Road Trip: Lassen National Park in a GT3 (Volcanoes, Mud Pots, Fires, and More!)

Summertime!! Nothing celebrates the freedom of summer quite like a good road trip. It was time again to plan a Grand Tour to see something new and interesting and do it on great roads that allow both for exceptional viewing and for spirited driving enjoyment.  The first part makes my wife happy, the second part makes me happy.

We've made lots of plans to visit National Parks the last few years. That isn't to say we stick only to National Parks, because if one were to do that, one would miss some of the greatest places this country has to offer. 

When we meet people from around the world visiting our National Parks, it's interesting to me that they are often unaware of all the pieces "in between".  Even if you visit all nine of the National Parks in California, you'd miss out on things like Lake Tahoe, Carmel By The Sea, Napa Valley, the Sonoma coast, Sierra Foothills, Gold Country, the Santa Cruz / San Mateo Mountains, Pismo Beach, the vast majority of the Southern Coast, and so much more.

But hey, for this trip, we wanted to venture back up North to hit the Northern part of California scenic Highway 89 through Mount Lassen National Park.  We had intended to come through there a couple years ago on our way back from Bend, Oregon, but a fire in the area had the road closed. And the road intrigued me, as I'd been in the vicinity many times to fish nearby at Hat Creek, Pit River, Fall River, and other locations in Northern California. 

Our goal was to see the geologic formations of Mount Lassen, get in a couple good hikes, and hang out at nearby Lake Almanor, where the summer heat just begs for a jump in the lake. Here is the proposed route, about 670 miles over a few days.  The initial few hours and the last few hours are unfortunately pretty boring.  But once you're in the mountains, it's all worth it! 

Zooming in at the upper part of that map, here's the terrain we were heading into. Highway 89 over Mount Lassen peaks around 8500 feet. Highway 89 deserves mention here as one of the true driving and sightseeing gems of California.  Going from near Lake Shasta in the North to Topaz Lake in the south, it traverses some of the most wonderful mountains and high-elevation meadows you could hope for, along with charming towns, waterfalls, rivers and creeks, and lots of wildlife. One day I may do the whole road in 10 hours or so. 

Not this time.  Not with Jill along for the ride. I may be dumb, but I'm no masochist. 

So we packed up the favored long-distance road trip vehicle, the 2018 Porsche GT3. As I've said in prior stories, this car is just built to eat up miles. It's comfortable, fast, reliable, and surprisingly roomy!  We packed up a few days of stuff and a cooler and it all fits just fine.

Off we went. In a few hours we found ourselves on Highway 36 East of Red Bluff. As you head West on this road toward Mount Lassen, the terrain changes from open ranch land and Oak trees to redwoods, pines and very open road. Not much traffic on a weekday, so it was time to check that all systems work well in the GT3.  

Without incriminating myself, I can say that the car performs exactly as its creators hoped it would: perfect turn in on corner entry, planted and easily adjusted mid corner, and so fun to get on throttle exiting a corner with wide-open road in front of you. Some people don't like to drive.  I'm not one of them. An open road in a great car makes me as giddy as a teenager on prom night. 

The Visitor Center at the southern entrance to the park allowed us to sit in the shade, plan our hikes and drives, and have a little picnic lunch (bring your own, dining options in the Park are... "limited" to say the least).

This relief map shows the road we'd be taking to visit a few key sites in the Park. As you climb into the mountains, you start to see the devastation that came through in 2021 from the Dixie Fire. Of the 100,000 acres that comprise the National Park, 70,000 of those acres were destroyed by that fire. Over 963,000 acres burned in that fire over several months. More on this later. But the road is still pleasant and you can see that firefighters must have fought very hard to save key parts of this park.

First stop, Sulphur Works (trivia: Sulfur is the spelling in the US, and Sulphur is the British version). There was once a "spa" type resort here in the 1800s where people would come for... mud baths?  IDK.  People in the 1800s were weird. You smell this feature before you see it. That rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide gas coming out of the steam vents that are right alongside the highway.  Come earlier in the year because the bubbling mud pots shrink over the summer as the snow-melt water runoff evaporates. 

Driving along the road here gives an overview of the fire devastation through the valley and up over the mountain. Such a true loss, so much beautiful forest that will take decades to recover. 

Next stop was Emerald Lake. Well-named, I'd say, and I kinda wanted to jump in, but right after seeing and smelling all that sulfur, I wasn't sure (technically, elemental sulfur itself has no smell. When it decays and interacts with other things, it's the hydrogen sulfide gas that smells).

Anyway, I did not jump in to find out where the emerald color comes from.  Also, we also started seeing small trees coming up from the wreckage of the fire. Forests live on and measure their lives through centuries. But don't wait 200 years to visit here! 

Every turn of the road might take you to a burned area, or find you cruising through perfect stands of trees, it's hit and miss. The fight here by Cal-Fire and others must have been an epic struggle. And yes, I have many car pictures. It's a car blog, after all !! Travel tips are the bonus.

Highway 89 here delivers all the turns and twists I hoped for. It's lightly travelled, we saw only a handful of cars all day. This is great and fun road at 50 mph, and not only is it scenic and fun to toss around on, it appears to have been re-paved since the fire, so it's smoooooth sailing! 

Lake Helen was a quick stop for us, but a very popular spot for swimmers on a hot day. When we passed by here again later in the day,  there were dozens of people cooling off. Bring your towel! 

Time for a 3-Mile hike to the area known as Bumpass Hell, named after Kendall Bumpass, a guide and prospector who brought many people through the area before 1870. It is the most active geothermal part of the park and has a boardwalk that allows you to get up close to the sapphire pools and mud pots and steam vents.

