Lassen Volcanic National Park guide · 1 min read
All Four Volcano Types in One Park
Four kinds of volcano sit within one park: shield, composite, cinder cone, and plug dome. The landscape also records how these volcanoes built up, broke down, and changed over time.
Lassen Peak ranks among the biggest plug domes on the planet. Its eruptions blasted out a crater about 1,000 feet wide and sent ash more than 200 miles away. Researchers still treat the peak as active and keep watching the area, since the timing of the next eruption is unknown.
Mount Tehama, also called Brokeoff Volcano, was once a towering peak in this area. Smaller cones and vents on its slopes, Lassen Peak among them, siphoned magma away from the main summit. Glaciers from the Ice Age eventually ground the mountain down, though the volcanic landscape kept changing.
The hydrothermal areas display steam vents, mud pots, fumaroles, and boiling pools, and hot water is still reshaping the ground there. From the rim of Cinder Cone, you can look out over the Painted Dunes and the Fantastic Lava Beds, where lava flows shaped the ground.
The park has more than 150 miles of trails, and several lead hikers up to the tops of active volcanoes. Highway 89 serves as the scenic drive through the park, linking many of its top sites in the western section. Trails in the east, such as those in Warner Valley and near Butte Lake, tend to be quieter.
