# Lassen Volcanic National Park — every kind of volcano, steaming ground and snow 30 feet deep

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Last reviewed: 13 November 2026

Part of The US National Parks

- **Where:** Northern California, about, three hours north-east of Sacramento
- **Coordinates:** 40.44° N, 121.53° W (Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center)
- **Elevation:** About 5,000 to, 10,457 ft
- **Last eruptions:** Lassen Peak, 1914–15 (steam to 1921);, Cinder Cone, about 350 years ago
- **Snow:** Up to 30 ft a winter
- **Protected:** National park, August 9, 1916
- **Best visited:** Roughly June to October, when, the trail to Bumpass Hell is open
- **Advisory:** United States, (no State Department level)

## The short answer

Lassen Volcanic National Park lies in northern California, about three hours north-east of Sacramento, and climbs from about 5,000 feet to 10,457 feet, from forests and meadows to bare volcanic summits. Its centre is Lassen Peak, which erupted between 1914 and 1915, and around it the ground still steams, bubbles and boils. The Lassen Park Highway crosses the park for 30 miles between the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center at the south-west entrance and the Loomis Museum at Manzanita Lake in the north-west. It became a national park on August 9, 1916, taking in the Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak national monuments.

## Why it's worth knowing

Every kind of volcano. Shield, composite, cinder cone and plug dome: Lassen has all four. Unlike other volcanoes of the Cascades, its big plug dome and composite volcanoes sit close beside the smaller cinder cones that surround the volcanic centre. Two of them have erupted recently by a volcano’s standards: Cinder Cone about 350 years ago and Lassen Peak about a hundred years ago. The Devastated Area, along the park highway, still shows the destruction of Lassen Peak’s eruptions, along a short trail that is accessible by wheelchair.

Hot water from snow. The rain and snow that fall on the high country soak deep into the ground, where they are heated by a body of hot or molten rock beneath Lassen Peak. Rising again, the water boils into pools and mud pots, and superheated steam bursts out through cracks as fumaroles, at Bumpass Hell, Sulphur Works and elsewhere. Boiling Springs Lake, in Warner Valley, is around 125 degrees. Cold Boiling Lake, near Kings Creek, plays a trick: it is cold, and the “boiling” is carbon dioxide bubbling up through it like soda water.

Snow on a grand scale. The park gets up to 30 feet of snow a winter, which usually starts to pile up in October and in most places does not melt until July. The deepest snowpack on record, in 1983, was 331 inches. Along the 30-mile highway it can lie 40 feet deep on avalanche-prone slopes above 2,000-foot drops, and clearing the road takes crews about two months from as early as mid-March. A snow sensor 36 feet tall stands at the Lake Helen picnic area, sending its readings to California’s water managers.

## The field notes

### Snow Mountain

The visitor center at the south-west entrance opened in 2008 as Kohm Yah-mah-nee, “Snow Mountain” in Mountain Maidu, the first park building to receive a tribal name. Tribes with ancestral ties to the land around Lassen Peak include the Atsugewi, Yana, Yahi and Maidu. In 1952 Selena LaMarr, a member of the Atsugewi tribe and the park’s first woman naturalist, began demonstrating Atsugewi traditional skills to visitors outside the Loomis Museum, and other demonstrators, among them Dessie Snooks and later her daughters, carried on the work.

### The photographer and his daughter

Benjamin Franklin Loomis photographed Lassen Peak’s eruptions, and he did much to build the visitor services around Manzanita Lake. In 1927 he built a museum there in honour of his daughter, Louisa Mae. The Loomis Museum is open seasonally, and its exhibits include his historic photographs of the 1914 eruption.

### A president at the lake

Touring the West to promote his conservation agenda, President John F. Kennedy visited Lassen Volcanic on September 27 and 28, 1963. His party arrived at the Devastated Area by helicopter from Redding, and while a park naturalist led the Secretary of the Interior and the press around the lake, the president retired to the lodge manager’s residence at Manzanita Lake for a much-needed rest.

**A relic from Lassen Volcanic National Park**

Hot Rock, at the foot of the Devastated Area. This 30-ton boulder was once in the vent of Lassen Peak. In the eruption a violent lahar, a mudflow, carried it speeding down the mountain in a slurry of mud, earth and rock, and visitors reported it still hot to the touch months later; inside, it is thought to have been about 1,000°F when it came tumbling down. It has rested beside the park highway for more than a hundred years, while a new forest grows back around it.

