Trinity Alps & Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas. Mike White
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wide gravel bars studded with cottonwoods and bigleaf maples. Both flowers and wildlife are abundant along the trail throughout the summer, especially in and around Morris Meadow. Since the only significant bear trouble I’ve experienced in the Alps occurred near Sapphire Lake, bear canisters are highly recommended. Fishing is good in Stuart Fork for rainbow trout to 10 inches and fair for eastern brook trout in Emerald and Sapphire Lakes. Mirror Lake has both rainbows and brooks up to 10–12 inches. Autumn hikers will no doubt encounter deer hunters near Morris Meadow.
The amble through cool and shady forest on the way to Morris Meadow is one of the fine aspects of this trip, offering easy travel for the first day or two of hiking. Above the meadow, steeper tread matches the terrain of the canyon, passing through groves of stately red firs. Nearing the head of the canyon, sparse weeping spruces, mountain hemlocks, and whitebark pines cling to the walls of a giant, granite cirque. This subalpine environment also supports thick mats of ceanothus and huckleberry oak, as well as varieties of willow and alder in the wetter areas.
GPS COORDINATES N40° 52.975' W122° 55.540'
DIRECTIONS About 13 miles north of Weaverville, CA 3 turns northwest out of the lower end of Slate Creek Canyon and runs along the shoreline of Trinity Lake past Tan Bark Picnic Area and a USFS information center, before crossing a bridge over the Stuart Fork arm of the lake. At the north end of the bridge, Trinity Alps Road turns west from the highway and soon leads to Trinity Alps Resort. The store, when open, is a good place to pick up last-minute supplies, and the dining room offers quite palatable meals, albeit on a limited schedule.
Beyond a row of cabins alongside the river, the road switches to dirt and gravel and heads up past the resort’s stable and corrals. Drive carefully through the resort and be on the alert for children and animals crossing the road. A quarter mile past the corrals you’ll see the Elk Gulch Trailhead on the right with room for one or two cars. Continue another couple of miles to a locked gate blocking the road. The trailhead parking area is on the left, just beyond Bridge Campground and 3.5 miles from CA 3. Although conveniently located near the trailhead, the campground is cramped and dusty; campgrounds around Trinity Lake offer more aesthetically pleasing alternatives.
Description
The Stuart Fork Valley offers a cross-section of much of the natural history of the Alps. Below Oak Flat the river has cut through jumbled sedimentary and metasedimentary rock strata and glacial till. Several thousand years ago, receding glaciers left extensive terminal moraines above Oak Flat, damming a large lake that eventually filled in and dried out to become present-day Morris Meadow. At the head of the valley, Emerald, Sapphire, and Mirror Lakes shimmer in their solid rock basins much as the glaciers left them.
The first mile of the Stuart Fork Trail follows the continuation of the road across private land, as signs direct you to respect the rights of the property owners by remaining on the road. Veer right at a well-signed fork immediately beyond the gate (the left-hand road leads to a mining camp near the river) and continue to the end of the road at the wilderness boundary, just past a cabin at Cherry Flat.
From the boundary, the well-defined singletrack trail goes about 200 yards to a crossing of Sunday Creek, the first readily accessible water source. Above the creek you climb away from the river into dense forest of primarily Douglas-fir, with occasional incense cedars, ponderosa pines, and sugar pines. Drop down to a flat beside the Stuart Fork, climb moderately up the side of the canyon, down to another flat with excellent campsites, and then up and down again to a crossing of Little Deep Creek, close to its confluence with the river. Pass another excellent campsite, climb over a mound of glacial till (the first on the way up the valley), and come to a steel girder bridge spanning Deep Creek.
After climbing moderately over another small hump above Deep Creek, you descend to yet another flat, where water from a spring runs across the trail and a number of fine campsites lie between the trail and the river. Four miles into the journey, you’re probably now far enough away from the trailhead to ensure good fishing in the river. By August the water may be warm enough for swimming as well. A gentle ascent leads to the lower end of Oak Flat, a wide, gently sloping shelf, 200–300 yards away from the river, and heavily forested with large Douglas-firs, ponderosa pines, and black oaks. About 1 mile from Deep Creek, water from a fine spring spills across the trail, and about 150 yards farther, you reach the junction of Bear Creek and Alpine Lake Trails. The path on the left branches west to drop over a high bank to a forested flat and a large gravel bar beside the river. Excellent campsites, with an adequate supply of firewood, can be found on both the flat and the bar, above and below the ford. This crossing is potentially dangerous during high-water conditions. Fishing for pan-sized rainbows should be excellent.
