The Shasta Chapter CNPS–Shasta Environmental Alliance field trip to Crystal Creek Ditch Trail at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (NRA) on February 11, 2023, was still a little early in the season to find many flowering plants, but we were able to identify most of the shrubs and trees by their leaves. Most plants should be blooming by late March. The trail features a great diversity of plants ranging from coffee fern, bird’s-foot fern, and chain fern, to western azaleas, California hazel, thimbleberry, and ocean spray, to name a few.
This is an easy, level walk of about two miles out and back. It’s a beautiful trail that follows an old water ditch, which in one place includes a significant length of catwalk adjacent to an elevated flume. The Gold Rush era hotel, Tower House, located near the historic Camden House, used this ditch to irrigate its pastures and orchards. From here, the ditch continues about a mile upstream towards French Gulch.
On the field trip with us we were fortunate to have Shasta Chapter CNPS member Justin Felder, who worked at Whiskeytown NRA after graduating from college, and now works as a biologist for a local consulting firm. Justin was familiar with almost every plant on the trail. ~David Ledger