Twin Meadows Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features River/Creek · Views

To find Twin Meadows Trail, take the main highway, CA 89, about 11 miles through the park from the south (Kohm Yah-mah-nee) visitor center, to a small paved, but unmarked, side road that leads to a picnic area, parking, and restrooms. Find the Cold Boiling Lake Trail trailhead at the end of this side road, on its south side. Hike Cold Boiling Lake Trail for 0.5 miles to the start of Twin Meadows Trail.

This trail is lightly used and, therefore, faint in places. To avoid getting off trail, watch for yellow dots on tree trunks, and cuts through fallen logs that fell across the trail.

From Cold Boiling Lake Trail, Twin Meadows Trail heads south through the fir forest. For the first 0.6 miles, the trail descends gradually just west of a steep sided rocky hill. Cliffs can be seen high above to the left. Rock slides with their boulders, are at the bottom of this hill. Undergrowth is sparse and grassy where it exists.

At the 0.6 mile mark, still in the firs, Twin Meadows Trail begins a steeper descent for the next 0.4 miles. Although the trail veers a bit away from the rocky hill, the rocky hill can still be seen through the trees to the left (east). To the right (west), what seems to be a dry (in the fall) creek bed, appears, and the trail follows this creek bed downstream.

Twin Meadows Trail then levels off at the 1-mile mark, and stays flat for the next quarter mile. Veering farther away from the rocky hill, the firs are a bit thicker here, and the ground cover is a bright green, low growing manzanita, very pretty.

After another short descent, and the trail levels off for the next 0.7 miles. Still in the firs, the ground cover is now grassy. At about the 1.6-mile mark, one begins to see the first of the Twin Meadows through the trees to the left (east). The trail does not go through the first Twin Meadow. At the 1.8-mile mark, the trail comes out of the forest at the north end of the second Twin Meadow. Veering right (west), the trail crosses Rice Creek that runs through this meadow, and then re-enters the forest on the west edge of the second Twin Meadow. Then turning left, to continue south, at the edge of the second meadow but in the forest, the trail runs along the west side of the second Twin Meadow.

At the 2.2-mile mark, Twin Meadows Trail turns right (west) and leaves the Twin Meadows behind, as it climbs a low, rocky ridge covered with low growing manzanita and sparse firs. After passing a rocky outcrop, the trail descends into the forest strewn with boulders among rocky hillsides. After 2.8 miles, the trail ends at the northern end of Spencer Meadow and Lassen Valcanic National Park's southern boundary.

This trail is in a rocky fir forest with thin ground cover. The ground cover varies—grass, bright green low growing manzanita, and dirt. Pine needles and pine cones are all over the place. There are many fallen logs that have been cut where they fell on the trail, to keep the trail clear.