| So we were away bright and early for the trip through Lassen
Volcanic National Park. This has a single road through of about 33 miles in
a roughly north/south direction. |  |
 | This was another
active volcano which erupted 33 times between 1914 and 1923. It is still
considered a likely candidate for future activity. This area is known as
Chaos Crags and is very rocky. The trees are still quite stunted and
slow-growing here because of the low rainfall, whereas at Mt St Helens, with
its much greater rainfall, the speed of recovery has been much greater. They have been trying to recover the land
here for 300 years. This
area was devastated by a mud slide explosion (like Mt St Helens) and all the
debris was carried down on a cushion of air at over 100mph. |
| One knows that volcanoes throw out ash but we should not forget
that they throw out rocks. This one weighs 33 tons and is six miles from the
crater. It was red hot when it landed.. |  |
 | This is Lassen
Peak (10,457 feet). In many ways it looks like Mt Shasta. That's because
they are both volcanoes. The
original volcano here was Mt Tehama, the remains of which are now called Brokeoff Mountain. Altogether seven peaks form part of the original volcano
with an original crater size some 11 miles in diameter and a much greater
peak height than any that remain. |
| Some way along we reached Hat Lake which was the very attractive
remnant of what was once a much larger lake, but which has now been almost
filled by volcanic debris. It is the source of the Hat Creek which is the
valley we had come up. |  |
 | Just a little
waterfall but with the 8700ft Reading peak in the distance. The water was
ever so clear. |
| One of the features you sometimes get near these volcanoes is a
quite fertile area of soil which has become a meadow. Here we have Kings
Meadow with Lassen Peak in the background. There were lots of walking trails
around including one up to the peak. We declined. |  |
 | Passing through
the park the road rises to 8500ft at which point you are almost looking over
many of the peaks. The views are spectacular but don't photograph well. You
are also well above the snow line. This is the end of July! |
| As you leave the top you pass the very attractive Lake Helen. At
8000ft I imagine this is a pretty cold lake! perhaps that explains the ice
blue colour. |  |
 | Sometimes at a
distance it is difficult to tell the difference between ash and snow. This
is definitely ash and the trees have been steadily trying to stabilise the
surface but it is hard work. |
| Almost at the south end of the park are the Sulphur Works. This
is a geothermally active area thought to be the remains of the original Mt
Tecuma vent. It was worked for sulphur in the late 1800s/early 1900s but not
any more. It is still active though, fuming and bubbling away madly. The
activity varies from year to year depending upon how wet it is. |  |
 | So we left Lassen
and headed south for Nevada and Reno. Now the landscape became really flat
with signs of true desert. Even the sagebrush is absent. And the outside
temperature went up well over 100°F |
| Still heading south we still had some climbing to do because Reno
is quite high up. The mountains have changed though, we have left the
Cascades behind and now have the Sierra Nevada. |  |
|