Lassen Volcanic National Park: Tribes, Trappers, Pioneers, And Eruptions

Above, a view of Lassen Peak from Devastated Area in 2017. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The first national park I visited was when I was at age 14 with my parents in 1968. It was Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. 

That got me hooked on traveling to national parks over the succeeding years. I visited Lassen again in 2017 during my Great American Eclipse trip. I camped at the Manzanita Lake Campground in my motorhome. 

Above, my campsite at Manzanita Lake Campground in 2017. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

National Parks Traveler posted an article on how Lassen became a national park due to eruptions of Lassen Peak in the early 20th Century.

They start it with:

Native American tribes, fur trappers, pioneers, and prospectors have all wandered around and within the boundaries of what is now Lassen Volcanic National Park in California. Before it was a national park, though, the landscape consisted of two separate national monuments. It took a series of Lassen Peak eruptions between 1914 – 1917 to make national park establishment a “done deal.”

 To read more, go here.