GEOGRAPHY FIELD STUDIES

LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK

MT.SHASTA, BURNEYFALLS

CASTLE CRAGS



Lassen – Shasta – Burney Falls –Castle Crags - June 21-24, 2007

Day 1 – Thursday, June 21, 2007

  1. Meet at El Camino at 6:00 am in parking lot next to Campus Police at corner of Redondo Beach Boulevard & Crenshaw. It is best to get dropped off so that you don’t have to leave your car on campus. Depart 7:00 am.
  1. We’ll take Crenshaw to the 105 and we’ll go eastbound, getting into the carpool lane as soon as possible. We will go north on the 110 (staying in the carpool lane), past I-10 (which goes all the way across the country to Jacksonville, Florida), and past downtown LA to I-5.
  1. On the north edge of downtown LA, just past the 101, we pass by Chinatown on the right. Past Chinatown, the hills on the left include Elysian Park where the LA Dodgers play their home games. These hills are the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, a low range of mostly sedimentary rocks that extend west to Pt. Mugu (west of Malibu), and include the Hollywood Hills and Griffith Park .
  1. We go north on I-5, a highway that goes all the way to Oregon and Washington, and we will be on it for less much of today. We pass by GriffithPark and the LA Zoo on the left, set at the foot of chaparral covered slopes. Chaparral consists mostly of evergreen shrubs that are useless for grazing or direct commercial use, but the plants do protect the slopes from erosion. Unfortunate for nearby homeowners, many of the plants are extremely flammable, so the fire hazard is high.
  1. Past Burbank we enter the San Fernando Valley, often called “The Valley” as if other valleys in Southern California are much less important. The SF Valley is part of the City of Los Angeles even though you’ll see signs for Reseda, Granada Hills, and San Fernando. Until the 1970s, the San Fernando Valley was considered a suburban region of mostly White families whose residents commuted “over the hill” to jobs in downtown L.A., Hollywood, Westwood, etc. Now most of the population is non-white and about three quarters of the people work locally, within the Valley.
  1. At the north end of the San Fernando Valley we enter the mountains. Notice the water pipe and cascade coming down from the hilltop on your right. That water is coming from the Los Angeles Aqueduct, built 1905-1913 to bring water from the OwensValley and MonoBasin, 300 miles away.
  1. We pass Santa Clarita, a sprawling suburban area that has grown immensely over the last 20 years. Six FlagsMagicMountain is just slightly farther north, to the left of the freeway, and is no longer the isolated amusement park it was when it first opened 30 years ago.
  1. Up a long grade we pass PyramidLake (left side) which holds water from the California Aqueduct, water that has come 450 miles from the northern Sierra Nevada.
  1. When we reach the small town of Gorman, our route on I-5 is following the San Andreas Fault, the most famous earthquake fault in the world. We soon cross TejonPass (4144’) and FortTejon, site of the last major earthquake on the southern portion of the San Andreas. It would have measured an estimated 8.3 on the Richter scale, but this was back in 1857 and the Richter scale was not yet invented.
  1. We soon descend the long grade of “the Grapevine” (named after the canyon we follow here), out of the Tehachapi Mountains into the Central Valley, the 500 mile-long stretch of some of the world’s most productive agriculture.
  1. We soon pass the California Aqueduct, part of the huge State Water Project that brings water to Central Valley farmers and Southern California cities (but very little to the city of Los Angeles). This water goes to Pyramid Lake (which we passed less than an hour ago), Silverwood Lake (above San Bernardino) and finally ends at Lake Perris in Riverside County.
  1. A few minutes after passing the Aqueduct we go north on I-5. For the next 4 hours we will be traveling up the west edge of the San JoaquinValley.
  1. The Coast Ranges are to our left and the heavily farmed San JoaquinValley is to our right. The farms rely on the water of the California Aqueduct (which we cross a few times). We will stop after 140 miles (2 hours) on I-5 at a rest area along the aqueduct about 15 miles north of Highway 180. Lunch and restroom there.
  1. We continue on I-5 past Stockton, at the east end of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta. It bills itself as the “Sunrise Seaport”, as it is quite far to the east of the seaports on San Francisco Bay, but a dredged shipping channel connects Stockton to the Bay and is deep enough to support ocean-going vessels.
  1. About 45 miles north of Stockton we reach Sacramento, the capital city of California. Although recent growth is evident in new residential developments, Sacramento is still a fairly quiet city in comparison to L.A. and Bay Area cities. Back in 1852 when it was chosen to be capital, though, it was in an important position as a jump-off point for the Sierra Nevada gold mines, and close to San Francisco in the other direction.
  1. FromSacramento northward we are in the SacramentoValley, the northern part of California’s Central Valley. We continue up I-5 past farmland, including rice fields which are worked very differently than those in Asia. In California rice farming requires very little human labor, relying on machinery for planting and harvesting.
  1. When we pass Corning notice all of the olive trees, the source of almost all of the olives sold in the USA.
  1. At Red Bluff we leave I-5 towards Lassen on Highway 36 (east; turn right). Red Bluff is one of the hottest non-desert locations in the USA, once reaching 121F (in 1981). It will probably be around 90-95F when we pass through. We’ll probably get gas in Red Bluff before continuing on.
  1. Following Highway 36 we soon start to rise in elevation, passing scattered oak trees in the classic Oak Woodland environment, and as we rise above 1000’ we start to see Grey Pines and Ponderosa Pines. Compared to the gray-green color of Grey Pine needles, Ponderosa needles are greener with a tinge of yellow.
  1. You’ll see a sign for the Ishi Wilderness, named after a Native California Indian who was “The Last Wild Man in North America.” It had been thought the last Indians of this area were wiped out in the 1800s, but in 1908 surveyors encountered a naked, native man spear fishing at a stream in these foothills. He ran off but was found 3 years later. Ishi, as he was called, spoke a language totally unique even compared to other Native California Indian dialects, but gradually an anthropologist from UC Berkeley learned to communicate with him and learned about the traditional ways of the Ishi’s people. Ishi died in 1916 of tuberculosis, living his last years at the Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley. He said that white people were “smart but not wise, knowing many things including much that is false.” There is a great book called Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Man in North America, written by Theodora Kroeber.
  1. We enter LassenVolcanicNational Park at the south entrance and soon pass a hydrothermal area called Sulphur Works, an area of fumaroles (escaping gases through vents in the earth’s surface) and hot springs. The trail through this area is now closed due to the instability of the ground and potential danger, so we will probably skip this stop.
  1. We are insidethe area of an ancient volcano called Mt.Tehama, a composite cone volcano which is now mostly eroded away but which used to be higher than Mt.Lassen. About a mile past Sulphur Works you can look across the canyon on the right to see sloping layers of lava and ash which have been chemically altered by steam and sulphuric acid, coloring the andesite rock white, tan, red, and purple.

