Lassen National Park Pt 1 - Journey To Bumpass Hell
It took me about 4 years, but I finally made it to Lassen National Park! I always pass by Lassen on my drive up to my annual backpacking trip trailhead, but never took action to find time to swing by this lesser known national park.
Many blogs call it the "Mini Yellowstone" or the "Yellowstone of California", and there's been quite a few people who have said that it is one of their favorite National Parks due to the lesser crowd level and beautiful landscapes. I myself have never been to Yellowstone, so I have nothing to compare it to, haha.
Here's a little bit of information from Wikipedia:
"Lassen Volcanic National Park is an American national park in northeastern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range.[3]" - Wikipedia
Campground: Manzanita Lake
Price: 26/night
Campgrounds are pretty nice and spacious. Some spots may be tighter but overall I find it to be bigger than the ones you'd get from Upper Pines in Yosemite Valley... and the crowd is much quieter.
Day 1
So on this trip, I learned that having a camp canopy is trip-saving. A couple days before the trip, one of my friends tells me that scattered thunderstorms are on the forecast. Well, shit. That would make things pretty difficult, wouldn't it?
I've camped during winter before, and while I find it bearable with the correct rain gear, I vividly remember how cooking in the rain was very miserable.
Luckily, we were able to get ourselves a camp canopy! It made all the difference. About an hour after we arrived, and just about 20 minutes after we had all of our food and gear set up, lightning and rain came in.
It ended up being on and off for a couple hours. Luckily, the rain wasn't too heavy most of the time, and we were able to keep all our food dry (without needing to move everything in and out of the locker) and managed to keep our fire going by shielding it with a small umbrella I had in the trunk of my car. The site next to us who had just arrived an hour earlier ended up packing up their things and left since the rain kept coming in.
Dinner - nothing says summer camping like hot dogs!
Grill pictured: Primus Kamoto Open Fire Pit
It’s a new addition to our camping gear, it doubles as both a foldable fire pit and a grill. It can be used with wood or charcoal.
Another honorable mention — I never leave for camp without my trusty luminoodles! Got my first pack in a Cairn box over 3 years ago, back when I subscribed to their monthly boxes. I bought another set when I went on my trip to Iceland to light up my camervan. It really does add a cozy, warm feeling to camp.
Day 2
Breakfast - Polenta with Leeks
Breakfast to fuel us up for our upcoming hike to Boiling Cold Lake → Crumbaugh Lake → Bumpass Hell
Prior to this trip, I did some research trail popularity and parking lots. I read that the Bumpass Hell parking lot gets crowded and fills up as early as 10am. Since I wanted our group to be able to sleep in, enjoy breakfast, and not feel rushed, I opted to take them on a longer hike that passes a couple lakes before it reaches Bumpass Hell.
Cold Boiling Lake
Cold Boiling Lake is called such due to gas emissions bubbling to the surface of the lake. However, I didn’t walk far out to get a picture of the bubbles. It was getting a bit crowded so we didn’t stay too long.
Once we wrapped around and passed Cold Boiling Lake, it was a steady incline. This particular portion of the hike was beautifully lush, and further up we were able to look down to see the meadow and lake from a bird’s eye view.
We were surrounded by colorful wildflowers. I couldn't help but keep stopping to take more pictures.
Colors everywhere.
CrumBaugh lake. It's been a while since I've been able to see such gorgeous lakes without hoards of people around them. I don’t know why, but I have a soft spot for super green, meadowy lakes.
About a half a mile out from Bumpass Hell we began to smell the sulfur in the air. Mm, reminds me of hot springs baths I visited in Beitou, Taiwan.
Many argue that a trip to Lassen is not complete without a visit to Bumpass Hell. If you're wondering about the name "Bumpass Hell", well — we wondered too! We joked that it was probably named after somebody with the name "Bumpass"… and as it turns out, we were right! It was named after Kendall Bumpass, who had a leg amputated after accidentally stepping into one of mudpots and severely burning his leg.
So that goes without saying — don’t go off trail, and don’t go dipping your hands into things to see how hot it can be (we saw someone try, actually)
Spot the people in this next shot:
The Bumpass Hell trail was originally built in 1935, and was closed in 2017-2019 for trail rehabilitation. Older blogs I’ve read has pictures of the old boardwalk which had an additional overlook, which has yet to be reconstructed.
Boiling mudpots:
I approve of these way boardwalks. It was surprisingly empty, despite this place being a "must-visit" spot.
Just as we finished walking through the boardwalk, a thunderous boom sounded in the distance. We looked up and the clouds had gotten really dark really quick. It was time to move!
There was a downpour just as we made it back to our car… lasted all of 5 minutes.
Completely random, but one of these days I’ll try to write a post about rain gear. I’ve owned about 3-4 rain jackets over the past 4 years, but so far our Beta SL Hybrid from Arc’Teryx has been great.
