Читать книгу Trinity Alps & Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas. A Hiking and Backpacking Guide онлайн

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Dense, mixed forest carpets the sides of the lower valley, and the river flows swiftly through a rocky channel with occasional 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.