Land of Smoke — Lassen Volcanic National Park (21-pic gallery)

[SF Chronicle RSS Feed - Tom Stienstra]

Lassen is the “Land of Smoke,” the national park with the volcano that literally blew its top in 1915. Beneath the old volcano is an underground geothermal system that still bursts with smoking fumaroles, steam vents and boiling mud pots at eight geothermal areas that attract visitors from around the world. Yet the closest many people get to Lassen Volcanic National Park is 50 miles away on I-5, where they spot 10,457-foot Lassen Peak to the east and wonder what it is. Many in the Bay Area and Sacramento never see it, being located outside the San Francisco-to-Tahoe corridor. On my visit last Friday, 12 of 20 camping cabins at [...]

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