Cabin Creek Trail Field Trip, June 17, 2023

This field trip took the place of the originally planned Heart Lake hike when we discovered that Heart and Castle lakes were still snowed in! Cabin Creek Trail follows Squaw Valley Creek the entire way and featured many wildflowers in bloom, rushing water in the creek, and a nearly continuous canopy of trees. A high temperature of only 78 degrees made for pleasant conditions for the 11 people who participated in this fun field trip.

Squaw Valley Creek. MA McCrary. — Looking down from the trail at Squaw Valley Creek, which was very full and rushing. The large-leaved plant growing along both banks is Indian-rhubarb, *Darmera peltata.* Photo taken on the field trip of June 17, 2023, by MaryAnn McCrary.

Squaw Valley Creek. D. Ledger. — Looking downstream at Squaw Valley Creek from the bridge connecting the Pacific Crest Trail to Cabin Creek Trail, just south of McCloud. Photo taken June 17, 2023, by David Ledger.

We identified many plants on the trail. Accompanying us on the field trip were Amy & Brad Henderson. Amy is President of Shasta Chapter CNPS, and her husband, Brad, is a botanist who was a great help in identifying many uncommon plants. Due to the time spent identifying plants, we only walked about two miles in total and took a lunch break near the creek.

Lunch break. B. Robertson. — Lunch break on the Cabin Creek Trail field trip, just south of McCloud. The creek has many access points along its 5-mile length, making it popular with fishermen. Photo taken by Brigitte Robertson on June 17, 2023.

Among the different trees on the trail were a surprisingly large number of Pacific yews, as well as white fir, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, sugar pine, incense-cedar, black oak, Oregon oak, white alder, and big-leaf maple. Service-berry, currant, Sierra gooseberry, thimbleberry, Oregon boxwood, and cascara were some of the shrubs we found. Wildflowers included twin flower, trailplant, morning-glory, short-leaf montia, and many broad-leaved sedums.

Low growers. B. Robertson. — A pretty garden of low-growing species, seen on the Cabin Creek Trail hike, just south of McCloud, on June 17, 2023. You should be able to make out broad-leaved stonecrop, small-leaved montia, and a moss. Photo taken by Brigitte Robertson.

After the hike, part of our group drove six miles east of McCloud to a Forest Service road to look at an amazing variety of shrubs and wildflowers on a roadside walk. Below is a slideshow of photos taken throughout the day. Enjoy! ~David Ledger