Lassen Volcanic National Park is a place that really surprised us. It has easily become one of our favorite parks. It was not a really big park, but it was so unique and beautiful and NOT crowded at all. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southern-most volcano in the Cascade Range. It is home to steaming fumaroles, meadows freckled with wildflowers, clear mountain lakes, and numerous volcanoes. We absolutely loved it and went back a few times. We were camped at a lovely campground called Living Springs, not too far from the park. We started off in Redding, but it was WAY too hot there.

I still couldn’t do too much because of my climbing injury, so we didn’t do a big hike or anything like we usually do when we have this kind of time at a park. We went in as a family and did our thing, got Jr Ranger badges, and enjoyed the beauty of this place. The boys LOVED the snow, and there was a good bit of it. There was still 6+ feet of snow at the trailhead for the peak. Summertime snow is our favorite 🙂

We ended up staying at Living Springs longer than anticipated because we made new friends. The kids made friends, too. Mike took our kids and our new friends’ kids into the park one day to do the park Geocaching program. They all had a blast!! What a fun experience and the rest of us adults got a nice break for the afternoon. Thanks Mike!

Mike got up early one morning to climb up Lassen Peak. It started off really chilly, but warmed up pretty quickly. He gained about 2000 feet in about 2.5 miles and reached 10,457 feet at the summit. That’ll warm you up! He really enjoyed the experience and I only wish I could have gone with him 🙁

This park was one we had never heard of, and we are so glad we went. It’s one of our favorites for sure!