountain lakes were off both sides of the road every so often and wonderful views of Lassen Mountain opened above bright green meadows spotted with late summer flowers.  We continued climbing in elevation as we traveled around to the East side of the mountain, where we stopped to have lunch near a lake.

Summit Lake is really amazing -- about 50 acres and about 7’ deep all the way across.  Although it is a high-mountain lake (6695’ elevation) the size and depth of the lake allows the sun to keep the feel of the lake at a perfect swimming temperature – refreshing!

After lunch we packed up and headed further around the mountain, while continuing to make significant elevation gains as we ventured on.  Creeks, meadows, grand vistas… it just kept getting more amazing as we got closer and closer to the mountain.  I had no idea we were going to be up so high!  Finally we crested between a small pass that opened on the main ridge of the mountain at 8,511’.  A bit further we pulled off and parked near a magnificently colored blue lake, with large patches of snow between the road and the lake. 

We set off on the trail to take us to our final destination “Bumpass Hell,” named after some dude that fell into a boiling pit and torched his leg… I’m supposing his name was Bumpass. The mile-and-a-half trail takes you to a “concentration of hydrothermal features,” as the signs say, which means the place looks like the surface of an alien planet and has large cauldrons of boiling goop that reeks to high heaven of egg salad.  All the kids did awesome on the hike, and the main highlight was the snowball fights that ensued at the same stopping point at the half-way mark.

We ended the day gathered around the campfire back at Summit Lake, roasting hotdogs and eating smores.  As darkness fell and the stars shown bright under the clear sky we sang worship songs as Josh lead us with his guitar and head-light illuminating his sheet music.  This seemed the most appropriate way to end the day – giving praise to the Creator who made all of this possible.