Little Hot Springs Valley Overlook - Lassen Volcanic National Park - California
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 40° 27.647 W 121° 30.598
10T E 626332 N 4479967
Little Hot Springs Valley Overlook on the Bumpass Hell Trail.
Waymark Code: WMJHDY
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 11/19/2013
Views: 3
The Bumpass Hell Trail was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. One of the features of the trail, about half way to Bumpass Hell, is a viewpoint overlooking the Little Hote Springs Valley. There is an old out of date interpretive sign display at the site. The general outline of information in the display is okay but many of the details like ages and caldera are wrong based on the current geologic knowledge and dating. (
visit link)
Text of signs:
Mighty Mt. Tehama began to crumble 10,000 years ago -- a few short ticks in the clock of geography. Volcanic activity -- especially around nearby Diamond Peak -- gnawed at the underpinnings. Finally the mountain collapsed into itself to form a huge, bowl-like caldera in which you now stand. The rim of this caldera has been broken and leveled by erosion -- especially to the south. Mt. Conard marks a portion of the original caldera rim.
Called Mt. Tehama, this composite volcano boasted an elevation of 11,500 feet -- 1,000 feet taller than present day Lassen Peak. Mt. Diller and rugged Brokeoff Mountain are remains of this phantom peak. Lassen Peak was formed from lava extruded from a vent in Mt. Tehama’s northern slope. Mt. Tehama’s principal vent lay in the neighborhood of the famous “Sulphur Works” -- visible from Bumpass Hell Trail.
Part of a restless chain of volcanos rimming the Pacific call the “Ring of FIre”, the geography of Lassen Volcanic National Park has been formed and reformed many times. Some 2 million years ago, the slope of a great mountain swept skyward where you now stand. The base of Pilot Pinnacle, the knobby promontory to the right, marks the northern remains of this once towering peak.