What can you do and see in Lassen Volcanic National Park if you only have three days? Plenty! Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published my three-day itinerary of this park.
To read the article, click on the image above.
As for this image: this is one of the views you get at the top of Cinder Cone, located in the northeastern corner of the park. From right to left: Lassen Peak, Fairfield Peak (I think – the closer tree-covered cinde cone), Painted Dunes and Fantastic Lava Beds.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on 3 Days In Lassen Volcanic National Park
Restoration, resilience, and protection are key words used in my Feature Story published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. I had the opportunity to speak with the Lassen Volcanic National Park superintendent and information officer during my recent October stay at this national park, and subsequently wrote an article about the proactive steps park management has been taking and continues to take to ensure a healthy forest ecosystem in the face of past and possibly future wildfires.
Click on the image above to read my article.
The image was captured during my early morning drive toward the Bumpass Hell area.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on Forest Restoration, Resilience, And Protection At Lassen Volcanic National Park
It’s #TriviaTuesday *and* my latest photo column has been published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler!
How many of you have ever heard of, or seen, columnar jointing? It’s a pretty cool geological formation that usually occurs with basaltic lava (as opposed to other lavas, although it’s happened with other mixes before). When lava begins to cool, it contracts, and when it contracts, it causes fracturing. This fracturing begins at the top and bottom and moves inward toward the center. Turns out (long story short) that the hexagonal pattern is the most efficient way for heat to be released when cooling. Columnar jointing occurs perpendicular to the original lava flow.
You can see really cool columnar jointing (aka columnar basalts) at places like Devils Postpile and Devils Tower national monuments. You can also see all sorts of columnar jointing along the Columbia River and in other parts of eastern Washington State, like at Drumheller Channels National Natural Landmark along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. And that’s what today’s photo column is all about: photography and exploration at Drumheller Channels.
Click on either the image above or the image below to read more and see more pics.
If you are thinking about travel and making plans to maybe visit a national park, you should check out my latest National Parks Traveler Checklist. It’s all about planning for Lassen Volcanic National Park in California and is published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler.
Click on the image above to check out the checklist.
As for this image, I captured it at the Bumpass Hell parking lot before heading out on a 1.5-mile hike to Bumpass Hell. If you go, not only can you see this huge glacially-deposited boulder for yourself, but you’ll also see nicely-defined striations on surrounding rocks indicating the direction of travel the glacier took.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on National Parks Traveler Checklist: Lassen Volcanic National Park (California)
When you think of plague, what comes to mind? The Black Death of the mid 1300s? Certainly not cute, furry little mammals in a national park. And yet, plague is there. In national parks.
During my recent short visit to Lassen Volcanic National Park, I had the good fortune, thanks to the park’s superintendent and it’s chief of resources, to follow along with the park’s “pika crew” as they conducted field research on the extent of plague in the park, with emphasis on pika.
My article has been published as a feature story in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. To read the story, click on the image above.
Comments Off on Pika And Plague In Lassen Volcanic National Park
Visit a unit of the National Park System and you might come across a raven giving you the once over, like I did during a 2021 trip to Yosemite National Park. In addition to their raspy croak/caw, how many other vocalizations do ravens have?
That’s one of the questions in this month’s quiz and trivia piece I penned for the National Parks Traveler. If you feel like stretching your mental muscles and testing your national park knowledge, click on the image above. The questions are multiple choice or True/False. Who knows – you might even learn something new or decide to travel to one of these park units mentioned in this quiz.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on National Parks Quiz And Trivia #53
A wake of water on Lake Chelan at Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, a part of the North Cascades National Park Complex in Washington state.
Water, water, everywhere … or maybe it’s water, water, used to be everywhere. Time to test your national parks knowledge and maybe learn something new with my latest quiz and trivia piece published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler.
To take the quiz and read the trivia, click on the image above.
Comments Off on National Parks Quiz And Trivia #52: Water
Ever wondered what the difference is between a national park, a national monument, a national recreation area, etc?
The other day, during a Zoom meeting, a member asked if a national park was a single unit. Another member wondered if people understood the difference between different units within the National Park System. Heck, I write about national park units I’ve visited and sometimes I need a little primer. So, I wrote an article for the National Parks Traveler about the differences between units found within the National Park System.
To read the article, click on the image above.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on What’s With All These National Park System Units, Anyway?
Painted Hills Unit Landscape Color, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Oregon)
In my lifetime, I’ve visited over 30 units of the National Park System. This includes national parks, national monuments, and national historic sites. This also includes a national historic trail, a national natural landmark, and a national geologic trail. Some of these places were visited B.D.C. (Before Digital Camera), which means I have no images of them (like Mammoth Cave, which I did photograph with a film camera but no longer have the prints or the film strips, unfortunately).
Most photographers will tell you they have no specific favorite park for anything. Well, while I love every single one of these units I’ve visited, I do have favorites for specific photography categories. You probably do too, although you may not have thought about it much. For instance, what are your favorite parks for photographing color? No, not autumn color, but landscape color. What is/are your favorite park(s) for photographing a sunrise or a sunset? What is/are your favorite park(s) for photographing mountains?
Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published my latest Photography in the National Parks column. In this Part 1, I list my favorite parks (of the ones visited and photographed) for specific categories (sunrise/sunset, landscape color, mountainous landscape, wildlife, etc.). I don’t include the recent visits to sights along national historic or geologic trails, or the national natural landmark. So, there’s the caveat to my favorites. Future national park unit visits may change the order of my favorites. We’ll see.
For now, check out the article by clicking on the image above.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on Photography In The National Parks: My Favorite Parks For Photography – Part 1
Wow, Beck, what a – um – er – lovely photo you have there (???)
Yes, all you smarty pants out there – it’s not my usual stunning landscape image. Instead, it’s a grab shot I captured of Liberty Cap travertine cone at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park during my first visit ever to this park in 2018. But, I’ll bet you don’t know how Liberty Cap got its name, do you?
That’s one of the quiz questions in National Parks Quiz and Trivia #51 published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler.
To take the quiz (and find out how Liberty Cap got its name) and read the trivia (and maybe learn something new about the National Park System), just click on the image above.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on National Parks Quiz And Trivia #51
All images on these posts are the exclusive property of Rebecca L. Latson and Where The Trails Take You Photography. Please respect my copyright and do not use these images on Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat or any other business, personal or social website, blog site, or other media without my written permission. Thank you.
You can reach me at rebeccalatson@wherethetrailstakeyou.com
Where The Trails Take You Photography 
You must be logged in to post a comment.