The walk around the Bailey Cove Trail at Shasta Lake brought out a small but friendly group of nine people. We saw continuing variation in plant communities as we looped around the peninsula, the aspect of the slope determining the plants observed.
On north- to northeast-facing slopes where we started the hike, the overstory was dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga douglasii), with black oak (Quercus kellloggii) and big-leaved maple (Acer macrophyllum) as the primary broad-leaved trees. The understory supported many ferns, including Shasta maidenhair fern (Adiantum shastense, a CNPS List 4.3 species), narrow-leaved sword fern (Polystichum imbricans), and gold-backed fern (Pentagramma triangularis), with scattered California milkmaids (Cardamine californica) blooming throughout.
As we reached the southern end of the peninsula, the forested areas became more open. There were many knobcone pines (Pinus attenuata) amongst scattered gray pines (Pinus sabiniana) and ponderosa pines. Canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) and interior live oak (Quercus wislizeni) began to dominate a more open canopy, with buckbrush (Ceanothus cuneatus), deer brush (Ceanothus integerrimus), and Lemmon’s ceanothus (Ceanothus lemmonii) beginning to appear in the understory. Continuing onto the west-facing slope, the vegetation changed into a canyon live oak woodland with patches of Brewer’s oak (Quercus garryana ssp. breweri).
This would be an excellent and easy 3-mile hike to take right now, as peak bloom season should be approaching over the next two weeks. ~David Ledger
Photo taken January 12, 2025, by Don Burk.