Smaller than Yosemite or Yellowstone, with parts still closed due to the 2021 Dixie Fire, Lassen Volcanic National Park in California should still be a destination on your national park bucket list. Once an undiscovered gem, this national park has definitely been discovered. With good reason!

You can hike to the top of a cinder cone for amazing views in every direction, walk alongside hydrothermal wonders of hot springs, bubbling mudpots, and steaming fumaroles, and hike to the summit of one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. You can walk around a quiet lake frequented by Canada geese, blue herons and other waterfowl over which Lassen Peak and Chaos Crags tower, gaze up at the sparkling night sky with little to no light pollution, and drive a park highway listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

All set for a visit? The Traveler’s Checklist for Lassen Volcanic National Park should help you with your plans.

The road through the park, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• To get a good idea of what to see in this national park, drive the scenic, 30-mile-long (48.28 km) Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway and stop at all 16 tour markers. Each stop provides some scenic view, historical, geological, or other interesting item of note about that marked spot. You can purchase the road guide Lassen Volcanic National Park: Auto Tours, Trips, and Trails by Larry Eifert, or download the NPS App to access 16 audio files corresponding to the tour posts. Remember to follow the speed limits through the park. The road gets twisty and you never know when a furry friend might cross in front of you.
  
  
  

  Along the Devastated Area Interpretive Trail, you can view huge dacite boulders with "quenched blobs" of rapidly cooled basalt in them, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• Wander the very short (0.2 mile / 0.32 km) Devastated Area Interpretive Trail for insight into resulting devastation of the surrounding landscape that occurred during the 1915 – 1917 Lassen Peak eruptions.
  
  
  

  This rock from erupting Lassen Peak was once so hot that it set fire to logs around it, hence the name "Hot Rock," Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• Stop at the roadside Hot Rock exhibit and get a photo standing next to a 300-ton dacite boulder, a part of the volcanic lahar (mudflow/debris flow) which roared down the mountain side at a speed of 45 – 50 mph (72 – 80 kph), destroying all in its path. The boulder remained hot for several days, setting fire to logs.
  
  
  

  The slog up the Cinder Cone Trail is arduous, but the view from the summit is amazing, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

  

  A view from Cinder Cone summit, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• Take a hike. While there are many trails with varying levels of difficulty for all ages, there are three hikes you should definitely attempt. Both the popular five-mile roundtrip Lassen Peak Trail - the trailhead of which is reached from a large paved parking area - or the four-mile roundtrip Cinder Cone Trail located in the more remote northeastern portion of the park are strenuous treks rewarding the intrepid hiker with amazing views of landscape within and beyond park boundaries.
  
  

  Looking down upon Bumpass Hell, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

  
  A hike to Bumpass Hell, named after Kendall Vanhook Bumpass, who – in the 1860s - injured a leg when he broke through the thin crust of a boiling hot spring, will introduce you to the hottest and largest of eight hydrothermal areas within the park. You’ll wander the boardwalks through this 16-acre (6.47-hectare) basin and view approximately 75 boiling acid-sulfate springs, steaming fumaroles, and bubbling mudpots.
  
  

  A boiling, bubbling mudpot at Sulphur Works, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• Stop off to see, listen to, and smell the bubbling mudpots and steaming fumaroles of Sulphur Works, just up the road from the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center. You’ll learn about the geologic mechanism behind this hydrothermal wonder and how it once contributed to a small business enterprise by one Mathias B. Supan and Supan Sulphur Works.
  
  

  Kayakers enjoying a paddle on Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• Rent a kayak, canoe, or paddleboard at the Manzanita Lake Camper Store and paddle around quiet Manzanita Lake to view water fowl and perhaps spot black-tailed deer. Chaos Crags and Lassen Peak tower over this quiet waterbody. Bring along a snack or lunch and enjoy the food at one of the lakeside picnic tables.
  
  

  Loomis Museum, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

• Visit the Loomis Museum at the park’s northwest entrance between Reflection and Manzanita lakes. Constructed in 1927 by B. F. and Estella Loomis to honor their deceased daughter as well as to display and preserve Loomis’ photographic collection of Lassen Peak eruptions, this building also serves as a summer visitor center.
  
  

  A sparkling night sky over Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Alison Taggart-Barone via NPS

• Stay up past your bedtime to view the night sky over the park. Manzanita Lake is a nice spot for stargazing, as is the Bumpass Hell parking area. If you really feel adventurous, Cinder Cone summit is a great spot for enjoying the starry sky, too.