Volcano Tourism 101 (Lassen Volcanic NP)

Thursday, 28 July 2022, Lassen Volcano NP

Let's settle this straightaway: no more angelic photography like yesterday. A Fingers of God photo op does not happen every day - or even every week or every month. But I can still appreciate the diversity that Lassen Volcanic NP can provide.

I arose early, eager to see one of the 13 National Parks I had never visited (especially after seeing two beautiful parks I had barely seen before). We did have a one-hour drive ahead of us, trying to escape Redding's 100°+ heat for the (hopefully) cooler mountains. Remember, we're still dealing with road-work season, so we anticipated another flagman. However, when our stoppage grew to 15 minutes with no cars coming from the other direction, I got out of the car, walked past the dozen autos in front of me, and asked the flagger for the scoop.

"They're putting in a pipe under the road, and since it's around the corner, I can't tell how it's going. They have to close the whole road, work for up to 30 minutes, then put a steel plate over it so traffic can pass." He sized me up, and asked, "You going to Shingletown?"

I told him about Lassen and my parks challenge. He looked impressed, then asked, "You're not going to Yosemite, I hope? Big fires over there."

The fires definitely concerned me. Yosemite came up next on my itinerary, and though firefighters had the Washburn Fire on the run, the new Arch Fire threatened to close the main entrance into the park. But I couldn't worry about it now, and hoped that things would settle down in the next three days. As cars started to appear on the other side, I skedaddled back to await our turn.

By the time we reached the park at 10:30, the temps had soared to the upper 80s. So much for escaping the heat! We stopped at the Visitor Center at Manzanita Lake for the obligatory hiking recommendations, and to settle on a potential 'unique experience' for the park. (My original plan for here had settled on hiking to the active fire lookout tower on Mt. Harkness. Unfortunately, it burned down in the Dixie Fire. How ironic!) In researching the park earlier, I'd noticed that NPS touted this park as hosting examples of each of the four types of volcanoes in the world: Shield, Composite, Plug Dome, and Cinder Cone. By Saturday, we should be able to experience them all!

One other piece of business to address: Due to my late planning, I'd had to reserve a camp site at Butte Lake, in the northeast corner of the park. I now realized that to get there, we'd have to leave the park and drive close to an hour (including the last six miles on a washboarded dirt road) to get to Butte Lake. Once there, it would take another 30 minutes back out to find any food or services.

Over the years, I've encountered few problems so complex that a solution can't be worked out. At Ron's suggestion, we wandered over to the Manzanita Lake Campground and approached the camp host. They explained that they had no authority to exchange the Butte Lake site for a vacant one in their campground, but that we could return to the entrance station and ask the ranger there.

At the entrance station, I explained our issue. "My boss isn't here right now," she apologized, "and I can't access the campground website. But tell the camp host you'll be switching, and write down exactly what you told me on the pay envelope. Don't worry that this campground is $2 more per night."

Back to the host, who gladly gave me a pay envelope. I filled out the envelope and inserted my reservation slip in lieu of a payment. To make sure this scheme would work, I added a handwritten note: "We are changing our reservations from Butte Lake to Manzanita Lake, because we didn't know how far away Butte Lake was. We asked the super-friendly woman at the entrance station, and she gave us permission. We checked with the fantastic campground host, and they welcomed us. You guys are great!" When I read that to the campground host, she laughed. "Really trying to butter us up, eh?"

The host said that we'd likely enjoy it here more - Butte Lake is usually warmer than Manzanita. By the time we'd established camp and started our hike up to Chaos Crags, the time had passed noon, and the thermometer read 91°. Glad we weren't in a warmer place!

From our campground, two trails beckoned. The more strenuous - 2.2 miles each way, with 850' elevation gain - would take us to a view of Chaos Crags. These peaks are examples of plug dome volcanoes, where an influx of viscous lava causes the mountain to slowly, steadily rise. In this case, one of the domes collapsed 340 years ago, sending a landfall of rock and debris across the valley and more than 400' up the side of Table Mountain.

The trail started out with evidence of burning -

the Dixie Fire last year affected the majority of the park (and large parts of it are still closed). Soon we moved into an area with widely-spaced trees and ground covering, with the Crags looming ahead of us.

The grade remained moderate but consistent, joining with the heat to test our resolve. After two miles, we had unobstructed views; another short distance took us above Crag Lake, dry at this time of year.

Time to head back down and recover with ice cream at the camp store. We assembled the tent, and I tossed my sleeping bag inside, along with whatever else I needed. After resting (and writing up my blog notes), we opted for the other featured trail, 1.8 miles around Manzanita Lake. At 4:00, the thermometer read 95° - no wonder so many people flocked to the lake, launching kayaks and the like, or just splashing in the water.

Of course, this trail stayed flat by the lake's edge, weaving along under the cover of trees. The shoreline offered fine views back to the Chaos Crags,

and then to Mt. Lassen - at 10, 547', Lassen ranks as one of the largest plug dome volcanoes on earth. We took our time on the stroll, not wanting to overheat.

I next wandered back to the Visitor Center, where I approached a group of four rangers. "I have a question that will give you your day's amusement."

That got their attention. "Okay, go for it!" one answered.

"I know that often, a park ranger will give an evening or campfire talk on a park subject." They nodded. "So do you ever have a tourist walk up and say they'd like to give a campfire talk?"

One ranger took the lead. "No, can't say I've ever heard of that."

"Well, you have now!" I told them about my challenge, and that I was putting together a 60-ways program to give at random venues. (Well, I planned on doing so, but hadn't started assembling it yet. Maybe this would give me an incentive!)

"Interesting!" said the lead ranger. "Actually, we do get non-rangers to give programs on occasion. However, we have them work out details with our Public Information Officer. For us, that would be Kevin - and he's spending a week down at Yosemite, helping work on the Washburn Fire." He hesitated, then added, "Of course, that's for 'official' programs. Otherwise, you can claim your First Amendment rights and give a program at the amphitheater. If anyone decides to listen to you, they're welcome to do so. But advertising it is up to you."

I had the information I needed, so I thanked them and headed back to camp. We had an easy night to look forward to; I ran my laundry through the machines next to the camp store, then wrote up my notes from our activities - and finally worked on an outline for my 60-ways program. I even had time to read before crawling into my waiting tent.