bumpass hell

Bumpass Hell is Lassen Volcanic National Park’s largest and best hydrothermal area featuring a colorful basin of fumaroles, boiling mudpots and steaming pools and springs. The basin is reached by a mostly easy 3 mile (4.8k) round trip hike from a large parking area located along the main park road about 6.5 miles (10.5k) from the southwest entrance of the park. The parking area itself offers excellent views of the park and surrounding areas to the south and east, a huge 10 foot (3.0m) glacial erratic and pit toilets. While the trail is easy and level most of the way, it is at an altitude of over 8,000 feet (2,438m) which can be challenging for some, especially when one reaches the end of the trail where it descends steeply about 300 feet (91m) to the basin; the climb out can be challenging at the elevation coupled with the high levels sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gasses in the air. Fortunately, if you do not wish to descend to the basin for the climb back out, there is an excellent viewpoint overlooking the basin just before the descent. If one does descend to the basin, there are boardwalks that fan out over the basin taking one safely over the thin earth crust above the boiling water just below to the many interesting, beautiful and often smelly hydrothermal features. Staying on the boardwalk is important as the name of the basin implies, being named for an early explorer to the area that fell through the crust and severely burned, and ultimately lost, his leg. While visitation to Lassen Volcanic is quite low and most trails in the park are quiet and deserted, we found the trail to Bumpass Hell can be very crowded due to the popularity of this attraction; however, one can avoid most of the other hikers with an early start that allows one to finish by 10 am or so.

beautiful place once u get used to the smell of sulphur. Nice hike from Lake Helen, but worth the effort. Take lots of water along.

The volcanic activity at the end of the Bumpass Hell is not the best park of this trail, the best part is getting there. You will hike past scenic valleys and large meadows as you make your way to the steam vents and boiling mud pots. Steep hike in and out of where they have all the activity, but the trail soon levels off and is overall an easy hike.

My favorite part of the park was the Bumpess Hell hike, where you get to walk on the boardwalk over some active bubbling thermals. The colors were beautiful. The hike there isn't too bad, it gives a view of the valley. Parking was hard here because I think it is the park's most popular hike. Yes, there the smell of sulfur everywhere, but I easily got over it.(If you can't hike, you can see thermal activities along the road, near the south entrance. There is a pull out for parking and a pit toilet.)

The trail leading to Bumpess Hell is just wonderful! Beautiful vistas of the valley below can be seen, then at the end you reach Bumpess Hell. Just wonderful to explore. It is stinky, there is the smell of sulfur in the whole area. It's kinda like a "mini" Yellowstone! The bubbling pools are really neat and so are the unusual colors surrounding the landscape.

The Bumpess Hell trail is one of the signature trail in the park as it is short, about 3 miles round trip that can easily be done in 1-2 hours with little elevation gain. It was packed with people and you literally were shoulder to shoulder. The sulfur smell is fairly mild compared to Yellow Stone national park but still fascinating to see. Lake Helen is also located very close to Bumpess Hell so you can check it out as well. If you have two cars, you can consider walking all the way to the King’s creek trail and check out the Cold boiling Lake so you don’t return the same way you come in. I think it is slightly longer to go this route. Restroom facility is available at the parking lot. The parking lot may be overflowed so you may have to park on the side of the highway.

