We visited Lassen Volcanic National Park where we did two amazing hikes. The first one was the Cinder Cone. The cone was about 700 feet high and almost 400 years old. First we walked by an amazing lava field, then we climbed the cinder cone. The ground on the cinder cone was old volcanic ash and pumice. There were 40 mph winds that blew dust into our faces. When we got to the top there were gusts of wind about 60 mph that almost blew us off the cone!
The other hike we did at Lassen was Bumpass Hell where we hiked into a basin. We saw fumaroles, which are openings in or near a volcano through which hot sulfur gas floats out in big billowing stinky clouds. We also saw different colors of rock. The white rock is sulfuric acid, the yellow-orange rocks are sulfates, the gray/black is iron leaching up from the rocks and turquoise is tiny floating pieces of silica. The bright green is cyanidium and bright yellow is colorful crystals of copiapite. It was cool and stinky but it was mostly amazing to see the mudpots, fumaroles and boiling springs!
It was so interesting being in Lassen Volcanic National Park and learning about volcanic activity! On to the Redwoods!!
gorgeous photos. Good writing Jay and great descriptions.