The hike up is a gentle increase over a few hundred feet, well groomed trail with moderate number people on this hot day.

Great views, and continued signs of life returning amongst the destruction.

You hear the steam vents as you come over the top of the pass, and you smell the gas again. The steam is coming out strongly this time of year, with fewer pools of water for it to get through. But some water persists and the steam comes through it with a bit of stinky drama.

On the way back down, we stopped at the overlook to really appreciate the view! Mt Lassen Peak was behind us, although I didn't seem to snap a pic.  Later!

We continued North on Highway 89 with a destination of Manzanita Lake, at the North end of the park entrance. It didn't disappoint, with great views of Lassen peak and a reflection made for postcards.  It was also finally time to cool off my cooking feet.

After some time appreciating Manzanita Lake, we turned around and headed back South on 89.  We could have taken the long way around on Highway 44 to Butte Lake, but we were saving that for tomorrow.  Plus, I was just looking forward to driving that fun road again, without any stops and just loving the scenery, the car and the pavement, and the company of my wonderful co-pilot.

We finished the day checking into our AirBnB on Lake Almanor. The sun was low and the lake was perfectly calm and we were hungry! So off we went to the Plumas Pines Bar and Grill. Casual, family run place with kids running round and boats coming and going.  Lake life at its core.

We were also greeted by the National Bird off Lake Almanor, the Dragonfly. I see these as good luck for fishermen, because they feed of other bugs and those also mean... trout! This one is apparently a Variegated Meadowhawk. I named him Frank, because he had such an earnest expression. Or maybe I was just exhausted.

The next morning arrived "as cool as the other side of the pillow" as a friend of mine liked to say. We started off with a bagel at the local coffee shop in downtown Chester, a shop that came complete with the perfect assortment of local characters: old dudes with dogs, motorcycles, old trucks and honest gab.  I like small towns, and the people in them, another reason I like road trips over flights. 

We headed out East on Highway 36 toward Susanville and up North on Mooney Road, as a connector to Highway 36 North, with Butte Lake and the Cinder Cone trailhead in our plans. 

Mooney road was a pleasant surprise, with not a soul on it. It was the perfect mix of open straights diving through dappled sunshine between the evergreen trees, combined with big wide sweeper turns that give the GT3's sublime suspension a reason to live its best life. 

Alas, that suspension was not to finish out the route. I failed to realize that the last 6 miles to Butte Lake was unpaved road. I don't mind a dirt road in the GT3, but after a few hundred yards of major washboard ruts, we had to stop to collect the the fillings that had rattled out of our teeth. 

I turned around and concluded that Butte Lake and the 4-mile hike to the Cinder Cones was not for me this day.  That's ok, we still had the lake and the roads and the trees and the sunshine. OK, blame me for not knowing, but TBH, we've been to so many National Parks that go out of their way to provide access via paved roads, turnouts and welcome centers that I wasn't thinking that Lassen is one of the less developed Parks in the system. So if you come here, bring your pickup truck.

The trek back to Chester and Lake Almanor allowed more fun driving and sightseeing (Maybe Jill wasn't sharing in my glee, but to her credit, she never said so and just enjoyed the ride).

When it was time to leave (and I recommend staying at the Lake for a few days to find the slow rhythm of the place), we took the long way home along Highway 70 and the Feather River Canyon. I mentioned the Dixie Fire previously, and that fire, the largest single-source fire in California history, started at a point along that highway and that river. 

We had been driving for a couple of days, and the extent of the fire damage kept hitting us in the face. Maybe never more so than when driving through the small town of Greenville, which was 70% destroyed by the Fire. Almost all the buildings in the town are now brand-spanking new, and I was glad to see the success of the rebuild, or at least the outwards signs of it. I'm sure the locals won't heal for a long time.

The feather River Canyon is breathtaking, and was even more so before it lost so much forest. But the river is still the star, and the geology the co-star. We stopped frequently along the river to admire the water, the rocks, the fresh air, and the solitude. 

We stopped in places like Twain, where the Twain store survived the fire. (I also couldn't help but notice the train tracks nearby that run along the canyon, which I assume are known locally as the Twain Twacks).

We stopped for lunch in Belden Town (town is a pretty optimistic name for this charming wide spot in the canyon). You enter town across a single-lane bridge that has made this town a well-known stop for over 110 years.

It is a place known to hikers as a key stop along the Pacific Crest Trail, and the local store and cafe (its for sale, BTW) serves up some grub and cold beer for hikers and visitors to the local music fests. 

It also has a terrific beach underneath the bridge which was the perfect spot for our picnic lunch.

And if you know me, you know I can't pass an old service station without a pic.  After all, it was a full service gas station where I started my working life as a teen, and I still have nostalgia for these old places (and yes, this one even pre-dates me).

Higwhay 70 along the Feather River is a treat, and next time I'll definitely bring my fishing gear. Also interesting were the number of power facilities owned by PG&E along this river. I now know that the canyon is known as the "Stairway of Power" as PG&E operates no less than 7 dams and and 9 powerhouses. The Dixie fire started near the PG&E Cresta Dam when a tree fell on a large distribution line. You see a lot of those out here.  

About the time we hit Yankee Hill and saw Toni's Burgers and More on the roadside (looks like a place I need to visit), we knew we would start dropping down into the valley again. Goodbye to the forest, the rivers, the quiet solitude of the Sierras. Great trip, worth a look if you're local.  

We'll be back. Oh. and the GT3 is still the King of road-trippers.