Part 1

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ROAD GUIDE TO LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK

by

PAUL E. SCHULZ

Loomis Museum Association

First Edition, 1950 Eighth Edition Revised 1966

Cover Color Photo (Lassen Peak over Manzanita Lake) by R. C. Milne

Printed by Lithography Lassen Litho Susanville, California

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

This booklet describes the more important points along the Lassen Park Road. To get the most enjoyment from this pamphlet make a leisurely trip—drive slowly. Visitors find it most practical to read about the next point of interest before coming to it, often having someone other than the driver read this aloud while traveling.

In the left hand margin of the text is a series of numbers which correspond to numbered markers along the road marking the point of interest. Explanations follow each number in the text. The fume cloud on the roadside markers points in the direction of the feature. If you are entering via Manzanita Lake Entrance Station, start from the last of this book, and read the numbers in descending sequence.

The mileage shown in parentheses in the center line of the pages indicates the distance between successive points driving either way.

ALWAYS PARK OFF THE PAVEMENT AN AUTO ACCIDENT WILL SPOIL YOUR TRIP

Published in cooperation with the National Park Service Copyright 1950, 1962 by the Loomis Museum Association

INTRODUCTION

Lassen Volcanic National Park was established by act of Congress in 1916 from lands of the Lassen National Forest and the small Lassen Peak and Cinder Cone National Monuments formerly under the Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. The park area now measures approximately 10 by 17 miles, embracing about 165 square miles.

The Lassen Park Road is a link in State Route No. 89. It runs through Lassen Volcanic National Park, half circling the east side of Lassen Peak. This road was built by the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior to make accessible by car some of the finest scenery in the park. The road is not designed for high speed. The slower you drive the more you will see. Like you, others are sight seeing, so drive carefully and observe the warning signs at all times. Remember: an accident may ruin your vacation, your car, and even your life. Maximum speed is 45 miles per hour, but in many places this is excessive.

While using this guide you will want to stop many times. Be sure to park OFF THE PAVEMENT to prevent accidents. In the spring when heavy snowdrifts line the road, it will not be practical to stop in certain areas, nor will it be possible to see some of the things described in this publication.

Other books dealing in greater detail with the interpretation of the natural and human history of the area may be purchased in the Visitor Center at Manzanita Lake.

A MAP OF THE PARK WILL BE FOUND ON PAGES 18 and 19

1 THE RAKER MEMORIAL was sponsored by the California State Chamber of Commerce in 1931 in honor of Congressman John E. Raker who was Representative of the State for 15 years. It was he who introduced the successful bill to Congress recommending the establishment of Lassen Volcanic National Park. The bill was signed by Pres. Wilson on August 9, 1916. John Raker died in 1926. Appropriately, this is also the boundary between the National Park and Lassen National Forest. Although the National Park Service and the National Forest Service differ in conservation policies, they cooperate very closely on mutual matters, such as forest fire and forest pest control.

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2 THE BROKEOFF MOUNTAIN TRAIL starts here on the uphill side of the road. It is a 3.5 mile hike to the summit at 9,235 feet. The elevation here at the road is 6,640 feet.

The common shrub-like trees along the first part of the trail are the mountain alder and willow. (see sketch). In the fall the willow leaves turn bright yellow. Both species lose their leaves in winter.

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3 THE NEW SOUTHWEST ENTRANCE STATION was completed in the summer of 1966. Entry permits, which are required during the summer season, are sold here.

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4 THE VISITOR USE BUILDING was also completed in the summer of 1966. It is designed primarily for winter use with the ski slopes nearby. Lunches, souvenirs and information may be obtained here in the summer season also.

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5 SULPHUR WORKS is the most easily accessible hydrothermal area in the Park. It is probably part of the central vent system of ancient Mt. Tehama which is described at No. 7. A short paved trail leads to the sputtering hot springs, steaming fumeroles and hot bubbling mud pots. For your own safety be sure to stay on the trails in any of the thermal areas. Slippery clay and thin crusty coverings could lead to a dunking in scalding hot water and mud. Most water in the thermal areas of the Park contain sulphurous or sulphuric acid, so avoid getting it on your clothes. The odor is mainly that of hydrogen sulphide. Much of the white clay is tinted yellow, tan or pink by mineral impurities, chiefly iron oxides.

