Join Diane and Andy. We started this blog as we began our travels across America in our RV in 2004. (This blog will go back to January of 2005, but for 2004 travels you can visit our website at www.diandy.com). In 2009 we settled down once again, but in Colorado. Our family has since grown (and moved), and we are once again eager to explore our beautiful country, and hopefully the world...this time with the intent of sharing our love for travel with our little love.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Old Station, CA - Lassen's Bumpass Hell
Bumpass used to guide people around, what is now, the park's largest hydrothermal area. But one misstep was "a quick step to hell". His foot broke through the thin layer of crust , which is how this area got it's name. Pictures don't do this area justice because there is more to experience than just the sights. You have to smell the sulphur and hear the hissing of the steam vents and pulsing of the mud pots to get a sense of this incredible place.
The steam vent here is the largest in the world for a non-erupting volcano. The sound was comparable to a jet engine. We could hear and smell Bumpass Hell before we had crested over the ridge on the 1.5-mile hike to reach it.
The boardwalk takes you right up to the edges of boiling mud pots, springs, fumaroles, and steam vents. Part of the boardwalk was taken down - I'm not sure if they are in the process of moving it because of new vents opening (Yellowstone has to do this I remember).
There are these wonderful trees that grew at this elevation. They might be mountain hemlocks, but I'm not a 100%. But I loved them because when they are young they grow in tight bunches of five or more saplings, and then as they grow big their trunks grow together in these great formations.
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