Lassen Volcanic National Park Road, CA Is STILL CLOSED & Buried Under 10+ FEET Of Snow

There was 28-FEET of snow on the summit of the Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park Road (Hwy. 89) this winter.  

There is 10+ FEET of snow still standing at the 8,512′ pass parking lot…

 Caltrans uses a plow that blows 3,500 TONS of snow an hour and Lassen Volcanic National Park has three bulldozers that work alongside Caltrans to break trail and move snow.  Snow Removal crews use GPS to find the center line of the road and then start plowing and working from there. Clearing snow from the 30 miles of road through the park started on April 4th.  

“Roads and Campgrounds Status Update –
South Summit Lake Campground is open without water. North Summit Lake Campground will open July 28. Juniper Lake Road is open, the restrooms and campground remain closed until July 28. Lassen National Park Highway is expected to be entirely during the week of July 24th. ” – Lassen Volcanic National Park Facebook update as of July 15, 2017.

“July 7 – The park highway has been opened to the Bumpass Hell Parking Area on the south side of the park. However the trail into Bumpass Hell will remain closed until the snow melts off of the trail. The park road crew is continuing to plow through the deep snow past Lake Helen and are approaching the Lassen Peak Parking Area. On the north side of the park crews have worked their way to Summit Lake area, but the road remains closed at Devastated Area until parking areas and turn arounds are cleared.

July 16 – With the help of Cal-Trans District 2, there has been great forward progress on road clearing. Cal-Trans made it up to the Kings Creek Meadow area from the north, but suffered equipment break down last week. Also, the road has opened 3 miles beyond Devastated Area to Summit Lake. Progress on the Lassen Peak Parking area is moving along. It won’t be long before north and south meet. Once parking lots are cleared, culverts repaired, and fallen trees and rocks are cleared from the road, it will finally be open for the season. We anticipate opening the week of the 24^th. Stay tuned…” National Parks Service Plan Your Visit

 In 1995 the road didn’t open until July 21…

Opening dates for the Lassen road through the years… This year may very well be the latest the road has ever opened. 1995 will be hard to beat. 

Road Clearing Started on April 4th this year.

The park road is 30 miles long.  

The National Park has updates, photos, videos trip planning and descriptions of their hard work, like this one here: 

“Road Opening Process

The park highway will open to through traffic once the final section between Bumpass Hell and Devastated Area is cleared, rockfalls are cleared, and all lingering ice is melted. The road opening process may be delayed by late snow storms as well as other factors including:

• Heavy snowpack with deeper snowdrifts in some areas
• Trees that have fallen across the road and been buried in the snow
• Rockslides over the highway when the snow begins to melt
• Snow avalanches over cleared sections of the highway
• Snow storms during the operations
• Lingering ice once snow is cleared”