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Trail 58 Field Trip, February 24, 2024

Trail 58 Field Trip,
February 24, 2024

Hikers on bridge over Middle Creek. D. Mandel.
Happy hikers on a bridge over Middle Creek, on Trail 58, Shasta. Photo © Doug Mandel, taken February 24, 2024.

It was perfect weather for the joint Shasta Chapter CNPS-Shasta Environmental Alliance field trip on BLM’s Trail 58, just west of Redding, on Saturday, February 24—cool with sunny skies, providing crystal-clear views of Mt. Shasta and the surrounding area. This trail used to traverse an oak woodland with scattered shrubs but, since the Carr Fire, the area now supports chaparral habitat with scattered gray pines and a few canyon live oaks that survived the fire.

David Ledger leading field trip. D. Mandel.
David Ledger, left, leading the February 24, 2024, field trip along Trail 58, Shasta. Photo © Doug Mandel.

This trail roughly follows the south side of Middle Creek, which was an area of active gold mining during the Gold Rush. A long section of the trail follows an old water ditch that was used by gold miners. If you look carefully, you can still see the remains of a huge old pipe and flume that have fallen in a small canyon.

Middle Creek. D. Mandel.
Middle Creek, near Shasta, on the February 24, 2024, field trip along Trail 58. Photo © Doug Mandel.

Botanically, little was blooming except for many Henderson’s shooting-stars. We did see many examples of oracle oak as well as resprouting black oak, interior live oak, and canyon live oak. Many of the knobcone pines have reached six feet tall; fewer numbers of gray pines were in the two- to four-foot range. Other plants we saw included coyote brush, willow dock, broad-leaved sedum, Lemmon’s ceanothus, redberry, and many toyon, of which the American Robins had eaten almost all of the fruits. Many soap plants are leafing out, and mountain jewel flowers could still be identified by last year’s seed pods (siliques) and leaves. And there are way too many invasive Spanish broom shrubs along the creek!

Stonecrop. D. Mandel.
Broad-leaved stonecrop, Sedum spathulifolium, growing in the rocks along Trail 58, Shasta.
Photo © Doug Mandel, February 24, 2024.

There is only one steep uphill section on the trail, which eventually meets Middle Creek Trail at the south end of Old Shasta. Overall, it was an easy to moderate hike in perfect weather. ~David Ledger

Steep section of Trail 58. D. Mandel.
The steep section of Trail 58, Shasta, on the February 24, 2024, field trip. Photo © Doug Mandel.