On our second day at Lassen Volcanic National Park we visited the southern entrance, checking out the stinky bubbling mud of the Sulphur Works and spending the night at the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center.
After spending the morning climbing the Cinder Cone on the north side of the park, we had no choice but to drive the long way around to reach the southern entrance, as Highway 89 was closed in multiple places on Lassen Peak due to Winter storm damage. We learned yesterday, at the Loomis Museum, that even the campground on the southern end remained closed. We were seriously bummed out, until they mentioned that only self-contained camping vehicles were allowed to camp directly in the parking lot at the visitor center. Since we sleep in the back of our “camperized” Rav4, this was perfect for us. Yay! We had a legal (and free!) place to stay.
So on we drove. It took hours to get there, and when we finally approached the park in the afternoon, we were greeted with a torrential downpour, plus a bit of hail! All those clouds we’d seen building over Lassen Peak from the east side must’ve drifted west as they grew taller and taller. Now it was payback time. I drove with the wipers running full blast, and the sound of the hail was impressive on the roof and windshield. But it helped to be driving directly through the storm, so it didn’t last all that long.
As we drove higher, one of the displays at a roadside pullout told us about Brokeoff Mountain, which was a Composite Volcano. Yes, it turned out that the entire top and side of the volcano had literally broken off! And/or it eroded away over time. This was the fourth type of volcano within the park. But I have to admit that it didn’t look anything like one. The entire valley where the visitor center is used to be deep inside the volcano.
We drove a bit further and stopped at the visitor center. It was late enough in the day that we wanted to get in there before it closed. It was one of the nice new visitor centers that the park service has been building lately, and it had plenty of informative displays inside. We take photos of them (if there aren’t too many) and read them when we get home. We also noticed that the place wasn’t very crowded at all. The road closure and campground closures really put a damper on visitors this year. We saw that they had a cafeteria, so we decided to splurge and eat our dinner right then and there. Nothing fancy, but it seemed better than cooking food out in the main parking lot where we would be spending the night.
After that, it was time to explore as much of the park as we could. In fact, the only real attraction on this side of the mountain that was open was the Sulphur Works. So we drove a short distance up the hill and parked. The road was closed right there, and we soon discovered why: The raging snowmelt had undermined part of the main highway directly at the Sulphur Works. They were only allowing pedestrians on the road. This sounded like a great excuse to take a hike, so off we went.
In the humid, post-storm air, the hot water was producing plenty of steam. Sadly, technology hasn’t improved to the point where I can reproduce the smell of rotten eggs for the viewers of this page, but rest assured that it was present. That yellow dirt was yellow thanks to the presence of lots of sulphur (modern American chemists prefer Sulfur as the proper spelling, but Lassen is an old park, so Sulphur it is). In fact, we learned that this section of the park was part of the now-exposed hot inner core of Brokeoff Mountain! Yes, where we were standing was once deep within the heart of a volcano. And it was still quite energetic, as the boiling pool of water attested.
After walking up the road a bit, we turned around and headed back to the car. The next nearest point of interest was several miles uphill, and Vicki gave that a firm NO. So we drove back to the Visitor Center parking lot. The people inside told us that the inner lobby doors would be locked, but the outer ones would remain open, so that we could use the bathrooms, because the ones in the nearby campground were still closed. We also found out the wifi password, so we were able to hang out in the lobby and check our email and the weather on our phones. Very nice! The lobby was also well lit and warm, so it was nice to head there in the middle of the night. Much better than a dark and stinky pit toilet!
The next morning, we woke up and packed everything away. Vicki made a hot breakfast with our camp stove on top of a nearby boulder, and life was good again. We thought about doing a hike up the road this morning, but there wasn’t much enthusiasm from either one of us. After nearly a month on the road, day after day spent camping in the back of the car, we were more than ready to head south to San Diego and sleep in our own comfy bed.
As we drove away, we talked about our trip. We really had a lot of fun in the Oregon Cascades this year. We went early enough to avoid Fire Season, but were almost too early as some places were still closed in mid-June, but all in all, it worked out fine. Naturally, we also thought about future plans. Weren’t there a few more Cascade Volcanos up in Washington that we hadn’t visited? And what about the Washington coastline? The wheels were already spinning in my head. But that trip might have to wait until next year. We already had plans for more camping later on this Summer. Oh, yes. One trip ends and another begins. And that’s the way it should be.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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