Advertisement
Published: June 16th 2008
Edit Blog Post
(Panoramic picture above is frozen Lake Helen in Lassen Volcanic National Park)
Another spontaneous trip - Shasta and vicinity. Shreya and I planned a weekend trip to Northern California while returning home from office on Friday evening. We drove to Sacramento and stayed the night at my cousin’s place and started heading further north to Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Some background about this national park - whole of the USA was surprised when a volcano erupted in Northern California in 1914. It was followed by series of explosions for three years. The latest eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens in 1980. Lassen Volcanic National Park is the southern most end of the Cascade Range.
We reached Lassen National Park around 12 pm after lunch in a restaurant outside the national park. First stop was Sulfur Works. There are number of thermal vents in this area accessible directly by road. We spotted a deer in a nearby creek here!
This national park is at more than 7000 feet elevation. Even in the beginning of June, it was full of snow! All the roads were open but most of the trails were closed! We
wanted to do couple of hikes but no luck! Even some of lakes at the higher elevation were totally frozen!
We also stopped at the Devastated Area. It is a 0.5 mile self guided informative trail. It explains a lot about devastation happened during the eruptions.
We also stopped at number of lakes including - frozen Lake Helen, Hat Lake, Summit Lake, Manzanita Lake, etc. Got plenty of pictures!
There is also a Loomis Museum at the north entrance of the national park. Unfortunately, we reached there at 5:15 pm and it closes at 5 pm! We left the national park by 6 pm to reach Burney.
McArthur-Burney Falls State Park
Our next stop was McArthur-Burney Falls State Park. Burney is a small town 1.5 hours north of Redding, CA. It is halfway between Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mount Shasta.
Burney Falls is situated on the Burney Creek. This waterfall provides 100 million gallons of water per day even during summer. The terrain of the waterfall area is result of the molten lava from underground (See Talus Slopes in the pictures). Due to this rugged terrain, underground water springs parallel to the primary
falls formed by undercutting of horizontal strata. President Roosevelt called these waterfalls - the 8th wonder of the world! We did a 1.2-mile hike around the waterfalls.
We stayed at Charm Motel in Burney. Burney is a small but nice town. Lots of eateries around! This area is a paradise for fishing.
Some useful links:
•
Lassen Volcanic National Park •
McArthur-Burney Falls State Park How to get there:
• Lassen Volcanic National Park is 5 hours North of Bay Area, 3 hours north of Sacramento
• Burney is 1.5 hours north of Lassen or 1.5 hours north-east of Redding
Where to stay:
•
Drakesbad Guest Ranch inside the Lassen Volcanic National Park
• There are number of motels in Burney, CA
• McArthur-Burney State park has
cabins and campsites just a short walk from the waterfalls!
Where to eat:
•
Places to eat in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park • Lots of restaurants at Burney, CA
Advertisement
Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 7; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0544s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
lolita
non-member comment
Burney Falls
Heading there on August 4, 2012. Been in Burney and loved it. Easy access to waterfalls and always have water running not like Yosemite falls. We'll be heading to Lassen Park also.