Where in the West: Lassen Peak

MJC Rocks of Geotripper correctly identified our mystery mountain as Lassen Peak (sometimes incorrectly called Mt. Lassen). In my first WITW post, I didn't want to say "20th century" eruption because if you Google: 20th century eruption ash nevada - Lassen Peak comes up 2nd and 4th (without the ash it comes up 4th), hence my geologically vague "fairly recent" time descriptor.

Lassen Peak, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range, is about 70 km (about 45 miles) northeast of Red Bluff, CA, and about 120 km (about 75 miles) southeast of Mt. Shasta. Lassen Peak's most recent eruptive cycle began in 1914 and lasted until 1921. The largest eruption was on May 22, 1915, with locally devastating pyroclastic flows and lahars, a large ash plume, and ash falling as far east as Elko, Nevada.

The generalized map above, from the USGS - Cascades Volcano Observatory site, shows the volcanic deposits resulting from the eruptions of May, 1915, along with the tree blow-down line, which outlines an area now simply called the Devastated Area. A better version of this map and a more detailed description of events can be found in the USGS Fact Sheet 173-98. You can find other good references and links at the CVO Menu page for Lassen Peak and the Lassen Volcanic National Park website.

Brokeoff Mountain, above, is part of an older, larger stratovolcano sometimes called Mt. Tehama, a volcano similar to today's Mt. Shasta, and almost the same size as Mt. St. Helens before it blew up in May, 1980. Mt. Tehama began erupting 600,000 years ago and continued erupting until about 400,000 years ago, when a collapse caldera formed, similar to today's Crater Lake, without the lake.

On Highway 89, between the south entrance to the park and Lassen Peak itself, you can drive right through the Sulphur Works hydrothermal area, which features hot springs, fumaroles, and bubbling mudpits. Sulphur Works is thought to be part of the central vent area of old Mt. Tehama. In winter, you can cross-country ski up the highway to this area (and elsewhere). For a really great hydrothermal tour, hike down the Bumpass Hell Trail to the Bumpass Hell hydrothermal area. They say that the area is named after a settler who fell into a boiling pool, but people have been wondering about the pronunciation for a long time (bum-pass or bump-ass?).

Above, an example of the volcanic rocks you can see on Highway 89 going north (and switchbacking around a lot) toward Lassen Peak.
Highway 89 is usually open from sometime in June until sometime in October or later. The first time I drove through the park, I was coming south from a family-type get-together in Oregon. We drove over the pass from north to south and stopped at the old ski chalet, which has since been torn down in order to build a real visitor's center. They had some great "Go Climb a Volcano" T-shirts, so we all got one! Currently, you can support the park by going to the online store and buying green wristbands. They also have some great books and posters, inlcuding a poster of the 1915 eruption.

And here's a view of the "backside" of Lassen Peak, from the parking lot in the Devasted Area on the northeast side of the mountain. If you continue driving north on Highway 89, there are other stops to make, one at Subway Cave, an old lava tube - and if you continue on to Mt. Shasta, you can stop at Burney Falls.

UPDATE 18Jun2010: Lutz has a great photo of the Sulphur Works from 2007 at geoberg.de.

UPDATE 22Sept2012: The above photos were taken in October, 2006.

Where in the West - August: Another View or Two

These two Google Earth images are attempts to duplicate the photo of the unknown mountain shown in my previous post. The first is an afternoon view at 2:49 pm, August 7th, today; the second is a sunset view at 8:05 pm, August 7th, today. The images use Google Earth's sun tool. Both images are looking to the northwest. As far as I know, there are no active ski lifts on this mountain.

As for the fairly recent eruption of the above unkown mountain - the Long Valley caldera has had earthquake activity and probable magmatic activity at depth in the last three decades, and erupted in a huge way about 760,000 years ago, sending ash half way across the U.S.

Our above mystery mountain erupted considerably more recently and sent ash a little more than half way across Nevada.

Where in the West: August

This mountain, seen from the east looking more-or-less west, is known for a fairly recent eruption that sent ash at least half-way across Nevada. The remnants of an older, larger volcanic edifice can also be seen in this picture, on the far left. The mountain is also known for x-c skiing, hiking, and a few hot springs.

Name the mountain - and can you name the smaller crag on the left of the photo or the earlier volcanic edifice that has since been blown away?

As usual, click to enlarge!

Walkscore

I found this quiz at Karina's Ruminations of an Aspiring Ecologist. The Walk Score quiz takes your address, comes up with how close you are to grocery stores, hardware stores, schools, restaurants, etcetera, and comes up with a number rating based on walkability. It doesn't always show the correct location for everything, it misses a few things, and sometimes shows things that are closed.

For our little house in the Nevada outback, I get a score of 74 - very walkable. It says we have a grocery store within 0.69 miles, though I haven't heard of that particular one - the one we use is 1.25 miles away, a bit farther than I like to walk for groceries. We do have numerous restaurants, cafes, and bars (and a couple casinos) within 0.15 miles, two drug stores within 0.15 miles, a park, a school, and miscellaneous stores - clothing, video, electronics, gift stores, and a pawn shop - within 0.3 miles. I'm also very close to the library (0.3 miles) and the one-movie theatre (0.5 miles). The hardware stores are farther than I'd walk to unless I was just out for a walk and dropped in, at 1 to 2 miles away. I was surprised to find that we are virtually next door to a coffee shop or espresso house that is probably half-way across town (1 mile?), if it even exists with the name they gave. It definitely isn't next door!

