RETIREMENT TRIP #7

Earth Blows Off Steam!

                                                                             The car said 43 degrees this morning, so it would be in the 30’s on Lassen.  We grabbed our jackets before heading out.  It was 40 miles back to our long hike at Bumpass Hell this morning, so at least there was time for the sun to warm things up.



The Bumpass Hell Trail climbs across
rocky ledges and low growth manzanita.

Sections of the park road are actually scary to drive with no shoulder, no guard rails, no trees and a thousand feet straight down.  Andy commented as well, as he rounded the twisting bends and grabbed the sun visor to deflect the morning glare.   Luckily we had the road to ourselves.

The trail to Bumpass Hell
takes us past Mount Diller.

“I think today will be quiet here,” said Andy.  “Yesterday was the weekend crowd.” 

We didn’t hike Bumpass Hell yesterday, because every single space in the parking lot was filled—probably at least 60 spots.  Today there were three cars, and ours said 56 degrees by the time we parked.  But we took jackets just in case.

It took us two hours round trip to go the three miles—500 foot rise, 250 foot descent in one direction.  But what an education! 

Brokeoff Mountain and Mount Diller
form the backdrop for our hike.

Mud pots bubbled and belched the thick, pasty ooze; fumaroles puffed clouds of steam, and groundwater boiled in pools.  Andy read one sign that recorded 322 degrees, the hottest temperature registered for an active fumarole area on earth.

As the trail winds downhill,
Bumpass Hell comes into view.

We walked all the boardwalks.  Sulphur smell permeated the air.  Clouds of putrid steam rose and fell around us.  The white was so blinding that even a camera speed of 4000 wasn’t fast enough for pictures.  I tried anyway.

A steaming mass of sulphur and clay
earns its name early Monday morning.

Interpretive signs explained that we literally stood on magma, chambered miles below our feet.  It is the same magma that fed the eruptions of Lassen in 1915.  The magma superheats groundwater deep in the Earth.  Steam, as hot as 464 degrees Fahrenheit, rises and condenses back to water, mixing with percolating water nearer the surface.  The mixture produces sulfate water, as hot as 200 degrees Fahrenheit, that escapes through hydrothermal features.

A mudpot bubbles away at Bumpass Hell.

A mudpot is the intermediate phase between a fumarole or steam vent and a boiling spring.  In a wet year, a mudpot can become saturated, allowing sediment to thin and settle and forming a boiling spring.  In a dry year, a mudpot can dry up and just emit steam as a fumarole.  The surface material is in a constant state of change.



Any fool who tries to find gold in the
Pyrite Pool will not end up rich!

Bumpass Hell occupies the old eroded vent of a dormant dome volcano called Bumpass Mountain.  More than 75 fumaroles, hot springs and mudpots compose this 16-acre hydrothermal area.  And surprisingly enough bacteria live in the boiling water.

A fumarole steams away
at Bumpass Hell.

The black scum on the surface of the boiling pool is pyrite and the frothy mass contains tiny pyrite crystals, an iron sulfide mineral more commonly known as Fools Gold.

Iron leaches from the rocks below and combines with sulphur as it rises to the surface.  The steam emptying into each Pyrite Pool only slightly tempers the heat.  The up-flow of Bumpass Hell’s superheated steam is like a stove burner always on high.  And plants like bog-laurel and mountain heather still grow near the edge.

Andy checks out the fumaroles at Bumpass Hell.

 

Big Brother is the hottest fumarole—within a non-eruptive volcano—in the world.  Steam temperatures can reach 322 degrees Fahrenheit.  By contrast though, flowing lava can be as hot as 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.  Constant churning action is increasing Big Brother’s size.  Even some of the boardwalk has been engulfed.

Looking out toward Big Brother on the
left, we are amazed at the forces
that are underground.

We stopped for lunch at Sulphur Works.   Weather-wise, the high is still in effect for this part of California.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and at noon our car read 73 degrees at around 8,000 feet in elevation.

Big Brother grows by absorbing surrounding crust.

For the afternoon we drove back through Chester and down to the south end of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  The last two miles of road turned to gravel and then badly rutted gravel, but a mile past the ranger station we found the campground and signs for trails.

Andy chose Boiling Spring Lake instead of Devils Kitchen because it was a mile shorter.

Brokeoff Mountain forms a
backdrop for lunch stop nearby.

So at 1:15 p.m. we set out with water and cameras.

The trail crossed a meadow on stretches of boardwalk, bridged a fast-moving stream and went through forest areas of incense cedar, ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and sugar pine.  Much was gently uphill for over a mile until it reached the pale green lake.  This was horseback riding country, but we didn’t meet any on the trail today.

Cold Boiling Lake actually bubbles with heat in the center.
Mudpots and fumaroles line the edges.

Steam vents located under Boiling Spring Lake keep the temperature of the lake around 135 degrees.  Signs everywhere warned hikers to stay on the trail away from thin crust and crumbling edge.

The southeastern shore was lined with bubbling mud pots and steaming fumaroles.   Water in the middle was actually boiling.

“The picture I saw was probably taken in the winter,” said Andy.  “There was steam everywhere.”

He guessed that an early morning visit when the air temperature is much cooler would show more steam.

It was a lot easier walk back downhill, and meeting other hikers on our return trek, we learned a little about exclusive Drakesbad, a pricey lodge at the end of the gravel road that features total luxury in the wild.

Sue tries her hand at wildlife photography as a tubby little
chipmunk poses for her with pine nut on a piece of red dacite.

We were glad we had planned for a reasonable finish as far as time was concerned.  On the way back down the gravel road, the Low Tire Pressure warning flashed in the car.  So we spent the next hour washing the car and looking for service stations with working air pumps and meters to read the pressure.  Mission accomplished!