Stop #1 – Lassen Volcanic National Park – EmeraldLake

What is the elevation here? ______Is your breathing any different compared to normal?

Lakes are formed in various ways. Sometimes earthquakes drop the land to create a basin which fills with water. Sometimes a landslide or lava flow forms a natural dam across a river to create a lake. Emerald and HelenLakes were formed in a different way. How were these basins created?

What are these kinds of lakes called?

  1. We drive a few minutes to the Bumpass Hell parking lot. This 3-mile hike is on a trail closed much of the year due to snow, but hopefully the trail will be open when we get there. It usually opens during the 2nd half of June.

Stop #2 – LassenVolcanicNational Park – Bumpass Hell (3 miles; you could say this is “a hell of a hike”)

Notice the large boulder resting on the edge of the parking lot. It is called a glacial erratic. How did it get there?

What other signs around the boulder tell you that a glacier moved through here?

As we hike the trail to Bumpass Hell, we will stop at some of the numbered posts.

Post #8 - How does the volcanic rock get cracked at first?

How do those cracks get enlarged?

What is talus? (Noticeable in any steep/young mountain range)

Post #13 –Visible from this point from left to right are the Sierra Nevada which start just 10 miles to the south composed mostly of granite (not volcanic), the Coast Ranges in the far distance mostly composed of folded sedimentary rocks, and Brokeoff (not Brokeback) Mountain, the remnant of a composite volcano. (No notes at this post)

Post #14 – What is the meaning ofgeothermal energy?

What is the meaning of hydrothermal?

In this area, how far below the earth’s surface is magma?

Think of the water that emerges at the surface as boiling water and steam. Describe the pathway of that water, where it originated, how it became hot, and how it came to this area.

Why is this area so barren of vegetation? In other words, what are the limiting factors to vegetation?

Why is there a smell of rotten eggs in this geothermal area?

Bumpass Hell (continued)

Why is the soil so white and unstable?

What other colors are seen at Bumpass Hell, and what minerals are those?

Fumaroles, Hot Springs, and Mud Pots – what are the differences?

After finishing the hike jot down your thoughts of what you saw at Bumpass Hell?

  1. When we get back to the vans we will drive through the park to reach our campground at ManzanitaLake. We pass LakeHelen, a lake we saw from the Bumpass Hell Trail, with a large outcrop of andesite rock on the right side of the road. It has large vertical cracks, formed when the lava cooled and contracted. Water seeped in later and enlarged the cracks when the water froze. Water expands in volume by about 10% when it freezes.
  1. We pass the parking lot for the trailhead up to the LassenPeakwhere we will return to hike the next day (depending on weather and trail conditions). Just past the parking lot is the highest point on the park road, 8512’. We pass by SummitLake, HatLake, and other places we will see again more thoroughly tomorrow.
  1. We reach Manzanita Lake Campgrouond on the west side of Mt.Lassen. We have 4 sites reserved: A-25, 27, 28, 29. There is a 1.5 mile trail which goes around ManzanitaLake and offers beautiful views across the water to Lassen Peak. There are 24-hour showers at the campground entrance near the store. Showers require quarters: 50c gets you 3 minutes. You must bring your own towel. The campground store is open from 8 am until 8 pm, but is small and relatively expensive.
  1. It’s been a long day, so we will set up camp, make dinner, and go to sleep. If there’s enough time we will play a game or two around the campfire…

