Landscape
64 VISITOR CENTER, LODGE and CAMPGROUND, elevation 5,950 feet, is the center of visitor facilities and services.
The Visitor Center is open daily. Free naturalist-conducted hikes, caravans, and nature walks originate here. Informal campfire programs are presented nightly in the Manzanita Lake Campground Amphitheater from June through mid-September.
The LILY POND SELF-GUIDING NATURE TRAIL, an easy 1-mile loop route, starts just across the road from the Visitor Center. It is unique in having ten species of cone-bearing trees and three species of broad-leaved trees along its short and nearly level route.
GOLDEN-MANTLED GROUND SQUIRREL · CHIPMUNK
Abundant wildlife, including deer and a large variety of birds, is found in the Manzanita-Reflection Lakes area. The most common rodents are the golden-mantled ground squirrel and the chipmunk.
The Loomis Museum, with a tract of 40 acres, was given to the Federal Government in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin F. Loomis in memory of their daughter, Mae. On this land are now located the public lodge and dining room, curio store, service station, grocery store and postoffice.
The National Park Service emblem pictured here was adopted in 1953. Many visitors confuse the Park Service (Department of the Interior) with the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture). Briefly, the National Park Service preserves the National Parks and Monuments in an unchanged state, while the U. S. Forest Service operates National Forests on a sustaining yield basis.