For about a mile either way along the road in spring and early summer
cross country skiing is normally good. Snow generally closes the road
for the winter in November and plows cut through the winter pack
anywhere from the end of May to early July.
(0.4 mile)
24 In addition to the mountain hemlocks, here also are the gnarled,
multiple-trunked WHITE BARK PINES. This is one of the few places in
California where this fascinating and photogenic tree can be reached by
road. The snow banks seen on the rocky slopes across the ravine
frequently last through the whole summer.
[Illustration: WHITE BARK PINE (cones 1½ inch)]
(0.3 mile)
25 LAKE ALMANOR AND MT. HARKNESS VIEW SIGN. Warner Valley has been
modified by a glacier 1,000 feet thick. Lake Almanor and Mountain Meadow
Reservoir, both outside the park, are artificial lakes, part of the
Caribou Power System of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Peter
Lassen’s emigrant trail from Black Rock, Nevada, ran from north to south
through the Lake Almanor basin (Big Meadow) before turning west again.
Highway No. 36 runs between the Cascade Range on the north and the
Sierra Nevada on the south.
[Illustration: Landscape]
NEVADA
MT. MEADOW RESERVOIR
LAKE ALMANOR
MT. HARKNESS
DYER MT.
SADDLE MT.
READING PEAK
KELLY MT.
RED MT.
WARNER VALLEY
(0.6 mile)
26 FISSURES may be seen in rocks 100 yards from the road and also near
the road between here and stake 27. These cracks, sometimes quite large,
are typical of weak zones in volcanic areas.
(0.5 mile)
27 TRAIL SIGN on the down-hill side of the road indicates the start of
the trail to Terrace Lake (0.5 mile); Shadow Lake (0.8 mile); and Cliff
Lake (1.5 miles). You can also reach the park road again at Summit Lake
about (4.0 miles) or at Hat Lake about (3.5 miles).
(0.1 mile)
28 8,000-FOOT ELEVATION MARKER. From here Prospect Peak is visible. Like
Mt. Harkness, it is a small but good example of shield volcano. On top
of it is a small cinder cone which destroys the low shield-shape
cross-section (indicated by the dotted line) characteristic of that type
of volcano. At the right base of Prospect Peak is Hat Mountain, and
behind it, at its right base, remarkable Cinder Cone in the northeast
corner of the park.
[Illustration: Landscape]
HAT MT.
CINDER CONE
PROSPECT PEAK
(1.0 mile)
29 A fine view of UPPER KINGS CREEK MEADOW. This may well have been a
lake once, filled in by glacial and stream-borne materials. The level
meadow floor caused Kings Creek to move slowly and to wander about
“aimlessly” in a pattern called a “meander” by geologists. Where it
leaves the flat meadow the stream takes on direction and speed, thus
resuming a relatively straight, swift course. As the meadow builds up
higher, becoming drier, the encroaching forest will eventually engulf
it.
(1.3 miles)
30 KINGS CREEK CAMPGROUND and Picnic Area. This is the Canadian Life
Zone, although a few “Hudsonian” mountain hemlocks are in the cooler
portions. The 7,400 foot elevation makes this a most delightful,
primitive type of campsite during the warm summer months.
The trail goes south from the campground to Cold Boiling Lake (0.8 mile)
and to Crumbaugh Lake (1.5 miles).
Kings Creek, originating from the springs in these meadows, is a part of
the Feather River system, draining all of the area between Lassen and
the Truckee River Divide, the largest single tributary drainage area in
California.
(0.5 mile)
31 READING PEAK rises over 1,300 feet to an 8,701-foot elevation. Like
Lassen Peak, across the meadow to the left, this is a plug volcano. It
honors Major Pierson B. Reading (pronounced Redding), Northern
California pioneer. He was General Fremont’s paymaster, and was involved
in the Bear Flag revolt. Reading also discovered gold on Clear Creek in
March 1848, and was the first permanent settler of Shasta County. In
1864 he led the third recorded ascent up Lassen Peak. The same year he
filed a mining claim jointly with K. V. Bumpass on the Bumpass Hell
area.
Deer are generally seen here in the meadow, especially near sunset
during late summer and early fall.
(0.6 mile)
32 KINGS CREEK. On the west side of the road is a small picnic area. On
the downstream side of the road (left of the creek) is a trail to Warner
Valley. Kings Creek Falls is 1.3 miles, and Drakesbad is 4.0 miles. You
can hike uphill to the base of Lassen Peak.
In both Lower and Upper Kings Creek Meadow, fawnlilys, red heather, corn
lily, and white gentian make a fine floral succession from early spring
to autumn. Lupine and pussy paws are also common in the drier locations.
(0.2 mile)
[Illustration: FAWNLILY (yellow and pinkish)]
[Illustration: FALSEHELLEBORE (whitish)]
33 An EMERGENCY TELEPHONE is just below the park road for reporting
accidents and fires.
(1.0 mile)
34 LAKE ALMANOR, WARNER VALLEY, and what might be called the friendly
wilderness of the eastern portion of the park. Trails reach this country
from Summit Lake and from dead-end secondary roads at Butte Lake,
Horseshoe Lake, and Warner Valley. On Mt. Harkness is a National Park
Service fire lookout station. Help keep the forests green by being very
careful with matches, cigarettes, and the like.
(0.8 mile)
35 In this vicinity once stood a fine stand of RED FIR. On October 11,
1962, winds of gale force, sweeping up through the valleys from the
southeast, blew down and broke off many large trees. This is typical of
the story of violence and peace of the Lassen area. In a few years the
young growth will hide most of the devastation.
The short, blue-green, single needles of the red fir grow in a
brush-like manner. Very symmetrical, the trees are called “Silver Tips”
in the commercial Christmas tree market.
The trunks curve at their base due to the heavy snowfall which bends the
saplings downhill, flat to the ground. In the spring the young trees
curve up, but the bend remains, and persists throughout the life of the
tree. Curved trunks can also be found in other species of trees, such as
mountain hemlock.
[Illustration: CURVED TREE TRUNK]
[Illustration: RED FIR]
[Illustration: LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK
High-resolution Map]
(1.4 miles)
36 SUMMIT LAKE lies on the east side of the road with entrance roads to
the North and South Campgrounds, 0.1 mile apart. The lake is so named
because it lies at the very summit of a divide between the Feather River
drainage to the south and the Pit River drainage to the north.
The elevation of the lake is 6,700 feet. It is good for swimming, and
its shores offer fine spots for picnicking or camping. Fishing is
generally only fair.
This area is dominated by red firs, with lodgepole pine and western
white pines. Also characteristic is the pinemat manzanita which forms a
carpet on the forest floor, bearing numerous small white blossoms.
Cream-colored marshmarigolds, and later white false hellebore, are the
most showy of numerous flowers to be seen in moist areas about the lake.
Hat Mountain is the nearby symmetrical, flat-topped cinder cone, rising
1,195 feet above the level of Summit Lake, to the northeast of it.
A trail circles the lake and on the far side of it, heads east to Echo
Lake, Twin Lakes, Cinder Cone, and Butte Lake; or to Bear and Cluster
Lakes; or to Kings Creek Falls, Warner Valley, and Drakesbad.
(0.4 mile)
[Illustration: MARSHMARIGOLD (cream-colored)]
[Illustration: LODGEPOLE PINE (cone 1¼ inches)]