Lava Beds National Monument and Lassen Volcanic National Park

We arrived at Lava Beds National Monument on July 28.  Lava Beds National Monument is on the northeast side of Medicine Lake Volcano, the largest shield volcano in the United States.  A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava erupted from a stratovolcano.  At Lava Beds there are numerous cinder cones and over 80 lava tubes that were formed when Medicine Lake Volcano was active.  Lava tubes are caves that were formed while the lava was flowing.  The outside surface of the lava in contact with air would cool and harden while the lava below continued to flow.

Here are some photos from inside some of the lava tubes we toured:

The following pictures are from Glass Mountain, another volcano on the side of Medicine Lake Volcano where the lava that erupted formed mostly into obsidian.

This is Glass Mountain in the background.  We explored only the lower fringes of Glass Mountain.

There is significant indigenous peoples history in this area as well.  The Modoc’s lived in this area and left many petroglyphs.  Here are petroglyphs at Petroglyph Point, which was originally surrounded by water and was accessed by canoe when the petroglyphs were carved.

This is a collapsed lava tube, meaning the roof collapsed after the flowing lava below and exited the tube below.

This is Symbol Bridge, a collapsed lava tube with pictographs inside.

Big Painted Cave, a short lava tube with more pictographs.

We moved to Lassen Volcanic National Park on July 31.  

Here are some pictures of Lassen Peak from Manzanita Lake on the north side.

Here are some geothermal features at Sulphur Works:


Lake Helen on the south side of Lassen PeakKings Creek Meadow

The photos below are from our hike to Kings Creek Falls.  Nearly two thirds of the park was burned in the Dixie Fire in 2021.  It was fascinating hiking through some of the burned areas, with small areas around streams that didn’t burn.

Here are photos from our hike up to the top of Lassen Peak.  Lassen Peak last erupted in 1915.  The crater at the top of the peak was fascinating.  You could see how the lava hardened into fantastic shapes as the eruptions came to an end.

At the top.  This reddish rock was formed 27,000 years ago when Lassen fiwas formed.  The blacker rock that you see in other photos was formed when Lassen erupted in 1915.

The crater at the top.On our way back down.

Photos from Emerald Lake:

Photos from Bumpass Hell, another geothermal area in the park.  It is named after a guide in the 1800’s who, shortly after warning his guests to be careful, fell through the crust and severely burned his legs in the boiling mud below the crust.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Traveling South Through British Columbia

Image
It’s been awhile since my last post for Dawson City in the Yukon Territories.  We’ve covered quite a bit of ground since then.  We are currently sitting on the shores of Lake Superior at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the upper peninsula of Michigan. After leaving Dawson City we spent five days traveling south to Stewart, BC, with stops at Pelly River Crossing, Whitehorse, Boya Lake Provincial Park, and Kinaskin Lake Provincial Provincial Park.  We spent three nights in Stewart, BC, hoping to see bears feeding on salmon at the wildlife viewing station just across the border in Hyder, AK.  We saw a few bears and a few salmon but unfortunately we were a little early in the season.  We did drive up to the Salmon Glacier which is the largest glacier in Canada that can be viewed by car. Here are some photos from our stop at Stewart.  First the Bear Glacier. Photos from the wildlife viewing station.  You’ll have to wait for Donna Sue’s blog...
Read more

Pinnacles National Park

Image
We moved to Pinnacles National Park on Friday, May 12.  The weather on the coast was in the 60’s and cloudy.  The weather at Pinnacles was in the 90’s and sunny.  Quite a change. See On Sunday we got up early and did an 8 mile hike on the South Wilderness Trail. We had a pet squirrel at our campsite.  We would sit out in the shade and he would come out and roll around in the dirt in front of us. On Monday we took a long drive to Sacramento to see a dentist about an implant for Donna Sue.  They said they could do it and had availability the next morning so we spent and unplanned night at a hotel in Sacramento.  Went to Sutter’s Fort in the afternoon and Old Sacramento in the evening. Donna Sue spent Wednesday recovering at the campground.  I got up early (still really hot in the afternoons) and hiked through the high peaks at Pinnacles National Park. On Thursday, we did a short hike together through Bear Gulch to the Bear Bulch Reservoir. On to Half Moo...
Read more

Big Bend National Park

Image
We finally made it to Big Bend National Park on March 11.  We spent two weeks exploring the park. Views of the Rio Grande Valley near Rio Grande Village.  Lots of green around the river. Lots of javelinas in the campground our first evening. The Chisos Mountains are in the center of the park, ranging up to 8000’ above sea level.  They are the core of an ancient gigantic shield volcano. Most of Big Bend is an ancient sea bed older than the volcanic and uplifted mountains.  They have found lots and lots of fossils.  The following photos show recreation of some of the fossils found made from casts of the original fossils.  The original fossils were removed from the display due to vandalism. Photos from our hike to Lost Mine Peak in the Chisos Mountain. Photos from our trip across the Rio Grande to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico.  The river was so shallow we could walk across.  We did have to go through customs when we came back to the US. Our hike to B...
Read more