The name Sulphur Works was first used in 1865 when efforts were made by T. M. Boarman and Dr. M. Supan to develop the sulphur and clay potentialities of the area. This land was filed upon originally as a mining claim but was actively used only for the tourist trade beginning about 1940. Some of the non-acidic thermal water was used for hot baths. The property was acquired by the Federal Government in 1951 and added to the National Park to be used as a natural thermal area exhibit.

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In early summer the flowers along the road for the next mile or two, are spectacular. Yellow balsam root (with arrowhead-shaped leaves), mules ears (with similar blossoms), and blue stickseed, which looks like forgetmenot, are the most showy. In late summer tall stalks of false hellebore and yellow senecio are common.

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6 ELEVATION 7,000 FEET. Just ahead is a magnificent specimen of western white pine. Being one of the white pine group, it has five needles in a bundle. Its cone is about ⅓ the size of its near relative of lower (Transition Life Zone) elevations, the sugar pine. Its limbs grow far down on the trunk because they get plenty of light for the manufacture of food. Shading in dense forests causes a sloughing off of lower limbs, resulting in natural pruning.

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7 BROKEOFF MOUNTAIN, the second highest peak in the park. The volcanic lava and ash layers are abruptly broken off on the north side, hence the name “Brokeoff”. This mountain is a flank remnant of ancestral Mount Tehama which once towered more than 1,000 feet higher than Lassen Peak. Tehama was a composite, or strato-type volcano like Mt. Shasta. It was destroyed by a series of cracks, called faults, which cut Tehama into huge blocks. These sunk, causing collapse of the great mountain. Mt. Conard to the southeast, and the ridge between Brokeoff and Lassen Peak, are also remnants of the Tehama rim, all dipping away from the center of the old volcano.

On the southeast horizon are the Sierra Nevada, with Childs Meadow closer in. To the north is the ragged top of Diamond Peak with a natural window through the rocks on the upper right near the skyline.

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8 DIAMOND POINT, on the southeast flank of Diamond Peak. This rock is volcanic agglomerate, a mass of volcanic ejecta which became stuck together by small amounts of still molten lava. Nearby is one of the volcanic vents of ancestral Mt. Tehama. The material on top of Diamond Peak is explosive debris slightly consolidated by the cementing action of volcanic ash and is called tuff. It has weathered into very rough and rugged forms.

There is an excellent view of Mt. Conard.

Mill Creek Canyon below has been glaciated; Childs Meadow is visible at the mouth of the canyon.

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9 LASSEN PEAK SIGN. This is one of the best views of the south side of Lassen Peak. To the left of it is sharp Eagle Peak and rounded Ski Heil. To the right, across the canyon at eye level, the red coloring is due to iron oxides, and the yellow-green is due to millions of lichen plants on the rocks. Across the roadway at the roadbank is cool drinking and car radiator water. Watch for autos when crossing the highway!

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10 THE SLOPING LAYERS OF LAVA AND ASH across the canyon to the east were part of ancestral Mt. Tehama. Just to the right are highly colored rocks that were once grey andesite lavas, but they have been chemically altered by steam and sulphurous acid from below. The white areas are largely clay with some non-precious opal. The tans, red, and purple are stains of iron oxides. Volcanic fumes reach the surface abundantly in this area, rising along fault cracks. Deep in the canyon below lies picturesque little Ink Lake.

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11 THE HUGE BOULDERS on the west (uphill) side of the road are chunks of cemented volcanic fragments which have rolled down from the top of Diamond Peak.

Lassen Peak is visible to the north (up canyon) from this vicinity, picturesquely framed by roadside trees.

