BEST HIKES IN LASSEN
Lassen Volcanic National Park is located in Northern California, just east of Redding and Red Bluff. (We stayed at this nearby Airbnb in Red Bluff). One of the more underrated national parks, Lassen boasts a huge volcano, hydrothermal areas, many stunningly clear blue lakes, and lots of wild animals like black bears, foxes, pikas, mountain lions, and snowshoe hares.
After a weekend trip here, I fell in love with this park and loved these hikes the most.
Our beaver friend that we saw on the road!
LASSEN PEAK
Lassen Peak is a tough, 2000 feet elevation gain to reach the 10,457 feet summit. It is 5.1 miles out and back (~2.5 each way) and takes 3-5 hours, depending on your pace and time spent at the top. My boyfriend and I reached the trailhead around 8:15am on a Saturday and got started right away. There are a few bathrooms and trash cans in the parking lot, so handle your business beforehand.
Here are my tips:
Start early. This is one of the most popular trails and will get crowded towards late morning/noon time. The morning sun is also much less harsh during the morning. I recommend starting around 8am.
Wear hiking shoes/boots. The trail can get rocky and gravelly in some areas, especially during the final climb to the top.
Bring a lightweight/windbreaker jacket. Thunderstorms occur frequently here during the summer so you want to be protect if it happens.
Pack LOTS of water. It gets tiring and hot!
Bring snacks. You will get hungry at the top, plus you’ll want to snack on something while enjoying the 360 view of all of Lassen, Mount Shasta, and Lake Almanor.
Pace yourself. Because of the high elevation, it’s easy to feel like you are losing your breath.
Bring sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat. The sun is no joke during this hike. There is absolutely no shade and and UV rays are especially powerful between 12pm-4pm. I’m a religious sunscreen-wearer and I even got a light sunburn on my shoulders!
Stay on the designated path. The path is built on this mountain for a reason. Lassen Peak suffers from trail scars, which is when irresponsible hikers go off-trail and damage the terrain, causing rockslides and permanently scarring the soil. Wildflowers and plants can no longer grow here if people go off path.
Once you reach the top, you will see a bunch of informational signs about Lassen Peak and the surrounding geography. This technically isn’t the highest peak, so keep walking past the snow path towards the top of the pointy rocks.
THE PEAK - 10,457 feet
TERRACE, SHADOW, AND CLIFF LAKES
This set of lakes is probably the most beautiful ones in the park! This trail is 3.3 miles out and back and is relatively easy/moderate, with just one uphill returning from the first lake. There are not too many people and the hike is very quiet and peaceful. Park at the trailhead on the side of road (you will see a sign for Terrace Lake) and then you will see the entrance to the path.
TERRACE LAKE
This first lake is only about .5 miles into the hike. It’s small, but the water is so clear and blue. There are nice spots on the grass to sit down and relax.
Terrace Lake
SHADOW LAKE
Just another .3 miles down the trail, Shadow Lake truly blew us away. It is a gorgeous still, clear, blue lake surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees. There are spots along the water to sit on logs and grass to enjoy your lunch or snack. We spent over an hour here eating our food, relaxing, and swimming. The water is refreshing especially in the heat.
CLIFF LAKE
This final lake is about 1 mile down the trail and the walk there is just so beautiful. There are so many pretty purple flowers and grass beds on the trail. We also saw a cute frog near the drying pond on the way to the lake! Cliff Lake is small and more green, and definitely not as stunning as the first two, but it has its own peace and personality.
BUMPASS HELL
Bumpass Hell is 3 miles out and back to the wonderful and iconic boiling mudpots and steam vents. (6 miles if you continue to Cold Boiling Lake) This is the coolest hydrothermal area in the park and it is such an awesome experience! Kendall Vanhook Bumpass discovered these hydrothermal features in the 1860s and unfortunately figured out how hot they were when he stepped into a mudpot and lost his leg…so definitely be responsible here and don’t touch!
This is the most popular trail in Lassen so my boyfriend and I started around 8am to beat the crowds. Start early! The walk towards Bumpass was filled with beautiful flowers, views of Diamond Peak, and the lower valley. There are two routes down to the main Bumpass area - Frying Pan and the main Bumpass Hell trail. We continued down the main route to the site and there were almost no people on the walkways.
If you keep walking up the hill past the mudpots, you can get to a nice viewpoint that overlooks the entire hydrothermal area.
View from the upper viewpoint
COLD BOILING LAKE
This is a really easy 1.4 mile out and back trail that begins at the Kings Creek Picnic Area and ends up at Cold Boiling Lake. The hike is very easy and has lots of twisting trees along the route that just look so cute!
Once you get to the lake, there is a sign on the left that indicates the cold boiling natural wonder. It’s a small pond that has cold bubbles rising to the surface of the water! There are lots of dragonflies around this lake so it’s definitely nice to sit down and watch them play around.
Granted, there are so many wonderful other places to explore in Lassen (Manzanita Lake - closed because of river otter attack; Brokeoff Mountain, Cinder Cone, Kings Creek Falls - didn’t have enough time) but these were some of my favorites from just a quick weekend trip! I would love to come back and check out all the other wonderful spots of this national park!