Day 35: To Manzanita Campground, Lassen National Park

August 13, 2009

I got up at 7 and on the road at 8:20AM. The temperature got down to 48F overnight.

The road climbs steadily but gently towards 8512-foot Lassen summit. The first roadside attraction is Sulphur Works, 2 miles from the campground. It's basically an area of steam vents with a strong sulfur smell. Very little water, so there are no pools or mudpots.

All the surrounding peaks look very volcanic.

The road was built in the 1920's when cars were not very powerful. So the road is graded very gently. The grade is 5% most of the time and never exceeds 6%. That makes for easy climbing.

The road was built in the 1920's when cars weren't very powerful. The grade is a gentle 5% in most places.

Near the summit I parked the bike at the Bumpass Hell trailhead. It's a popular 1.5 mile trail that goes uphill to the largest thermal area in the park. First the trail passes Lake Helen with a view of Lassen Peak behind the lake. Lake Helen gets more than 50 feet (15m) of snow per year. Snow persists year-round in sheltered areas.

Lassen Peak and Lake Helen from the trail to Bumpass Hell.

Then the trail climbs a hill with an excellent view of the remains of the Brokeoff volcano (Tehama) caldera. This ancient volcano was once much wider and 1000 feet taller than Lassen Peak.

From the Bumpass Hell trail you can see a line of peaks that are a remnant of the immense "Brokeoff volcano" caldera. Indigenous people call it "Mt. Tehama".

At the top of the hill the trail overlooks Bumpass Hell. It's similar to the geyser basins at Yellowstone National Park. Boardwalks allows visitors to safely see the features such as massive steam vents, boiling mud, and hot springs.

Bumpass Hell thermal area from above. Like Yellowstone, but with smaller crowds.

Mineral-laden creek at Bumpass Hell. Boardwalks prevent people from breaking through the crust and getting burned.

This mudpot was boiling vigorously. You DON'T want to fall in!

Bumpass Hell. The red stains are minerals left behind by the hot springs and steam vents.

This steam vent sounded like a jet engine.

After the 2-hour stop I was back on the bike and climbed 400 feet to the road summit, 8512 feet (2580 m) elevation. Wikipedia says it's the highest road in the Cascade Range.

Lassen's last big eruption was 1914-1916. For a long time it was the most recent volcanic eruption in the continental U.S., until Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980.

Just around the bend the road reaches the 8512-foot summit on the east flank of Lassen Peak. It last erupted in 1916.

A couple miles past the summit I stopped at the Kings Creek trailhead. This popular trail descends 1.5 miles along Kings Creek to Kings Creek falls. In the area of the falls the creek drops so steeply it's hard to distinguish the creek from the falls. It's still high in the mountains (above 7000 feet) so the vegetation is lush.

I hiked 1.5 miles down Kings Creek to Kings Creek falls.

Back on the bike I continued the descent towards Manzanita Lake, near the north entrance to the park. The lake is 2700 feet below the summit, so I expected it to be downhill nearly all the way. But there was an unexpected 550-foot climb to get around Chaos Crags. Not a big deal unless you've hiked 6 miles in addition to the day's riding.

I had already descended 1000 feet, but still had great views looking down on Lake Almanor.

Now I'm on the north side of Lassen Peak.

Chaos Crags, a few miles east of Manzanita village.

I was plenty tired when I arrived at the Manzanita Village campground at 4:15 PM (5800 feet elevation). The huge campground was nearly full. There's no hiker/biker area, so I paid for a regular $18 campsite. At least the campground has flush toilets and pay showers near the store. And no mosquitoes. The surrounding forest was recently thinned, opening up the view under the canopy of tall pines.

Today was strenuous, but overall it was a great day. I saw an astonishing variety of scenery - volcanoes, geothermal wonders, waterfalls, meadows, forests, lakes, creeks. The weather was perfect. Mostly sunny with building afternoon clouds and a high of about 75F. Traffic was light because trucks aren't allowed in the park. The locking latch broke on my left rear pannier. Fortunately the pannier stays on reliably even if I fail to engage the latch.

Distance: 30.6 mi (49 km)

Climbing: 2495 ft (755 m)

Average speed: 8.4 mph (13.4 km/h)

Max speed: 37 mph (59 km/h)

Hiking: 6 mi (10 km)

Today's ride: 31 miles (50 km)
Total: 1,493 miles (2,403 km)

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