Lassen Peak
Lassen Volcanic National Park · near Chester / Mineral · Shasta Cascade
Hiking · Mountaineering
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,000 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–October (snow lingers into summer) · The park road opens with snowmelt
- Grade
- nontechnical
- Elevation
- 10457
- Best season
- July–Oct as a trail hike; April–June as a spring snow climb
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit. Lassen Volcanic NP entrance fee ($30/vehicle). The summit trail starts high (~8,500ft) but the altitude and exposure make it strenuous. Snow can linger into July.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Summit an active volcano (10,457ft) · Erupted 1914–1917 · Views to Shasta & the Central Valley · Volcanic devastation zone below · One of the world's largest plug domes
- Terrain
- volcano
- Amenities
- Lassen Peak trailhead (Hwy 89, seasonal) · National Park entry fee · Summer trail or spring snow climb · Views to Shasta on clear days
- Best for
- An accessible volcano summit, hike or spring snow
- Features
- Southernmost peak in the Cascades · World-class plug-dome volcano · Non-technical summer trail · Excellent spring snow climb & ski
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Hazards
- Steep spring snow — self-arrest skills for the snow-climb season · Exposed summit with rapid weather changes · Afternoon thunderstorms in summer · Volcanic terrain — this is an active volcano
- Beginner friendly
- Yes
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Lassen Volcanic NP is near Redding and Chester in far Northern California — pair the summit with Bumpass Hell (this guide) and the park's swimmable lakes. The Highway 89 park road is a scenic drive past all the highlights. Mineral and Chester are gateway towns. Far quieter than the marquee parks, with equal geological wonder.
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- snow-ice · scrambling
- Style
- walk-up
- Altitude
- 1
- Route notes
- One of the world's largest plug-dome volcanoes and the southernmost peak in the Cascade Range — a non-technical switchbacked trail to the summit in summer, and a superb, accessible spring snow climb and ski when the road is still buried
- Beta note
- ~10,457 ft; Class 1 summit trail in summer / spring snow climb; axe & crampons in season
- Intl tip
- The southern anchor of the Cascade volcanoes and one of the largest plug-dome volcanoes on Earth (it last erupted 1914–1917). In summer a graded switchback trail climbs to the summit at non-technical class 1 — one of the state's most accessible volcano summits. The mountaineering interest peaks in spring, when the park highway is snowbound and it becomes a superb moderate snow climb and ski needing axe, crampons, and self-arrest. The summit view reaches north to Shasta.
- Directions note
- Park at the Lassen Peak trailhead on the park highway (road closed in winter)
The guide
Lassen Peak is a chance to stand atop an active volcano — a 10,457-foot plug dome that erupted spectacularly from 1914 to 1917 …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lassen Peak — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 40.488, -121.505