Bumpass Hell is a thermal area in Lassen Volcanic National Park. There are no geysers there but there are boiling lakes, fumaroles and mud pots. It was named after Kendall Bumpass, a local character and cowboy who lived nearby in the 1860’s - well before it became a park. The story goes that he was showing some guests around the area and was in the midst of telling them to walk carefully around the thermal features when the crust gave way and plunged his leg into super hot water underneath requiring it to be amputated shortly thereafter.The trail to Bumpass hell is 1.5 mile in length. First mile or so is a gradual climb of 500ft.(about 2/3 of the total distance) when you get to the top of the ridge you can look down over the entire Bumpass Hell Thermal area. Some people only go this far but if you turn back here you’ve really missed the experience – especially if this is your first visit to an active thermal area. From this point the trail drops 250 ft into the thermal area itself at a moderate (steeper) rate. Of course if you go down that last half mile or so with it’s 250 ft drop, you’ll have to come back up that steeper portion when you’re done. If you take your time it’s not too bad and probably in the “moderate” category of hikes.Most of the trail (both the up part and the down part) are in the direct sun but there are patches of shade under tress every hundred yards or so which provide good spots to stop and admire the view. The upward part of the trail is on the south west flank of a ridge so can get pretty warm in the afternoon making this hike much better in the morning when it’s cooler on the way up. The downward part (from the ridge top down in to the feature itself) is on the northern side of the ridge.Speaking of views (some attached) along the trial you’ll have a short view of Helen lake and Mt. Lassen, and extended views of Mt. Diller, Pilot Pinnacle, Brokeoff Mountain and much of the lower Cascade range off to the West.Once you get to Bumpass Hell itself, you’ll for the most part be on raised wooden walkways. Lest you want to repeat the fate of poor old Bumpass STAY ON THE WALKWAYS. When you get down near the thermal area a trail goes off to your right that skips Bumpass Hell and goes off to Cold Boiling lake (another couple miles away), stay to the left here. Very shortly thereafter the trail will come to a “T”. If you go left, you’ll climb to the top of a small knoll that gives you a panorama view of the entire thermal area. The trail to the right at the “T” leads onto the raised boardwalks down in the area itself. In the area you find hissing vents (fumaroles), boiling lakes, and if it’s not been too dry burbling mud pots. You will also encounter a strong sulfur smell prompting young kids to traverse the entire area holding their nose. PHOTOGRAPHING this area is a bit tricky, especially in the bright sun. The ground surfaces are quite bright (highly reflective) which your camera does not expect. If your shot contains only this bright ground tell your camera to overexpose by 2/3 to 1 stop (look up Exposure Compensation in your manual). If your shot also has some dark green forest in it, you may have to under expose by 1/3 stop. If you’re not sure then bracket – “bracket” means that when you take a shot at whatever exposure the camera suggests, take a few more, some of which are set to over expose and some set to under expose, then choose the best one when you get home.

Boiling cauldrons and sulfur colored soil make this steaming vent fascinating. An easy hike with a short section of descent/ascent.

Sometimes called the "poor man's Yellowstone," Lassen Volcanic National Park is not widely visited. We were there Labor Day weekend and found two large campgrounds largely deserted. And while it's true that, despite mountain views, waterfalls, thermal features and wildlife, it is not as extensive in any of those categories as its big brother. Of course, if you are "National Park collectors," like we are, or are in the area, it is very much worth at least a day of your time. I suggest coming in from South in the morning, for great light on the peaks. Stop at the Visitor Center, then the Sulfur Works for a sample of what the park is, then go on up and take the trail to Bumpass Hell, either before or after lunch, which you'll have to bring in with you. It takes 2-3 hours, its a 3 mile roundtrip and the most "special" place in the park. No geysers, but lots of hot mud and hot water. After that, go down the west side, again with great light on the mountains. Take the Devastated Area Walk (short) the Manzanita Lake or Pond walk before hitting the other Visitor Center before it closes at 5? PM. There is plenty of lodging just 20-30 miles down the road from there.

There is an easy walk to reach the heart of Bumpass Hell, with a little bit of up and down at the end. You can tell you're near the end because of the smell (sulfur compounds) and the noise (bubbling of the pools). What a way to announce an unforgettable experience! The park did a very nice job of building a boardwalk around the major sites, so that it's easy to spend half an hour walking around looking at the colorful and odoriferous sights. Although the hot springs in Yellowstone and the springs in Lassen are not exactly the same, in general, those of Lassen are more dramatic.

Short , easy , sometime narrow hike. I did it with my 12 years old doughter and she was ok. Carry plenty of water.

The noise as you approach Bumpass Hell is amazing! The boiling pots were not very active when we visited, but the steam vents were incredible. The trail is fairly easy - it gets a bit steep as you go down into Bumpass Hell, but the experience is worth the climb out. The boardwalk takes you safely through the area.

Special fascinating landscape! A must see! Have a look at our earth in a different way! Boiling pools, hot springs- interesting!

The hike is not to long, maybe 30 min each way but well worth it. It has some uphills but is rated moderate, seems pretty easy. This is such a great natural place to see, boiling pools of water and steam. There is a plank sidewalk and observation decks there to observe it all. Nothing short of amazing here, seeing nature at its self. All of Lassen park was beautiful. There are a lot of people on the trail but everyone was polite. So much scenery, We will be back to explore more of this place!

I was very excited to check out Bumpass Hell and pretty let down. I am sure at different times it can be amazing but not when we visited. Walk i. Is not that bad. The hill coming out of Hell sucks!!!