America’s most explosive scenic highway is the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway in northeast California and southwest Oregon. The route has been designated an All-American Road which is given only to the United States of America’s most scenic highways.  It travels 500 miles from Lake Almanor north through California to Crater Lake, Oregon.  Along the route, motorists travel past four national parks and through a landscape of volcanoes, lava beds and volcanic craters.

The Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway begins at Lake Almanor at a point where the Sierra Nevada and Shasta Cascade mountain ranges meet.  Lake Almanor is a placid recreational lake appreciated for its wakeboarding, water skiing, jet skiing, water play and fishing.  Fly fishermen fish the many streams that enter the lake, while hikers, equestrians, bicyclists and – in winter – cross country skiers, snowmobilers and snowshoers enjoy its uncrowded trails.  Golf courses and villages dot the edge of the lake, providing amusement and visitor services.

The first national park along the route is Lassen Volcanic National Park. Called California’s Yellowstone, Lassen Volcanic is filled with geologic wonders including all four types of volcano (cinder cone, composite, shield and dome) including the world’s largest plug dome volcano, Lassen Peak.  Hissing fumeroles, spurting geysers, boiling lakes and bubbling mud are among the amazing sights to be enjoyed in the national park.  The visitor center at the southwest entrance is the first Platinum LEED structure built in a national park and an entertaining place to begin your tour along this scenic byway.

Just beyond Lassen Volcanic are the Subway Caves, a series of underground lava tubes that can be explored, but bring a flashlight and warm jacket – even in summer – as you have traveled beneath the earth to experience what it must be like to walk beneath the earth.  If you have time, cast flies on Hat Creek one of America’s legendary fly fishing streams or arrange to stay overnight in a fire lookout tower.
Continuing north on California State Route 89 you arrive at what U.S. President and world explorer Teddy Roosevelt called the “eighth wonder of the world.”  At McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park a river of water is pushed through a cliff of porous basalt, creating spectacular Burney Falls.  Water emerges from the cliff that is overgrown with moss and framed by the forest.

More waterfalls are to be found near McCloud on CA-89.  This picturesque mountain town has stayed much as it was in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with a Mercantile store that stocks the best in authentic American merchandise (America’s oldest perfumes by Caswell Massey, Pendleton wool blankets, Levi Strauss apparel and a candy shop that is pure Americana.  Continue to I-5, then north to the railroad town of Dunsmuir and dramatic and ancient Castle Crags State Park.

Mt. Shasta photo credit Daniel Schewn

The towns of Mt. Shasta and Weed sit at the western base of Mt. Shasta (14,179 feet), described by poet Joaquin Miller, “Lonely as God, and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up suddenly and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California.”  Many believe this beautiful mountain to inhabited by spirits, though its most common inhabitants are mountaineers and rock climbers.

Beyond Weed, the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway turns east along US 97 past the Mt. Shasta Lavender farms and across a rolling volcanic landscape to the Butte Valley.  There is impressive wildlife viewing at the area’s many lakes, including opportunities to see bald eagles, as well as curiosities such as the tallest flagpole west of the Mississippi River.

Lava Beds National Monument, Tule Lake (now part of the World War II Legacy of the Pacific National Monument for its historic relocation center) and the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge combine historic sites including battlegrounds from the Indian Wars.

Leaving California, the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway passes more wildlife viewing areas as it enters Oregon and the Klamath Basin.  From US 97 at Klamath Falls, you travel north onto OR-62, passing the Mountain Lake Wilderness and Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge before reaching Crater Lake National Park.

Crater Lake was created by one of Earth’s largest explosions 8,000 years ago, when massive Mount Mazama erupted, leaving behind a caldera that has been filled with the most unbelievably clear and blue lake.  Boat tours take visitors out to Wizard Island.  You can also take a tram tour around the rim of the crater, or hike and explore the national park.

The Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway can be experienced south to north, as this article describes, or north to south, for travelers who are exploring the Pacific Coast of California.  For more information, visit www.shastacascade.org.