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12 Rugged DIAMOND PEAK below, nearly encircled by Lassen Park Road, was named for the occurrence of occasional small, double-ended quartz crystals and diamond-shaped calcite crystals. These were deposited by hot volcanic waters that seeped through its already hardened lavas after volcanic eruptions had ceased. The mountain is the tough lava feeder, or core, of prehistoric Mount Tehama. Diamond Peak has resisted the sinking and weathering which reduced its surroundings.

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13 HEAD OF LITTLE HOT SPRINGS VALLEY. The “U”-shape cross section of the canyon indicates glacial widening in contrast to the “V”-shape found in non-glaciated stream cut canyons. There is another hot spring area above, near the base of Pilot Pinnacle.

THE SIERRA NEVADA BUMPASS MT. MT. CONARD DIAMOND PEAK LITTLE HOT SPRING VALLEY

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14 EMERALD POINT: A few yards away is the best view of the southwestern portion of the park. Left to right is Mt. Conard, Little Hot Springs Valley, Diamond Peak, Brokeoff Mtn., Mt. Diller, Pilot Pinnacle, Ski Heil, Eagle Peak, and Lassen Peak.

In his book “The Mountains of California”, John Muir wrote of the lovely mountain hemlocks. “Some of the finest groves I have yet found are on the south slopes of Lassen’s Butte.”

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15 EMERALD LAKE, of glacial origin, was named for its beautiful green color. Fishing is not allowed in this lake, and since it is planted with fish, large Rainbow Trout can be seen close to shore. Please do not spoil the beauty of this spot by littering the lake or the shore with tin cans and other refuse.

This point is just over 8,000 feet elevation, in the Hudsonian Life Zone. Here the mountain hemlock trees, with their graceful nodding tops, and the noisy grey, black, and white jay known as the Clark’s nutcracker, are most conspicuous and typical forms of life.

The smooth slopes on Ski Heil Peak behind Emerald Lake are unexcelled for skiing.

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16 GLACIAL ERRATIC. This great isolated lava boulder, perched on the outside edge of the road just south of the Bumpass Hell parking area, was carried by a glacier from the southeast base of Lassen Peak and deposited here when the ice river melted. The rock on which it lies has a scratched, grooved, and highly polished surface. This is the work of rocks frozen into the base of the thick glacier, which moved over this area and into the valley below during the Ice Age. There are few places where such evidence of volcanic heat and glacial ice is found. Please park at No. 17 if you wish to walk to the Glacial Erratic.

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17 BUMPASS HELL PARKING AREA. The Bumpass Hell self-guiding nature trail, with explanatory leaflets provided enroute, is a 1.1 mile walk to the edge of the hot spring basin. This is Lassen’s most spectacular and diversified hydrothermal area. The walk through it involves another mile. In midsummer wildflowers are excellent along the trail: bog kalmia and Brewer mountainheath (low pink flowering shrubs), coast erysimum (orange), Newberry penstemon (red), and silverleaf lupine are the most conspicuous. Pinemat manzanita (white), rabbitbrush (yellow), and chinquapin (cream-colored) are dwarf shrubs which are also common.

You can hike through Bumpass Hell and continue via Cold Boiling Lake to Kings Creek Campground. It is an easy walk of 4 miles, most of which is downhill.

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18 LAKE HELEN is a deep, blue, glacial lake at 8,164 feet elevation. It is frozen over for 7 or 8 months a year, and is very cold even in summer being 39 degrees at depth. Lake Helen is exceptional among Lassen’s lakes in that fish plantings here have been unsuccessful ... perhaps because of a lack of native food.

This body of water was named by Major Pierson B. Reading for Mrs. Helen Tanner Brodt who ascended Lassen Peak with him in 1864, the first woman known to have made the climb.

Lassen Peak is across the lake to the northwest. The cliffs represent portions of the original plug of stiff, pasty dacite lava which was forced up rapidly as a unit through the crust of the earth. Along the right shoulder of Lassen the trail zig-zags up the mountain.

