Scenic pullout · Lassen Volcanic National Park
Quick roadside stop: rock avalanches left a field of frozen waves.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Lassen Volcanic Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Lassen Volcanic National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Lassen Volcanic audio tourRecorded for this place
Chaos Crags Viewpoint and the Rock Avalanches“Chaos Crags Viewpoint is coming up, a quick pullout with jagged domes above the broken rocks of Chaos Jumbles. Three rock avalanches from a collapsing dome formed that rubble, leaving rippling shapes like frozen waves.”
Plays as you drive up to Chaos Crags Viewpoint in the Parkwolf Lassen Volcanic Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Chaos Crags Viewpoint is a small roadside pullout on Highway 89, with the broken rock field of the Chaos Jumbles below the jagged domes of Chaos Crags. It’s a short stop, and you don’t need a hike for the main view. Read the geology exhibit, then take in the slope. For a photo, put the angular rocks across the foreground and the Crags above them so the debris and its source sit in one frame. Snow usually closes or makes park roads impassable from about November through June, so this stop is mainly for the snow-free season.
About 340 years ago, a dome collapse sent three cold rockfall avalanches into the valley and formed the Jumbles. The first and largest spread across about 2.5 square miles; debris rose more than 120 meters up Table Mountain on the far side. The rocks traveled over an air cushion that reduced friction, leaving the rippling, frozen-wave shapes in the deposit.
Chaos Crags erupted about 1,100 years ago, forming six rhyodacite domes. After an early phase, activity paused for roughly 70 years; a violent eruption destroyed the first dome, and five more formed. Two later dome collapses produced hot avalanches. From the pullout, the rugged peaks are the source above the much younger Jumbles.
Wildlife
103 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
44 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
348 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
17 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
47 sightingsGreat Blue HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsGreat EgretMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Lassen Volcanic. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateCrags Lake Trail4 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.9 mi awayRocky Chaos Jumbles give way to a high view of Crags Lake.
EasyLily Pond Interpretive Trail0.8 mi · 1 hr · 1 mi awayAn easy, interpretive loop through pond, meadow and volcanic forest.
EasyReflection Lake Loop0.6 mi · 30 min · 1.1 mi awayAn easy loop for Lassen Peak reflected in the lake.
EasyManzanita Lake Loop1.8 mi · 1 hr · 1.3 mi awayLassen Peak and Chaos Crags can double in still lake water.
ModerateManzanita Creek Trail7 mi · 4 hr · 1.4 mi awayA forest creek climb to a marshy meadow beneath Loomis Peak.
EasyDevastated Area Interpretive Trail0.3 mi · 20 min · 4.5 mi awayA quick accessible loop among the rocks left by Lassen's 1915 eruption.
ChallengingHat Creek Headwaters Trail6.1 mi · 5 hr · 4.7 mi awayA shuttle hike from creekside falls to meadow and lake country.ModerateHat Lake to Paradise Meadows Trail2.8 mi · 2 hr · 4.7 mi awayA shaded creek climb to a meadow beneath Lassen’s rocky cliffs.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayLoomis MuseumA compact museum built around photos of Lassen Peak’s 1914 eruption.
Historic marker · 1.1 mi awaySunflower FlatA quick stop ties the park road to an 1850s wagon route.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayReflection LakeLassen Peak and Chaos Crags double in a calm lake.
Store · 1.2 mi awayManzanita Lake Camper StoreFood, camper basics, showers and rentals at the Manzanita Lake campground.
Sight · 1.3 mi awayManzanita LakeA shore loop with Lassen Peak reflected in the water.
Lodging · 1.3 mi awayManzanita Lake Camping CabinsWood cabins near Manzanita Lake, with a camping-style setup.
Campground · 1.4 mi awayManzanita Lake CampgroundA pine-shaded base with the lake and museum a short walk away.
Entrance station · 1.4 mi awayManzanita Lake Entrance StationPasses, maps and park information at Lassen's northwest entrance.Parkwolf’s Lassen Volcanic ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
