State Scenic Highway 44 44

State Scenic Highway 44 runs 48 miles from Redding to Lassen Volcanic National Park's north entrance in the southern Cascade Range. The route climbs steadily out of the Sacramento Valley into pine and fir forest before meeting Highway 89, which carries the final mile into the park near Manzanita Lake. Inside the park boundary, the highway provides access to the Cinder Cone Trail, an eight-mile round trip along the ragged edge of the Fantastic Lava Beds. Lassen Volcanic National Park remains one of the most geologically active corners of California, its steaming fumaroles, bubbling mud pots, and hardened lava fields left by the volcano at the park's center. Eligible for inclusion in California's State Scenic Highway System, the corridor offers a straightforward hour's drive from Redding into terrain that looks more like Yellowstone's backcountry than the pine forest travelers pass through to reach it. Manzanita Lake, just past the park boundary, offers the first close view of Lassen Peak rising over calm water.

• Redding to Lassen's north entrance
• 48 miles
• Cinder Cone Trail / Fantastic Lava Beds
• fumaroles and mud pots
• Manzanita Lake
• eligible for CA Scenic Highway System