On the side of the road away from the lake is a large andesite lava outcrop of vertical plates, or slabs. Known as jointing, this has been caused by strains set up in the cooling lava mass after it hardened. This helps to wear away mountains because water seeps into these cracks and wedges them apart when it freezes and expands.

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19 LAKE HELEN PICNIC AREA. In 1933 a bronze plaque was placed here by Ethel Brodt Wilson and her children through the sponsorship of the Shasta Historical Society. It reads: “Lake Helen, elevation 8,164 feet. Named for Helen Tanner Brodt by Major Pierson B. Reading in honor of her being the first white woman to see the lake and to make the ascent of Lassen Peak August 28, 1864....”

Just south is the snow-measuring course, identified by yellow and red markers in the hemlock trees and a tall iron pipe.

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20 The Park Service WINTER CONTROL CABIN is a hundred yards east (uphill) of the road. It is used by Park Rangers on ski patrols and on the monthly winter snow-measuring trips. The latter are conducted in cooperation with the State of California Snow Survey. The depth of snow pack and the amount of water it contains determines the schedule of commercial water-use activities in the valley for the following summer. Snow packs of 20 feet representing a snowfall of over 50 feet, are common in this area.

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21 Scenic view of LAKE HELEN and the western half of the REMNANTS OF COLLAPSED MT. TEHAMA. This ancestral mountain, a composite or strato-type volcano, was destroyed during the Ice Age in much the same manner as Mt. Mazama, which collapsed to form 2,000 foot deep Crater Lake. Brokeoff Mt., Mt. Diller, and Pilot Pinnacle to the south and west are remnants of Mt. Tehama.

In the roadcut to the east of rounded markings are “inclusions” of an early stage of hardening of the crust of this dacite lava which was later shattered, and engulfed, and partly remelted when the molten rock from below forced its way upward.

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BROKEOFF MT. MT. TEHAMA MT. DILLER PILOT PINNACLE SKI HEIL PEAK EAGLE PEAK LAKE HELEN

22 LASSEN PEAK TRAIL SIGN. On the southeast side of the road is the Peak Parking Area, and on the northwest side starts the trail up Lassen Peak. The Peak Trail is a well-graded climb of about 2,000 feet: from 8,500 feet to 10,457 feet in 2½ miles of hiking. It takes most persons about 4 hours for the round trip, though some take an hour more, and a few an hour less. For a pleasant hike:

1. Wear low heeled, sturdy shoes. 2. Hike at a moderate pace, taking short, frequent rests and enjoy the ever-changing view. 3. Take a lunch along. 4. You can eat snow for water, but do so slowly, otherwise it may make you ill. 5. Dark glasses, sunburn lotion, and a hat are advisable. 6. Do not start later than 2 hours before sunset, or when storms or fog threaten. 7. DO NOT TAKE SHORT-CUTS ACROSS THE TRAIL. It is against Park Regulations and is inadvisable because: a. It is dangerous: sprained or broken ankles and arms may result. b. Unavoidable dislodging of rocks is dangerous to hikers below. c. It costs money to rebuild the trail which short-cutting ruins.

On the rise to the left of the trail, the parallel markings in the rock is known as flow banding and takes place when the lava is still moving but cooling rapidly. Directly above this banding, on top of the rock formation, is glacial polish, which indicates that the lava cooled long before the Ice Age.

In climbing the Peak, the trail leaves the Hudsonian Life Zone with mountain hemlocks and white-bark pine, and at timber line it enters the Arctic-Alpine Life Zone.

From near the register box atop Lassen Peak, Mt. Shasta is to the northwest, 75 miles away, looming up 14,161 feet. To the north, are Chaos Crags, the Devastated Area, Prospect Peak, Cinder Cone, and Butte Lake. Mt. Harkness, Warner Valley, and the mountains of Nevada are to the east, with Dyer Peak and Lake Almanor in the distance and Kings Creek Meadow nearby. To the southeast are the High Sierra including Pyramid Peak in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe.

