04 June 2018

snow, fumaroles, and boiling mud pots

california hwy 89 runs through lassen volcanic park but the road had only been opened for two days and several sites were still snowed in --- bumpass hell is the best of the park's geothermal features and it's closed all of this year so they can rebuild the boardwalk --- chaos jumbles, created by landslides off yonder mountain in the 17th century, were purty cool
as were the 300-ton "hot rocks" that avalanches off lassen peak carried for miles and which sizzled for days after the 1915 eruption




lake helen with lassen peak in the background -- the lake is at 8,200' elevation and the snowiest place in california --- usually free of ice and snow only for two or three months a year ---



even though bumpass hell wasn't accessible, the stinking-ass sulphur works site was the bomb --- fumaroles and boiling mud pots in a desolate landscape! i saw desolate volcanic landscapes in new mexico, but none of them were still active ----
fifty miles away, volcanic debris still litters the landscape

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

omg, boiling mud holes ?!