END OF DAY #1


Day 2 – Friday, June 22, 2007

  1. This is a full day to experience LassenVolcanicNational Park. After breakfast we will pack our lunch and drive back through the park in the reverse direction of the previous day. Within a mile of leaving the campground we pass Chaos Jumbles, a rocky area with little vegetation. The light-colored mountain behind is called Chaos Crags, a plug dome volcano which started forming only 1200 years ago. There have been a series of massive rockslides which have sped down the slopes at over 100 miles per hour, most recently about 300 years ago. Since the rock still has not broken down into soil, it is a very difficult environment for plants, so trees are scarce and stunted. Some of the trees are nearly 300 years old, but are still barely 20 feet tall.

Stop #3 – Lassen Volcanic National Park - Devastated Area

When did Mt.Lassen first erupt?

When did Mt.Lassen last erupt?

There are 4 types of volcanoes: Composite (also called stratovolcano), Shield, Plug Dome, and Cinder Cone.

What kind of volcano is Mt.Lassen? (circle one of the above)

Briefly describe the type of eruptions that Mt.Lassen had.

What were the 2 ways this area was devastated by volcanic eruptions in 1915?

a)May 19, 1915 – (Lahar…)

b)May 22, 1915 – (Pyroclastic Flow…)

Look at the rocks at the trailside exhibit. These are the ______rocks in California.

What is the main rock found in this area? ______Where did it form? ______

How did it get to this area?

  1. We drive less than a mile to a parking lot on the left side for a brief stop at HatLake.

Stop #4 - Lassen Volcanic National Park - HatLake

This lake formed on May 19, 1915. How?

How will the lake change in the future?

  1. We continue on to the Lassen Peak Trailhead.

Stop #5 – Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park - Lassen Peak

This is a difficult hike to the summit, about 2.5 miles each way, gaining about 2000 feet of elevation. The air is much thinner than sea level, so the steepness and lack of oxygen makes this a strenuous hike. It is not necessary for everyone to reach the summit, but those that do will never forget the views and the sense of accomplishment. It typically takes 3-4 hours round-trip. Everyone should carry at least 2 bottles of water, a windbreaker, sunscreen, hat, and sunglasses.

What mountain range is Lassen in?

How does plate tectonics cause the volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest (northern California up through Oregon and Washington)? See the diagram to the right.

What are your thoughts and impressions of what you saw and felt during the hike?

  1. After the peak we drive back towards the campground and stop at Kings Creek Trailhead.

Stop #6 – LassenVolcanicNational Park - King’s CreekFalls

This hike is 2.2 miles round-trip and goes to one of the most beautiful spots in LassenVolcanicNational Park, King’s CreekFalls. This stream has its highest flow around late June.

Why is late-June the highest flow of the year for this stream?

A youthful stream is high above sea level, flows fast, and takes a fairly straight course. Old-age streams are closer to sea level, flow more slowly, and follow a meandering (winding) course. Does this stream seem to be a youthful or old-age stream? Briefly explain your reasoning.

Describe your thoughts/feelings/impressions of what you saw?

  1. When we return to our vans we drive back to the visitor’s center next to the campground.

Stop #7 – Lassen Volcanic National Park - Loomis Museum/Visitor Center

We watch video #2 (15 minutes) about the volcanoes, glaciers, fumaroles, and rocks of LassenVolcanicNational Park.

What are 4 or 5 of the most interesting things you learned during the video?

Look at the display of the different types of volcanoes. Match the description to the correct volcano:

Composite Volcano ______Plug Dome ______Shield Volcano ______Cinder Cone ______

a)Thick, pasty dacite lava which oozes up like toothpaste, and flows very little (like Lassen Peak)

b)Formed from alternating layers of fragments (cinders, ash) and lava (like Mt.Shasta, Mt.Fuji)

c)Less than 1000’ tall

d)Fairly gentle slopes (not steep), with fluid basalt lava (like Hawaiian volcanoes)

  1. We walk across the road from the visitor center to take our last walk of the day (flat, one mile).

Stop #8 – Lassen Volcanic National Park - Lily Pond Nature Trail and ReflectionLake

What are the basic ways to distinguish different kinds of trees?

What makes a conifer tree different from non-conifers?

Give at least one distinctive characteristic for each of the following trees:

Post #5 – White Fir

Post #7 – Red Fir

Post #9 – Ponderosa Pine

Post #10 – Jeffrey Pine

Post #11 – Lodgepole Pine

Post #16 – Sugar Pine

  1. We return to our campsiteto relax and get ready for dinner. You will sleep well tonight!

END OF DAY #2