To the west is the rough black dacite lava of 1915 which filled and obliterated Lassen’s 1914 Crater. This lava also spilled through the northeast notch, causing the Great Mudflow of May 19, 1915. Just beyond the 1915 lava is the 1915-1916 crater formed by the great explosive eruption of May 22, 1915. It now contains a tiny lake, sapphire blue when not frozen over. The notch on Lassen’s western skyline, just beyond, is the 1917 crater. There are active steam vents in the west and north portions of this basin, but the steam does not always condense well enough to be seen easily. There are yellow deposits of sulphur on the north wall of 1915-1916 crater.

On the west side of the crater basin, the 1915-1916 and the 1917 craters can be seen, and also the Brokeoff-Lassen Ridge to the south, glaciated Blue Lake Canyon to the southwest, Loomis Peak and the Sacramento Valley to the west, with the Coast Range Mountains beyond. The highest Coast Ranges to the northwest are the Trinity Alps. Nearby is Manzanita Lake area with Chaos Jumbles and Chaos Crags to the right (north).

Lassen Peak was named after Peter Lassen, a pioneer of Danish birth who is reported to have used the mountain as a landmark. Lassen blazed a round-about emigrant trail from Black Rock (Nevada), east and south of the present park area, to his Deer Creek Rancho “Bosquejo” in the Sacramento Valley.

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23 SUMMIT SIGN, HIGHEST POINT on the road: 8,512 feet above sea level.

For about a mile either way along the road in spring and early summer cross country skiing is normally good. Snow generally closes the road for the winter in November and plows cut through the winter pack anywhere from the end of May to early July.

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24 In addition to the mountain hemlocks, here also are the gnarled, multiple-trunked WHITE BARK PINES. This is one of the few places in California where this fascinating and photogenic tree can be reached by road. The snow banks seen on the rocky slopes across the ravine frequently last through the whole summer.

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25 LAKE ALMANOR AND MT. HARKNESS VIEW SIGN. Warner Valley has been modified by a glacier 1,000 feet thick. Lake Almanor and Mountain Meadow Reservoir, both outside the park, are artificial lakes, part of the Caribou Power System of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Peter Lassen’s emigrant trail from Black Rock, Nevada, ran from north to south through the Lake Almanor basin (Big Meadow) before turning west again.

Highway No. 36 runs between the Cascade Range on the north and the Sierra Nevada on the south.

NEVADA MT. MEADOW RESERVOIR LAKE ALMANOR MT. HARKNESS DYER MT. SADDLE MT. READING PEAK KELLY MT. RED MT. WARNER VALLEY

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26 FISSURES may be seen in rocks 100 yards from the road and also near the road between here and stake 27. These cracks, sometimes quite large, are typical of weak zones in volcanic areas.

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27 TRAIL SIGN on the down-hill side of the road indicates the start of the trail to Terrace Lake (0.5 mile); Shadow Lake (0.8 mile); and Cliff Lake (1.5 miles). You can also reach the park road again at Summit Lake about (4.0 miles) or at Hat Lake about (3.5 miles).

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28 8,000-FOOT ELEVATION MARKER. From here Prospect Peak is visible. Like Mt. Harkness, it is a small but good example of shield volcano. On top of it is a small cinder cone which destroys the low shield-shape cross-section (indicated by the dotted line) characteristic of that type of volcano. At the right base of Prospect Peak is Hat Mountain, and behind it, at its right base, remarkable Cinder Cone in the northeast corner of the park.

HAT MT. CINDER CONE PROSPECT PEAK

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29 A fine view of UPPER KINGS CREEK MEADOW. This may well have been a lake once, filled in by glacial and stream-borne materials. The level meadow floor caused Kings Creek to move slowly and to wander about “aimlessly” in a pattern called a “meander” by geologists. Where it leaves the flat meadow the stream takes on direction and speed, thus resuming a relatively straight, swift course. As the meadow builds up higher, becoming drier, the encroaching forest will eventually engulf it.

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