Green Valley Lake is a small mountain community in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, set at roughly 7,200 feet in the San Bernardino National Forest. It is the highest subdivision in the national forest, higher than the better-known resorts of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear, and its elevation gives the community cooler summers and heavier snow than the valley below. The town is reached from State Highway 18, a few miles off the main mountain road between the neighboring hamlets of Arrowbear and Running Springs. The community is built around its namesake, a roughly nine-acre lake ringed by towering pines. The lake is the centerpiece of daily and seasonal life, supporting fishing, swimming, and small boating in the warmer months and freezing over in winter. Around it cluster the community's cabins, a small commercial core, and the roads that wind up through the forest. Green Valley Lake functions as a year-round resort and residential community rather than an incorporated city. It is part of the string of mountain settlements that developed as summer and winter retreats for the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego areas, each roughly 90 minutes away by car. That proximity has long sustained the community as a second-home and weekend destination, while a core of full-time residents keeps its services and institutions running. The community suits those seeking a quiet, high-altitude retreat with genuine four-season recreation, away from the crowds and commerce of the larger mountain resorts. It is a place defined by its lake, its forest, and its seclusion.