August 19, 2025

Lassen Volcanic National Park was on my bucket list and Mary Ellen and I found an opportunity to squeak it in. We found it to be an absolute delight.

Lassen is a very small National Park, and we’re told it only gets about a half a million visitors a year. We are here at what I think is the height of season, and there has been no traffic, no crowds, no hustle and bustle. It’s like going to a National Park 50 years ago. It’s delightful.

Having studied geology, I was pretty excited about going to what’s essentially a Geologic National Park. The area was made a National Park after the 1915 eruption that blew up part of the Lassen Peak.

The unfortunate part is that interpretive signs, information, pamphlets have been made up by Western Literature College majors. Science is a four letter word and incomprehensible to the wordsmiths who supply the panphlets

I’ve read that the area is supposed to be unique in the number of different type volcanoes, and is supposed to contain all the types of volcanoes in the Cascade Volcanic Region.

The geology is terrific, unfortunately 50+ years after college graduation, I’m not as sharp as I would like to be. I can see areas where Volcanic Ash was deposited, overlaid by lava flows, (classic composition composite volcano), but little information is available at the location , or in the park to explain what you are seeing. The plug volcanoes can’t be missed because well, they’re plugs. They’re supposed to have some rhyolite volcanoes. I’m familiar with the relatively new Rhyolite volcano in Mono Lake, Lee Vining, California, but I didn’t see one here. Mono lake is on the wannago list for the return to Oklahoma

I really don’t want to complain, but the area is so rich in recent volcanic activity, Native American people being here for millennia, and spectacular volcanic evidence that even even with some background knowledge, I’m shaking my head and thinking to myself what am I missing? I would do the interpertive side much better. The location deserves it. I really wish I had a roadside geology of California book with me, it would make the visit – words escape me

On the upside, this place is a gem. It is absolutely a “Don’t miss” destination. It’s beautiful. There are some really spectacular things to see, and if I had done my homework (shame on me) I would’ve been far more uplifted/happy/educated/satisfied

I did see one of the most spectacular examples of striation from glaciation that I’ve ever seen anywhere, including Yosemite. I have the example in the pictures.

If you ever come to this portion to California, I would highly recommend staying here. There are no cabins, there is nothing that I am aware of in the vicinity to stay at, but it is beautiful, compact, uncrowded, everything a National Park should be.

We have been to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Crater Lake National Park, the Redwoods National Park, since June and this park stands equal to those giants.

Tomorrow we will be back in civilization. Today was a day of beauty, accomplishment, and peace