[1] The lake is located to the south of Lassen Peak and west of Bumpass Mountain in the Shasta Cascades region of Northern California.

Highway 89 runs along the lake's southern and eastern shore.

[2] The lake is named for Helen Tanner Brodt who in 1864 became the first white woman to reach the summit of Lassen Peak.

During winter, Pacific storms come in from the west and bedeck the lake with copious amounts of snowfall.

Annual snowfall at the lake is around 600–700 inches (15.24–17.78 m), making it the snowiest place in California.