Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kohm Yah mah nee Visitor Center

   The name is Maidu, from the people who lived on these slopes long before anyone surveyed them, and it means Snow Mountain. Kohm Yah-mah-nee is the visitor centre at the southwest entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California, a modern building of stone and timber set among tall conifers. It is a good first stop for the road through the park: you can look at the displays, ask the rangers about conditions on the upper road, and take a look at a model of the volcano before you see the real thing.

   Read the complete Kohm Yah mah nee Visitor Center write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kohm Yah mah nee Visitor Center is where the day begins. Next is Bumpass Hell.

2. 2. Bumpass Hell

   Bumpass Hell is the largest hydrothermal area in Lassen Volcanic National Park, and it announces itself with a smell. A mile and a half of trail from the road brings you to a bowl of steaming vents, boiling pools, hissing fumaroles and mud pots, all in shades of yellow, green and grey, with the sharp smell of sulphur rising in the air. The boardwalk threads through it at a respectful distance, and you can watch water bubbling and spitting only a few metres away, a reminder that the volcano is sleeping rather than dead.

   Read the complete Bumpass Hell write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bumpass Hell comes up 10 km in. Next is Lassen Peak trailhead.

3. 3. Lassen Peak trailhead

   The trailhead for Lassen Peak sits high on the park road, at about 8,500 feet, and above it the mountain rises another two thousand feet in a single, slightly crumpled dome of grey rock. Lassen is one of the largest plug-dome volcanoes in the world, and it is also the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, the chain that runs north through Oregon and Washington to Mount St Helens and beyond. It looks quiet now, but that is a deception, as the ground at its feet bubbles and steams.

   Read the complete Lassen Peak trailhead write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   19 km in you reach Lassen Peak trailhead. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Manzanita Lake, mostly downhill.

4. 4. Manzanita Lake

   Manzanita Lake is the postcard of Lassen Volcanic National Park, and on a calm morning the reflection is hard to ignore. The water is shallow and still, edged with reeds and conifers, and the pale cone of Lassen Peak sits upside down in it, flanked by the broken crags of Chaos Crags. A flat path loops the lake, and the northwest entrance station is only a short distance away. Most people come early in the day for the still air and soft light, and the mirror-like surface.

   Read the complete Manzanita Lake write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Manzanita Lake closes the day.