For this adventure to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Shasta Chapter CNPS and Shasta Environmental Alliance co-led a group of 13 hikers from Summit Lake to Echo Lake. With temperatures reaching 115 degrees in Redding, it was a great day to get out of the valley!
This is a fairly easy hike of about 3½ miles. It has several steep spots as it climbs up a ridge, for a little over 300 feet in elevation gain, but then it descends back down 300 feet to Echo Lake.
The area was burned in the 2021 Dixie Fire. Along the trail that goes up the ridge to Echo Lake, the burn was moderately severe, which resulted in opening the forest and activating dormant seeds. Consequently, there were many wildflowers along this portion of the trail.
Photo taken July 13, 2024, by Brigitte Robertson.
Shrubs included bush chinquapin, tobacco brush, pinemat manzanita, green-leaved manzanita, Brewer’s mountain heather, and mahala mat. Herbaceous plants included narrow-flowered lupine, satin lupine, slender penstemon, marum-leaved buckwheat, and many more bloomers near Summit Lake.
The trail down the ridge to Echo Lake burned with low severity, beneficially burning smaller and weaker trees. The area around the lake itself was not burned at all. Trees growing along the trail included mountain hemlocks, red firs, western white pines, lodgepole pines, and a few white firs.
When we reached Echo Lake (you can hear an echo if you shout!), we had lunch and a few people went swimming or wading to cool off. As we sat by the lake, a few high clouds moved in and a breeze picked up, significantly cooling the air.
By the time we hiked back to the parking lot at Summit Lake it was a pleasant 75 degrees, at around 2 PM. This is a great, easy hike, but it does require balance due to the steep sections. ~David Ledger
