Hat Creek is a 48.7-mile-long (78.4 km)[1] stream in Shasta County in northern California. The creek rises in two forks on the eastern slopes of Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park, and flows northward through Lassen National Forest to its mouth at Lake Britton near Burney, California.[2]
Hat Creek is so named because a surveyor lost his hat there.[3] Perhaps it was blown off by one of the same thermals that hang glider pilots use to soar there.
The lower three and a half miles of the creek has been designated by the California Department of Fish and Game as a "Wild Trout Waterway," with restrictive catch limits. This area has a similar geology to the chalk streams of southern England, and is considered a classic trout stream. The trout population is made of wild rainbow and brown trout of up to 20 inches (510 mm) in length.
The main towns along Hat Creek are Hat Creek and Old Station, which is closer to Lassen Park. The Hat Creek Radio Observatory is located near the town of Hat Creek.
During the May 19, 1915 eruption of Mount Lassen, a lahar or mudflow swept down Hat Creek and neighboring Lost Creek.[4]
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