This Lesser-known California National Park Is a Great Alternative to Yellowstone—With Fewer Crowds and Stunning Scenery

Every year, more than four million people clamor to experience the natural magic of Yellowstone National Park, bubbling with geothermal beauty, including half of the active geysers in the world. As the nation’s first national park, the iconic attraction straddling Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana might get the most attention, but another much quieter park offers similar volcanic activity, minus the crowds.

Located in Mineral, California, about a four-hour drive northeast of San Francisco, Lassen Volcanic National Park also bubbles with hydrothermal activity, creating “boiling mud pots, steaming ground, roaring fumaroles, [and] sulfurous gasses,” according to the official park brochure. 

While Yellowstone may have six volcano types, this 100,000-acre park has four: shield, composite, cinder cone, and plug dome. In fact, it’s home to one of the world’s largest plug dome volcanos, Lassen Peak, which last exploded between 1914 and 1917. It was a businessman photographing that activity that helped the area gain more attention, eventually establishing it as a national park.

Out of the eight hydrothermal areas in the park, one of the best—and easiest—spots to take in the activity is at Sulphur Works, which the National Park Service describes as “an otherworldly place of vibrant colors, pungent scents, and shifting ground that is both ancient and new.” Just one mile up the Lassen Volcanic National Park Highway from the southwest entrance, the area is accessible via a paved sidewalk. 

The largest area, Bumpass Hell, is reachable by a 1.5-mile trail in the summer and fall months, usually from late July through October. Starting from a parking lot seven miles from the southwest entrance, the boardwalk portion of the path allows visitors to get a close-up view of the 16-acre basin’s hydrothermal activity. 

While Lassen may not have anything quite like Old Faithful, there is the Terminal Geyser, slightly misnamed since it’s not a true geyser but rather a steam vent in the middle of a creek, which the park says “provides a spectacular show.”  

Also unique to the park is Cold Boiling Lake, where cool-water bubbles fizz up, similar to sparkling water. Because it’s technically “dying,” it bubbles near the shore as part of its end-of-life process.

Lassen may not have a marquee name, but the California gem has been a national park for over a century. It was first established in 1916, making it the 29th founded out of the 433 NPS sites and cementing it as one of the original greats. Yet with just over 450,000 people entering through Lassen’s gates every year, it ranks around 150 in terms of visitation, below Guam’s War in the Pacific National Historical Park and Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri. During slower times, you can have the whole park to yourself—and you could never get that at Yellowstone.