The field trip to Lower Sacramento Ditch Trail, originally scheduled for January 14, was moved to January 21 due to rain. It did not rain, but it was a cold morning. The ground was still frozen on parts of the trail, but everyone was warmed up after the first 10 minutes of hiking.
This trail follows part of an old water ditch; it also goes along an old narrow-gauge railroad track that once hauled quartz from north Redding to the copper smelters that are now under Shasta Dam. The trail, which escaped the Carr Fire, has varied habitats of oak woodland and chaparral. A section of the trail has an overlook providing views of Keswick Lake and surrounding mountains, which our group truly enjoyed!
Along the way, we identified various trees and shrubs; only a few manzanita shrubs were in bloom. Herbaceous plants that were starting to emerge were wavy-leaved soap plant, phacelia, and Pacific sanicle. We also saw two ferns on the trail: gold-backed fern and narrow-leaved sword fern.
Everyone seemed to have a great time on this four-mile hike, our second field trip of the year! ~David Ledger
