{"id":963,"date":"2005-09-03T16:22:21","date_gmt":"2005-09-03T21:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/?p=963"},"modified":"2005-09-03T16:22:21","modified_gmt":"2005-09-03T21:22:21","slug":"camping-in-the-volcanos-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/2005\/09\/03\/camping-in-the-volcanos-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"Camping in the volcano’s shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea of a camping trip started with a reservation made a few weeks ago. This town
\ncalled Mineral is just down the road from Lassen
\nVolcanic National Park,<\/a> where I’d been itching to visit and climb
\nLassen Peak.<\/a> Mineral is home to fewer than a hundred souls, a few of whom
\nrun the Mineral Lodge and Volcano Country Campground. I found out about this
\nplace online and reserved a tent-camping site. It never occurred to me that
\nthere would be any issues with a campsite that’s inside the city limits, considering
\nthese limits are so, well, limited. <\/p>\n

Well, we got to the campground, paid our nonrefundable $36 for two nights,
\nand checked out the campsite. We had an unobstructed view of the next-door neighbor’s
\nback yard, and were serenaded by the lovely chatter of a chainsaw. "This
\nis it?" Melissa asked, with some skepticism. <\/p>\n

I looked around. Well, there were a few<\/i> pine trees but it’s not the
\nkind of campsite you’d want to hang out at, unless you were pals with the neighbors
\nor talent-scouting for chainsaw jugglers. Melissa suggested checking out the
\ncampgrounds in the national park, so we bailed on the Mineral campground. It
\nlooks like a fine place to park your RV, but if you’re looking to pitch a tent
\nin a somewhat wilder setting, the park’s a better bet. <\/p>\n

Lassen Volcanic has a nice walk-in campground at the park’s southwest entrance.
\nWe picked this choice location not far from the bathrooms, which had running
\nwater and flush toilets. All in all, a nice clean place, and a steal at 14 bucks
\na night. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

The setting sun warms the sides of our tent, while the fire burns down to coals
\nfor dinner. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Another great thing about this campground: We had most of it to ourselves.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

There were almost no bugs, except for these bees, which showed up every time
\nwe had a meal. They dodged our swinging arms pretty well and didn’t sting in
\nretaliation. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Night falls. It’s dark at 8 p.m., which is when we bunked for the night. That
\nmeant we were up before dawn, which gave me a bright idea: let’s drive down
\nthe road a ways and watch the sunrise. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

My timing was uncanny — this is just minutes before the sun rose over a ridge.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

A red sky reflects on our shadows across the road. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

There it is, just as it has been for lo these billions of years. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Rising and setting suns always light up the sides of mountains. That’s Brokeoff
\nMountain looming behind Lake Helen. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

This is a little pond called Emerald Lake. In the morning its water is still
\nas a mirror. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Nothing like a lake that sits still to have its picture taken, eh? <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

The required big-dead-tree pic. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Back at the campsite, it’s time for breakfast. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

A scrub jay stands guard over the anti-bear box. Supposedly there are black
\nbears in the park but we never heard so much as a growl, though Melissa is pretty
\nsure she might’ve seen a mountain lion on the next hill over. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Before lunch I did my
\nLassen Peak climb<\/a>; after lunch I scouted out some of the park’s geothermal
\nfeatures. The volcanos are inactive, but there’s still lots of hot lava beneath
\nthe ground throughout the park. In a few spots, the lava is close enough to
\nthe surface that it sends plumes of steam up between cracks in the ground. In
\nother places it melts clay and emits a rotten-egg smell that comes from a sulfur-based
\nchemical reaction. This picture is part of the Sulfur Works, which stinks to
\nhigh heaven but is pretty cool otherwise. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Steam rises from a vent in the ground. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Deep down in this hole, a pressure builds below a bunch of molten clay — it
\nmakes this remarkable glub-glub-glub that echoes off the sides of the hole,
\ncreating a racket that sounds almost exactly like a bear tearing up somebody’s
\ngarage. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Bumpass Hell is another geologic area named for a guy named Kendall Bumpass,
\nwho explored this area in the 1860s. The "hell" part is what it smells
\nlike after you hike a mile and a half to see the area. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

The hike isn’t too tough, with this trail here. It rises about 500 feet from
\nthe trailhead, then falls another 400 into Bumpass Hell. Because, you know,
\nyou must descend<\/i> into hell. Somehow Mr. Bumpass got back there with no
\ntrail, no rubber-cleated hiking boots, no hydration kit. Americans were a lot
\ntougher back in those days. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

A guide post explains how there used to be a gigantic volcano that would’ve
\nfilled this entire picture. The volcano collapsed in on itself, leaving Brokeoff
\nMountain at the left and the two craggy peaks on the right. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

At long last: Hell. The ground here is hard and brittle, and a wrong step can
\nsend a foot down through the crust into boiling water warmed by the lava below.
\nMr. Bumpass suffered precisely this fate, which scalded one leg so badly that
\nit had to be amputated. Bumpass Hell, indeed. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Water, soft clay and God knows how many obnoxious chemicals. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

A giant steam vent makes a rushing sound audible at our campground a couple
\nmiles away. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Another of those holes with the burbling mud deep down inside. This one reminded
\nme of the giant creature in the third Star Wars movie that Jabba the Hut ordered
\nLuke and the gang thrown into. Come to think of it, it sounds vaguely like Jabba
\ngasping for breath because a scantily clad princess has a chain wrapped around
\nhis throat. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Mud dries in the sun. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Chemicals bleach the hillsides. The stench is dreadful, but at least the wind
\nblows it away somewhat. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

A bit of standing water appears to be crystal-clear. Just keep in mind that
\nsulfuric acid is see-through too. <\/p>\n

I fled Bumpass Hell as soon as I could. It’s interesting from a scientific
\nstandpoint, but it’d be nice if there was a park ranger handing out gas masks.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

The next morning I took one last picture of Lassen Peak reflected in Lake Helen.\n<\/p>\n

I slept so soundly that I missed the arrival at our campground of a small family
\nwho showed up at approximately 2:30 a.m. with screaming toddler in tow; pitched
\ntheir tent not 50 feet from ours; and managed to set off their car alarm —
\nall this was related to me by Melissa, who was awakened by these people’s racket
\nand didn’t get back to sleep for several hours. The only thing that amazed her
\nmore than these people’s boundless lack of quiet-hours etiquette was my ability
\nto sleep through it all. <\/p>\n

The Peak and Bumpass Hell are the two must-see (and smell) locales at Lassen
\nVolcanic National Park, and you can do both in the same day if you’re feeling
\nenergetic. The rest of the park has miles and miles of trails and enough lakes,
\ncrags and extinct volcanoes to keep you busy for a week or two. Just keep in
\nmind that the park’s buried in snow most of the year. Don’t come out in April
\nthinking you’ll experience Springtime in the Cascade Range. Most years the snow
\nis piled high on the peak through mid-June. Late August and early September
\nare the best times, because the days are not too hot and the nights are not
\ntoo cold. <\/p>\n

Come during the week after school’s back in session and you’ll have the place
\npretty much to yourself. It’s very much worth having. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea of a camping trip started with a reservation made a few weeks ago. This town called Mineral is just down the road from Lassen Volcanic National Park, where I’d been itching to visit and climb Lassen Peak. Mineral…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}