From the junction, continue ahead on the Stuart Fork Trail, traversing 0.5 mile of dense forest before breaking out into more open terrain well above the river on the east side of the canyon. The trail runs along the embankment of the old La Grange Ditch through here, the first place you’ll notice much evidence of the mining efforts along the Stuart Fork. From this vantage point, you’ll also have your first look at the high Alps at the head of the valley. Some more first-rate campsites lie in a flat between the ditch and the river. The trail soon climbs away from the ditch on the brushy east slope, and then levels off before dropping through some terminal moraines on the way to a crossing of Salt Creek. The fern- and wildflower-lined stream runs swift, clear, and cold. The remnants of an old log cabin are slowly moldering back into the soil, and some poor-to-fair campsites are nearby.
Other Backpacking Options in the Area
If you would prefer not to retrace your steps all the way back to the Stuart Fork Trailhead and you have the luxury of two vehicles, a strenuous 30-mile, point-to-point trip over Sawtooth Ridge and through scenic Caribou Basin to Big Flat is one possibility. Another possibility is to go up Willow Creek and over the very steep divide west of Tri-Forest Peak to Big Flat, a 38-mile adventure. An even longer, 44-mile near-loop takes in the Four Lakes, Siligo Meadows, and Van Matre Meadows; crosses Stonewall Pass; passes through Red Mountain Meadows; and then descends to the Stoney Ridge Trailhead. From there you must walk a mile on a dirt road and then take the Elk Gulch Trail to the trailhead on Trinity Alps Road, just above Trinity Alps Resort and 2 miles below the Stuart Fork Trailhead. Additional shuttle alternatives are to go from Deer Creek to the Long Canyon Trailhead, or over the divide to Granite Lake and then out to the Swift Creek Trailhead.
North of Salt Creek, you climb around a shoulder of rock and ascend a series of switchbacks east up a draw before turning north again over and around more moraines. A half mile from Salt Creek, 7.5 miles from the trailhead, a steel truss bridge leads across the steep-walled, narrow canyon cut through dark sedimentary rock by the waters of Deer Creek. A pack stock bypass trail leads to a ford above a waterfall plunging into the deep pool below the bridge, which also provides access to the creek for acquiring water.
A short steep climb heads up the north bank of Deer Creek and east into the piled-up moraines south of Morris Meadow. A half mile from the bridge, Cold Spring flows copiously across the trail, and a small clearing nearby offers a few excellent campsites. You continue climbing, moderately to moderately steeply, another half mile to the south junction of the Deer Creek Trail heading east toward Four Lakes. A level stroll from there leads through open forest and patches of meadow to the north junction. Just beyond the second junction, you stroll out into the wide, lower end of expansive, lush Morris Meadow, 8.7 miles from the trailhead.
A midsummer evening at Morris Meadow can be truly memorable—an exquisite tableau of deer grazing in waist-high grass, backlit by the setting sun reflected off the multicolored backdrop of Sawtooth Ridge rising 2,000 feet above the forest fringe at the north end of the meadow. The main part of the meadow is roughly a mile long by a quarter mile wide, covering the flat floor of the glacier-carved upper Stuart Fork Valley. On the west side, tilted and glistening slabs of granite sweep up to remnant snowfields under the 8,886-foot summit of Sawtooth Mountain. To the east, Sawtooth Ridge tapers off into a massive forested ridge separating this valley from the Willow Creek and Deer Creek drainages. Stuart Fork, hidden from view by a tangle of willows, alders, and incense cedars, meanders down the west side of the valley. White-flowering yampa dots the green expanse of meadow grass in August, and pale bog orchids hide among the sedges in marshy areas. Earlier in the summer, wide expanses of