Lassen National Park is situated in the remains of an enormous Volcanic Explosion that left a ring of shattered peaks and some very rich soil in it's wake. I've written two previous posts on the park and the volcanic activity that remains. You can find the first here and the second here.
The vegetation in the park is incredibly dense in places and incredibly sparse in places. Located in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains it gets a lot of snow every winter.
There are multiple valleys like this one in the park. Long and deep and heavily forested. You can see at least 3 volcanic mounds in this photo alone. It's part and parcel of the park.
This is a photo of the previously written Sulfur Works. Not only did I have the place to myself, but you can see a fair representation of the terrain in the park. Forest, alpine meadows and bare rock.
This is a view of one of the vents in the Sulfur Works area but you can really see the difference. Lush vegetation or nothing. It's the story of the whole park. I was there in mid June, quite early in the growth cycle of the park owing to it's altitude and the amount of snow it receives.
Not all the bare spots in the park are the result of current volcanic activity. The bare spots in this view are bare native rock that just won't support life of any sort. Also very close to the timberline in many places in the park. Trees just won't grow above a certain altitude and so you get 'timberline'.
Another look into another long, hazy valley. The forest in these places tends to be very lush and verdant.
Not all of the vegetation in the park is towering trees. The meadows will have abundant wild flowers and grasses that give good eating to the fauna that also inhabit the park. I was too early for the real show in the meadows.
Yes, there is snow in this picture. There will be more of that I promise! The combination of forest and meadow and bare spots are just compelling features of Lassen Volcanic National Park. I'll be featuring more in the next post. Thanks for reading along!
All words and photos in this post are mine. For better or worse.
