Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center — Attraction in Chester

Although the park entrance is closed at this point, the visitor center comes through with indoor bathrooms available. From this visitor center, there are a lot of trails that emanate into various parts of the southwestern part of the park. Today, we opted for the main entrance road, which is not snow plowed beyond the visitor center. It’s perfect for hiking boots but you can also get away with wearing snow shoes. I saw some cross-country ski tracks as well, so something for everyone. What I liked about this route vs a wilderness trail, was that it was easy to walk and had lots of great views. One for instance is the bubbling sulfur pit just past the bridge on the left. The volcanic vent area is prevalent here and you can tell from the lack of snow in this area. You are standing on an active (but dormant) volcano, after all! We took the entrance road a couple miles up, and back to make just about 5 miles. We’ll try to come back when the visitor center is staffed to grab a holiday ornament or other park-themed item. Good for kids, and the slightly mature audience and anyone in between. Word of caution: sledding is (to most responsible people) absolutely dangerous around these particular slopes because of the terrain that’s mostly unknown. I saw a few families with little ones sledding on slopes that I wouldn’t let my teenage kids walk down. Please be careful and make good decisions when wandering in the snow to sled...

LOVE that this visitor center offers a little cafe, including (for its size) generous options for vegetarians - basically making the chili vegetarian so that everyone can enjoy it! (No veggie dogs tho.) They even had potato/pasta/fruit salads in the cooler, along with juice drinks, packaged desserts, and more. We had a "Dorito chili bowl" (with Fritos instead), potato salad, green salad, and "Green Machine" juice. Thank you!!

The visitor center itself was fine, with a small gift shop, an informative (but dated) 20-minute intro film being shown in a loop, a working volcano-identifier push button light display, and very helpful rangers, one of whom helped us figure out where to camp with our van that night. (TIP: You can camp in the visitor parking lot for $5 per night and they leave the restrooms unlocked at night for your use. We didn't do this but it's an option if you need it.)

We spent more time here than we thought we would, because we couldn't resist doing the Bumpass Hell hike down to the steam vents and other volcanic features. Other than that, the only active volcanic feature - a mud pot - is accessible via a one-minute walk from a parking lot.

If you can get to Yellowstone, go there - Lassen has only about 8% of the wow factor of Yellowstone. But if you are in the Lassen area it's definitely worth the visit. Highly...

We arrived 10 :30 am. Already crowded. Snow were already plowed thru Emerald Lake (EL) but vehicles won’t be able to access beyond Sulphur Work vent (small Boiling mud). Parking is difficult and limited. Many just park at Visitor and walk. Ranger is presented so, you can’t park random spot.

6 miles walk from Sulphur Works (EL) 7 miles walk from visitor center. (EL).

I don’t see anyone make it to EL by walking. We walk up to 4 miles (8 miles round trip) just to get closer view of the Lassen peak. It was all paved road. Not sure why they didn’t let people drive up a bit.

Ranger said Bumpass Hell (BH) trail is still not accessible even if we make it to EL. BH Trail is under 12’ or snow.

Overall. We spent $30 just to see Sulphur work and walk 20k+ steps. Check NPS website and Wait until all snow is clear and cars are allowed to drive thru. We were told the Expected full open is after mid June. it is not worth the trip just to explore visitor center. you have to drive to north side 2.5 hour to access cider cone and...