Lassen Volcanic National Park

We have officially entered the Pacific Ring of Fire. Well, we've technically been in it for the past few months while in California, but none of the parks we've been to have been related... until now. Starting with Lassen, we're about to hit multiple parks built around volcanos.

Other than Mt. Saint Helens and that one in Hawaii that never stops, I would have been hard pressed to name another volcano that erupted in this country... ever. But sure enough, Mount Lassen erupted numerous times between 1915 and 1921, doing quite a bit of damage to the surrounding area (there is a section near the mountain called "the devastated area," which is humorous because it's all grown back and looks perfectly normal now).

We've had remarkably good weather for our park days, but as you can probably tell from the picture above, that luck ran out at Lassen. I'm guessing a lot of it had to do with us being at elevation, but the entire day was chilly and foggy. If we looked at the right time, we could get a glimpse of the park's namesake mountain, but it would quickly hide itself again.

No matter, though. We typically only get one shot at a park, so we always do our best to play the hand we're dealt. At least it wasn't raining.

We started with two hikes around some lakes in the park. I've said it before: I just love being outside, so if all I get to do is walk around a lake at a park, that's good enough for me!

We didn't realize it until we arrived, but we timed our visit right to see snow plants! These are odd little plants that only grow in this part of the world (mainly California with a few in western Nevada). They can't photosynthesize, so they get nutrients from fungus attached to tree roots. In return, the provide carbon to the fungus (where the carbon comes from given that they can't photosynthesize, I do not know).

They are striking because they provide some of the only color in the forest this time of year.

After our lake hikes, we drove the park's scenic drive. Due to the weather, we didn't see a whole lot of scenery, but we did stop at "Hot Rock." Much to the kids' disappointment, it wasn't hot, at least not any more. But it apparently was when a man stumbled across it shortly after the last eruption, miles away from the mountain, hence the name.

We thought we were pretty much done after the scenic drive. In addition to the weather limitations, many hikes were closed due to 69% of the park burning last fall. There just weren't many options for us.

Little did we know that spring had not yet come to all of Lassen. As we ascended a bit in elevation, we entered what may as well be paradise for our kids: snow, and lots of it.

This is a bit deceptive thanks to plowing, but I assure you that there was a lot of snow

As they've done the other times we've stumbled across snow, they played for hours. Julie pulled out an Ikea bag from the trunk to use as a sled (it worked surprisingly well). Forts were built and snowballs were both rolled and thrown. Caleb even dug out 33 steps to help him get back up the hill after sledding down. He worked at it for about an hour!

After the kids were sufficiently soaked and cold, we called it a day. Sometimes these park visits don't work out like we think they will, but that's ok. I have a hunch this will be one of the kids' favorite parks when it's all said and done!