## Getting there

How to get there. Lassen Volcanic is about three hours north-east of Sacramento. State Route 36/89 leads to the south-west entrance and the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center, near Mineral; State Route 44/89 leads to the north-west entrance, the Loomis Museum and Manzanita Lake, near Shingletown. The Lassen Park Highway joins them across the park, and three unpaved roads reach the remote east side. There is no public transport to or in the park, and fuel is scarce: the nearest stations are in Shingletown, Old Station, Chester and Red Bluff, and the camper store at Manzanita Lake usually sells gas from mid-May to early October.

When to go. The trail to Bumpass Hell is usually open from about June through October, and snow can cover high trails into July and patches of the Lassen Peak Trail into August. The park highway closes with the first heavy snows, as early as October or as late as December, and reopens between May and July, depending on the winter; the park itself stays open all year, and in winter both entrances are open for snowshoeing and skiing. In autumn the aspens turn yellow and gold along the road between Hot Rock and the Devastated Area.

What to arrange ahead. All of the park’s campgrounds take reservations only, through Recreation.gov, and backcountry camping needs a wilderness permit, also from Recreation.gov.

Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. In the hydrothermal areas the ground can look solid and hide pools of acid water at boiling point, which is why the boardwalks and paths are there. The park’s current conditions page lists road and trail openings.

## Common questions

#### What kinds of volcano are in Lassen Volcanic National Park?

All four types found in the world. Lassen Volcanic National Park has shield, composite, cinder cone and plug dome volcanoes, with the large plug dome of Lassen Peak close beside smaller cinder cones.

#### When did Lassen Peak last erupt?

In 1914 and 1915, with minor steam eruptions through 1921. The eruptions of Lassen Peak, in Lassen Volcanic National Park, were photographed by Benjamin Loomis, and their effects can still be seen at the Devastated Area.

#### What is Bumpass Hell?

The park’s largest hydrothermal area. Bumpass Hell, in Lassen Volcanic National Park, is a 16-acre basin of mud pots, steam vents and boiling pools, reached by a 3-mile round-trip trail from the park highway and crossed by a boardwalk.

#### When is the Lassen Park Highway open?

Usually from late spring or early summer until the first heavy snow. The highway through Lassen Volcanic National Park can open as early as May or as late as July, and close as early as October or as late as December.

#### How much snow does Lassen Volcanic get?

Up to 30 feet a winter. The snow in Lassen Volcanic National Park usually starts to build in October and does not melt in most places until July; the deepest snowpack on record, in 1983, was 331 inches.

#### What does Kohm Yah-mah-nee mean?

“Snow Mountain”, in Mountain Maidu. The Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center, at the south-west entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park, opened in 2008 as the first park building to receive a tribal name.

#### Where is Lassen Volcanic National Park?

In northern California, about three hours north-east of Sacramento. Lassen Volcanic National Park has entrances near Mineral, on State Route 36/89, and near Shingletown, on State Route 44/89.

What to pack: the Road trips kit

## Related places

Redwood National and State Parksalso in The US National Parks · about 230 km away
Crater Lakealso in The US National Parks · about 280 km away
Yosemitealso in The US National Parks · about 340 km away
Sequoia National Parkalso in The US National Parks · about 490 km away
Mount Rainier National Parkalso in The US National Parks · about 710 km away

Notes on sources. Lassen Volcanic National Park is in the United States, so no State Department advisory applies. The National Park Service’s pages for the park, read directly on 13 November 2026, supplied: the four types of volcano, the eruptions of 1914 and 1915 and steam to 1921, Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak’s recent eruptions and the Cascades comparison (volcanoes, updated 4 May 2020; natural features, updated 19 March 2019); the hydrothermal system, the fumaroles, Bumpass Hell’s 16 acres and trail season, Boiling Springs Lake, Cold Boiling Lake and the 2012 accident at Sulphur Works (exploring the hydrothermal areas, updated 7 April 2024; hiking, updated 3 May 2024); the 30 feet of snow, the 1983 record, the snow sensor and the road clearing (snowpack, updated 2 April 2026; winter road closures, updated 24 May 2026); the elevations (natural features); the visitor center, its name and the road’s seasons (questions page, updated 5 January 2026); the tribes and Kohm Yah-mah-nee (tribes, updated 7 May 2025); Selena LaMarr and the Snooks family, and Benjamin Loomis (people, updated 20 January 2022); Hot Rock, its 30 tons, the lahar, its heat and the regrown forest (Hot Rock, updated 5 April 2024); the Loomis Museum and its photographs (Loomis Museum, updated 10 April 2026); President Kennedy’s visit (JFK, updated 22 November 2019); the Devastated Area (summer, updated 23 March 2026; hiking); autumn colour (questions page); and the routes, entrances, fuel and transport (directions, updated 3 December 2025). The national park date (9 August 1916) is from the park anniversaries page. The coordinates are the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center, from the park’s linked data. Checked 13 November 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 13 November 2026.