Starting Point: Hat lake parking area, Guide Marker 42
Distances: 1.5 miles, one way
Topography: Uphill, 600 feet
Time: 2 hours, one way, 3 hours for round trip
Features: Flowers, forest, stream
[Illustration: Trail map]
For wildflowers during midsummer Paradise Meadows is one of the best
areas in the park. Elephanthead and gentian can be seen near Hat Lake;
scarlet gilia along the first mile; and columbine, lupine, monkshood,
penstemon (both red and blue), falsehellebore, and many other species
will be found in the meadow area. Also, it is a good area to see birds
and deer.
For about a mile the trail goes up rather steeply. At the meadows there
are good views of Lassen and Reading peaks, and the cirque in which the
meadows lie.
Upon reaching lower Paradise Meadows a trail turns to the right. This
goes to the Park Road near Terrace Lake. (See Park Road to Hat Lake
trail.)
[Illustration: Mertens Cassiope]