It doesn't list several of the very close-by restaurants or bars, possibly because they are inside hotels, and it lists a few things that I'll have to check out, and at least a couple that aren't open currently. It doesn't list how close I am to the red-light district, which is definitely within walking distance but not of interest to me (this could be a selling point for some Nevadans or passers-through staying at nearby motels). Actually - now that I look again - it does show the red-light district: one adult bookstore I'd never heard of and one "ranch" listed under bars.

For our home at the lake I get a walk score of 15 - car-dependent. For sure! Our house is within walking distance of two restaurants (one closed), one coffee shop, a couple real estate outfits, and a defunct gas station selling sundries. The closest grocery store is almost 2 miles away; the one we use is almost 8 miles away. It doesn't list the nearby coffee shop that is sometimes closed in winter, nor does it list the restaurant that is open or the old gas station that has a few groceries. They are within 0.1 to 0.3 miles and would raise the walkability a little, perhaps. It doesn't list the fact that we are within walking distance of voting, the fire house, a heating repair outfit, one or two jewelry shops, and a boat storage and repair place. (It also doesn't list the nearby beach and picnic area or the boat ramp - we walk to the boat ramp for the view.) It does list a school, which is a tiny charter or private school within 0.15 miles. Most stores and all gas stations are 7 to 8 miles away, so we drive, and although one could consider some kind of mo-ped, I wouldn't use one on a two-lane, 55 mph highway with curves, hills, and trees. (MOH will use his motorcycle to get groceries - it's at the other place now, though.)

What's your score?

Things to do in Austin, NV

First, settle in at your motel.
Second, look at the geology.

When you are good and ready, walk uphill from your motel (or across the street depending on which motel you are at and where you are going).

Walk past some old and older out-of-commission bars and remember the bar that isn't there anymore - see the old site next to the Golden Club there? What was it's name? Until it burned down in 1977, that was where CA and I ate every morning. It was a kitchen fire, they said - we woke up that morning to the sound of fire engines and the ruckus of people in the street. After that, the cafe at the International was the only place for breakfast. The tea was lukewarm; the eggs were runny. I ate dry cereal instead. I never have like eating there much, ever since, a kind of leftover bias from the past - the cafe did go through a spell a couple years ago where you could get good burgers. I don't recommend it right now, though: the waitress always seems to be in the bar.

Speaking of bars, here's a live one: The Owl Club. Don't be too confused about this - there's an Owl Club in Eureka, too. This Owl Club here in Austin is the place where Austin Rules were invented: no slop, bank the 8. (At least I think it was this bar. I wasn't around when those rules were invented; didn't find out about them until years later.)

In 1977, this was a good bar to hang out in, as were all the bars including the ones no longer open or no longer extant. In 1977, you could take your beer outside the bar as you headed down the hill or across the street to the next one, and no one minded - unlike in Eureka of the same era when they would practically arrest you. Bar fighting was considered to be a weekend sport, a sport competed in by friends who made up shortly after the fight. I didn't compete, being from out of town. It was a sport just for locals, as far as I could tell.

[BTW, it is a good idea to start at the upper end of town when working your way from one bar to another, and then it's all downhill to the motel from there.]

The Owl Club had the song North to Alaska by Johnny Horton playing on the jukebox in 1977. Every time I stopped back in, I'd check to see if it was still there. Last time I checked, probably in the late 1980's, you could still play North to Alaska on the jukebox. I'd been thinking about this as MOH and I drove through Austin a week before. Would the song still be there?

We walked into the bar, looking for the pool table, which didn't seem to be there anymore unless it was hidden in the back somewhere or under some junk in a back corner. I walked over to the jukebox and examined every song - no North. As we sat down at the bar to await our beers, North to Alaska started playing - on a CD boombox sitting on a small stage in the front corner. We sat and listened - it's still there, just not on the jukebox!

The bartender had stepped out, said he'd be right back. Two guys down at the other end of the bar were arguing about something [maybe they were working up to an old-fashioned fight competition?], the song was over, and there wasn't a pool table to be seen.

So we left. Without any beer. Walked down the street to the only other bar I'm at all familiar with, maybe the only other one open. The bar at The International.

Whereas I can't can recommend eating at the cafe, (This part is simply not true anymore, updated 3Feb2012.) The bar is well worth stopping at. The Amberbock on tap is fine, and the bartender tapped a new keg for us (the old one was empty). I think he said that the old handcrafted wooden bar was made in 1842, or that the wood for it was shipped around the horn to San Francisco that year (stop and ask the bartender - he knows!).

The International Hotel building was built in Virginia City in 1859 and then taken apart and brought to Austin in 1863.

Virginia City then built a new International Hotel, which burned down in 1875. A third International Hotel was then built in V.C., six stories high - it is the International that was supposed to have been the largest hotel east west of the Mississippi. The third V.C. International burned down in 1914. In Austin, only the east side of the current building is from the original International Hotel, as I understand it. Some bits of history here, here, and here.