Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
A long loop links Juniper Lake, wet meadows and a deep gorge.
Overview
Map & elevation
Plan your hike
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Lassen Volcanic Tour Guide
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 area
The Pika's Winter Pantry“On a walk among high-country rocks, a sharp squeak may give away a pika before you see it. These small relatives of rabbits live in the gaps between boulders.”
Plays on the road 0.1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Lassen Volcanic Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“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
Kings Gorge Loop is a high-country loop between the Mount Harkness side of Warner Valley and the Juniper Lake–Kings Gorge trail network. The itinerary is published as 16.8 miles, including a lightly used road walk between two trailheads. Tracing the older map line and joining the mapped road measures about 14.6 miles; a second access map gives a different estimate for the road section. That gap is unresolved, so use 16.8 miles as the cautious planning figure and treat the stored line as approximate. This is a very long day hike or an overnight, not a short lake stroll.
The mapped loop links Indian Lake, Horseshoe Lake and Juniper Lake with the Grassy Swale and Grassy Creek drainages. Boardwalks are marked through the wet ground, with footlogs near Grassy Creek. Mossy Falls and Grassy Swale Falls are named along the route. Juniper Lake is the broad shoreline pause; the tree-lined water is the route’s clearest photo opportunity.
The route includes an unbridged crossing of Kings Creek in a deep gorge. High water can make it dangerous or impassable. Later in the season it may still mean wet feet. The route map’s mile marker for the ford assumes its own direction, so do not rely on that number when starting from the other access.
The stored route starts at Mount Harkness Trailhead in Warner Valley and returns there by the road connector; Kings Creek Gorge is the other mapped access. Walk the connector or arrange a shuttle after checking access. Pets are not allowed on park trails or in the backcountry; service animals are exempt. Warner Valley and Juniper Lake were affected by the Dixie Fire, and standing dead trees can fall without warning.
Wildlife
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.
Keep exploring
ChallengingMount Harkness Trail3.8 mi · 3 hr · 2.6 mi awayA steep climb to a cinder cone atop an ancient shield volcano.
ModerateCrystal Lake Trail0.9 mi · 45 min · 2.8 mi awayA short, steep out-and-back to Crystal Lake below the cliffs
ChallengingPacific Crest Trail through Lassen Volcanic19.1 mi · 10 hr · 2.8 mi awayA true PCT crossing strings together remote lakes and forest.
ModerateLittle Willow Lake to Terminal Geyser Trail3.2 mi · 2.3 hr · 3 mi awayA lakeside fen leads to a steam vent in the woods.
ModerateHorseshoe Lake Trail2.6 mi · 2 hr · 3.1 mi awayA short forest hike to a lakeshore beneath Lassen's skyline
ChallengingRainbow Lake Loop13.4 mi · 8.5 hr · 3.1 mi awayA remote high-country loop among three tucked-away lakes
ModerateGrassy Creek Long Loop6.9 mi · 4 hr · 3.1 mi awayA ridge-and-creek circuit through Lassen’s quiet Juniper Lake forest.
ModerateGrassy Creek Short Loop5.8 mi · 3.5 hr · 3.1 mi awayA 5.8-mile meadow loop with one faint cutoff to find.Sight · 2.2 mi awayTerminal GeyserA creekside steam vent at the end of a long hike.
Campground · 2.6 mi awayJuniper Lake CampgroundCamp beside the lake, after six rough dirt-road miles.
Sight · 3.1 mi awayJuniper LakeA coarse-sand beach, cool swimming, and trailheads share one shore.
Picnic area · 3.2 mi awayWarner Valley Day Use AreaA trailhead picnic stop for Lassen's hydrothermal corner.
Campground · 3.2 mi awayWarner Valley CampgroundA remote, wooded base for Warner Valley's trail network.
Sight · 3.2 mi awayBoiling Springs LakeA warm, milky lake ringed by steam and bubbling mudpots.
Sight · 3.3 mi awayHorseshoe LakeA trout lake people have fished since 1936
Sight · 3.6 mi awayInspiration PointA short, steep climb earns a wide volcanic panorama.Parkwolf’s Lassen Volcanic ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
