Bumpass Hell, that is, in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

We started out this morning at Burney Falls, a beautiful 129-foot waterfall about 45 minutes north of the park. It may look familiar to Tarzan fans, for it was used as the backdrop for one of the early Tarzan movies with Johnnie Weismuller.

Burney Falls

Then on to Lassen. First a brief stop at the Devastation Wilderness, where the pyroclastic flows of the 1915 eruption created a half-mile-wide lahar that overflowed a low ridge at Emigrant Pass and into Hat Creek, right through the area from where this picture was taken.

Mount Lassen from the Devastation Wilderness vista point

The Bumpass Hell trail is only about 1.5 miles long, 500 feet up and then 250 feet down, but it’s at about 8000 feet, so it seemed longer. But it was worth it. First you smell Bumpass Hell, the not-entirely unpleasant tang of sulfur, and then you hear it, like jets taking off. From a distance, it looked sort of like a roller coaster in Infernoland, but as I got closer I realized it was a series of boardwalks that keep all but Darwin-award contendees away from the thin crust that overlays mud at temperatures well above the boiling point of water.

Bumpass Hell

Somebody gets boiled every year–we saw what looked a lot like a footprint broken through the crust about six feet from what appeared to be the remains of a sun-visor. Uggh!)The Big Boiler Fumarole in the park puts out steam at 322 F/161 C, making it the hottest fumarole in the world near a non-erupting volcano. K.V. Bumpass, after whom the area is named, lost a leg to 240-degree mud in 1865, perhaps near where I took this picture.

Deceptive Beauty

So here we are, enjoying our vacation in Hell.

Dave and Deborah in Hell

Tonight we’re staying in Chester, near Amador Lake, and tomorrow it’s six hours back to Boulder Creek. Friday, Oka gets out of jail, and I get my clarinet back. We’ve had a wonderful time, but we’re ready to be home.