Lassen Volcanic National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park is located in northeastern
California. The park's dominant feature is Lassen Peak, the
largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southern-most
volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volcanic National Park
started as two separate national monuments designated by
President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907: Cinder Cone National
Monument and Lassen Peak National Monument.
The source of heat for volcanism in the Lassen area is
subduction off the Northern California coast of the Gorda Plate
diving below the North American Plate. The area surrounding
Lassen Peak is still active with boiling mud pots, stinking
fumaroles, and churning hot springs. Lassen Volcanic National
Park is one of the few areas in the world where all four types
of volcano(plug dome, shield, cinder cone, and strato) can be
found.
Lassen is accessible via State Routes SR 89 and SR 44. SR 89
passes north-south through the park, beginning at SR 36 to the
south and ending at SR 44 to the north. SR 89 passes immediately
adjacent the base of Lassen Peak.
There are a total of five vehicle entrances to the park: the
north and south entrances of SR 89, and unpaved roads entering
at Drakesbad and Juniper Lake in the south, and Butte Lake in
the northeast. The Park can also be accessed by trails leading
in from Caribou Wilderness to the east, as well as the Pacific
Crest Trail, and two smaller trails leading in from Willow Lake
and Little Willow Lake to the south.
