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)] 37 SUMMIT LAKE RANGER STATION. An emergency telephone is located there. (0.1 mile)