Lassen Peak last erupted between 1914 and 1917, and the signs are still plain to see. The mountain, a huge plug-dome volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range, rises to 10,457 feet above a landscape of scorched slopes, steaming vents, boiling mud pots and lakes that sit in craters. In May 1915 an explosion sent a column of ash high into the sky and a mudflow swept down the valley, leaving the sparse, ghostly stretch known as the Devastated Area. Today the area is a national park, with forest and meadow creeping back across the lava.
The park road is thirty miles of mountain riding, with long climbs, tight switchbacks and views across lakes and ridges. It tops out at about 8,500 feet at the highest point, with Lassen Peak looming on one side, and the air is thin and cool even in midsummer. The road is generally well surfaced but narrow in places, with broken edges where frost has worked on it. Snow closes it for much of the year, normally from November to about June, and in some years the final stretch opens only in July, so check with the park before riding.
Bumpass Hell is the best-known thermal area, a boardwalk trail through bubbling mud pots and steaming fumaroles named for a nineteenth-century guide who badly burned his leg. The smell of sulphur is strong, and visitors should keep to the boardwalks. Manzanita Lake, near the north entrance, has a classic view of Lassen Peak mirrored in the water, best in the stillness of early morning.
The nearest towns with services are Chester, about twenty-seven miles from this point, and Shingletown, with others at Mineral and Red Bluff. An entry fee applies. Bring layers, because afternoon thunderstorms can build over the peaks, and carry water. Late July to early October is the usual window for the full road, with wildflowers at their best in July and some autumn colour in September.