A wide path and easy grade make this trail ideal for beginning mountain bikers. The trail crosses the river 12 times on bridges and trestles and passes through two tunnels. The landscape is a combination of semiarid canyon and upland forests of pine and fir. Click here for more information about biking in Lassen National Forest. The lake boasts the largest population of the fishing raptor in California.
Osprey are great fun to watch while they fish.
The best time is during the last two hours of the day, when trout are feeding and coming to the surface for insect hatches. That's when you'll see the osprey circling high overhead, and then dive-bombing when they spot a fish. The Lassen Scenic Byway is a loop route on four state highways that travels through the geologic and biologic crossroads of the southern Cascades, revealing a mosaic of changing landscapes and views. Although it can be driven in a day, the most rewarding approach is to take in a segment each day, stopping along the way to hike and explore the volcanic terrain. Prime leg-stretchers include lava tube caves, the Spatter Cone Crest Trail, which leads past three of the four kinds of volcanos, and the Hat Creek Rim, an escarpment along a fault.