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Hike · Chaos Crags trailhead

Chaos Crags

Distance
4.2 mi
Vertical
850 ft
Summit
6,736 ft
Difficulty
Moderate

Chaos Crags is the youngest cluster of lava domes in Lassen Volcanic National Park — six rhyodacite domes squeezed out of the earth about a thousand years ago, with one of them collapsing in an explosive eruption roughly seventy years later. They form one of just three episodes…

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About Chaos Crags

Chaos Crags is the youngest group of lava domes in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. They formed as six dacite domes about 1,000 years ago, one dome collapsing during an explosive eruption about 70 years later. The eruptions at the Chaos Crags mark one of just three instances of Holocene activity within the Lassen volcanic center. The cluster of domes is located north of Lassen Peak and form part of the southernmost segment of the Cascade Range in Northern California. Each year, a lake forms at the base of the Crags, and typically dries by the end of the summer season.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.

Chaos Crags' jagged dacite domes rise above conifer forest and the rubble field of the Chaos Jumbles avalanche deposit.
Anonymous · CC BY 2.5
The cluster of Chaos Crags lava domes seen from above, with Mount Shasta faint on the northern horizon.
LassenNPS · Public domain
Chaos Crags on the left and snow-streaked Lassen Peak on the right mirror in still Manzanita Lake.
DimiTalen · CC BY-SA 3.0
Crags Lake forms each spring in a basin at the base of Chaos Crags and typically dries out by the end of summer.
DimiTalen · CC0

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