Lassen Volcanic National Park
Trip Assistant
How Much Time?
If you want to explore each region of the park, you’ll need a couple days. If you want to do the highlights (Lassen Peak, Cinder Cone, Manzanita Lake, and maybe Brokeoff Mountain), a night or two should do the trick. There’s much more to see in this region.
Need to Know
- Reservations are required for camping.
- The main park road typically closes in winter, fall through late spring.
- Most of the park burned in the Dixie Fire in 2021 and the Park Fire in 2024.
Highlights
- Lassen Peak
- Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway
- Manzanita Lake
- Lake Helen
- Butte Lake
Activities
- Hiking
- Backpacking
- Paddling
- Horseback Riding
- Fishing
- Stargazing
- Cross-country Skiing
- Snowshoeing
Favorite Trails
Easy
Moderate Strenuous *Links to AllTrailsWhen To Go?
Weather
Visitation
Visitation isn’t as brisk as other California parks, but it also isn’t as big and the tourism season is short, so it can get busy in summer, when trails and roads are fully open. And two major fires in the 2020s burned most of the land, so the park is in a major rejuvenation stage.
Park Map Downloads
Road Trips
Helpful Tools
Below you'll see a Google Map to help plan road trips from the north (Crater Lake), west (Redwood), and south (Yosemite). It’s a good start, but I’d highly recommend making your own. Google My Maps, Wanderlog, and TripIt are incredibly useful trip planning tools. Find what works best for you!
There’s much more to our country. Here’s another Google Map with points of interest across all types of public land.
For campers, here’s a Google Map with National Forest campgrounds. National Park campgrounds are difficult to reserve (there are about 200!). With nearly 5,000 national forest campgrounds, you can usually pull in and find a spot.
Highlights
- Mount Shasta (CA) / (Shasta-Trinity NF)
- McCloud Falls (CA) (Three separate falls)
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