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

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Smith Lake

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.

Turn left (west) from the junction and stroll 200 yards to where the trail drops over a steep bank to a shaded flat and a large open gravel bar beside the river. A number of excellent campsites are on the flat and beneath clumps of cottonwoods and firs on the gravel bar, where an ample supply of driftwood should provide plenty of firewood. Anglers will find the fishing better here in the Stuart Fork than above at Alpine Lake, unless the water is too high and swift, in which case you won’t be able to ford it anyway. If the river is very low, you may be able to boulder-hop upstream from the former site of an old diversion dam washed out by a flood, but more than likely you’ll have to wade across.