By Melinda Fulmer,
Yosemite may get all the attention, but a road trip to Lassen’s otherworldly landscape offers a hit of jaw-dropping natural beauty – without the crowds.
If Yosemite is the Disneyworld of California’s national parks, Lassen Volcanic National Park is the county fair. But despite hosting just 11% of Yosemite’s annual visitors to its otherworldly landscape, Lassen is no less awe-inspiring, yet its remote location and shorter season all help keep the crowds away.
“People don’t quite know what’s here other than a large volcano,” said Lassen park ranger Shanda Ochs, referring to Lassen Peak, the world’s largest plug dome volcano that famously spewed ash 200 miles across California in 1915 and brought the area to the world’s attention. But once visitors leave, Ochs says they tell her how surprised they were by Lassen’s brilliant blue alpine lakes, dense conifer forests, wildflower meadows and surreal geothermal features such as steaming fumaroles and boiling mudpots heated by magma three miles underground.
Today, Lassen remains an active volcano, but scientists say it’s highly unlikely that it or neighbouring Mount Shasta will erupt in the next 30 years. Instead, its spewing volcanic gasses and belching pools evoke an eerily beautiful Martian-esque world, and a reminder that California remains a rumbling, bubbling volcanic land in the making. As my family and I discovered, Lassen also makes for a spectacular summer road trip – especially when you combine it with a few other natural wonders nearby.
