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

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Other Plants

Ferns, mosses, and lichens grow abundantly in the Klamath Mountains; they approach rainforest proportions in some of the lower canyons, covering rocks and trees alike with a green mantle. In other low-elevation areas, gray strands of Spanish moss drape away from tree limbs, and staghorn lichens stand out from the trunks. At boundaries between meadows and forests in the mixed-conifer community, ferns grow to head height, crowding the trails. Acres of brake ferns cover some of the meadows at the red-fir level. A variety of lichens add their colors to the rocks higher up, and delicate five-finger ferns decorate dripping grottos.

ANIMALS

Warm-Blooded Animals

A quite common, wild, large, warm-blooded animal in the Klamath Mountains is the black bear. The area has seen a sizable increase in the bear population in recent decades, although you probably won’t see one on your backpack, as these animals remain quite wary of humans. However, you can safeguard against encountering a bear in the backcountry by following a few simple guidelines. At camp, effectively hang all of your food, trash, and scented items (toothpaste, sunscreen, etc.) from a stout tree limb out of a bear’s reach (10 feet high and 5 feet out from the trunk), or, better yet, put all of that stuff in an approved bear canister. Wash your dishes, keep your camp clean, and try not to cook more food than you’ll realistically eat. You may still hear a bear nosing around your camp in the middle of the night, searching for food, but with the proper precautions, at least you won’t go hungry for the rest of your trip. More than likely, you will see bear scat on the trails as well as other signs, such as scratch marks on tree trunks, or torn-up logs, but people rarely see bears in this region.