Parking
Start at the Summit Lake Ranger Station Trailhead parking area. Parking is limited; published sources do not give a lot capacity or overflow location.
Overview
About Echo Lake Trail
Why go
- A lake turnaround and a Lassen Peak view give the walk two distinct payoffs.
Heads up
- The Echo Lake route retraces the same trail on the return; it is not a loop.
Echo Lake Trail is a 4.4-mile out-and-back from the Summit Lake Ranger Station Trailhead to Echo Lake. Plan on 2–3 hours; the park rates it moderate and lists a 7,136-foot high point. It suits you if you want a real lake destination and don’t mind retracing the same route. This short Echo Lake hike turns around at the lake; the longer corridor toward Twin Lakes and the PCT is a different walk.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Lassen Volcanic map
Full mapElevation6,667–7,172 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Lassen Volcanic alert
- ClosureJuniper Lake campground and day-use area closedJuniper Lake Campground and day-use area are closed for maintenance and campground-improvement projects. - Potable water is unavailable in the campground.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Lassen Volcanic Tour Guide
Your drive to Echo Lake Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Lassen Volcanic National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Lassen Volcanic audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Summit Lake Trailhead: The Echo Lake Walk0:00 / 0:27
“You’re approaching the Summit Lake Ranger Station trailhead, the start of the Echo Lake hike.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Lassen Volcanic Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Summit Lake: Choose the North Shore
- A Songbird Underwater
- From Snow to Steam
- Hat Creek: Where Hat Lake Became Meadow
- 45 audio storiesacross Lassen Volcanic’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, Bald Eagle, Mule Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 59 trails, 56 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Echo Lake Trail
The way inA short boardwalk crosses a wet meadow, then the trail joins Summit Lake Trail at about 0.
A short boardwalk crosses a wet meadow, then the trail joins Summit Lake Trail at about 0.4 mile. You climb through fir forest before the trees open into manzanita, with a view toward Lassen Peak. At the Cluster Lakes Loop junction, stay on the Echo Lake branch. The route then drops back into fir forest to the lake.
At the lakeEcho Lake is the payoff: green-blue water along a shaded fir shoreline, with room to pause…
Echo Lake is the payoff: green-blue water along a shaded fir shoreline, with room to pause before the walk back. The shore works well for a picnic or swim. If you’re taking a photo, include some of the wooded edge with the water; that gives a better sense of the small, forested basin. Pets aren’t allowed on park trails or in the lake.
Parking at the Summit Lake access is limited. The route is partly sun-exposed, and current park conditions warn that standing dead trees in the 2021 Dixie Fire-affected area can fall without warning; check conditions before setting out.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Lassen Volcanic
103 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
44 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
348 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
17 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
47 sightingsGreat Blue HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsGreat EgretMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Lassen Volcanic. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
