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

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Description

The Kanaka Peak Loop begins by dropping immediately to a crossing of Paige Boulder Creek, and then climbing about 30 yards to an obscure, unmarked junction with a singletrack path on the left heading southeast along the stream bank (this trail will be the return leg of the loop). Proceed ahead on the old road, climbing stiffly through the dappled shade of a mixed forest. Keen eyes should spy poison oak lining the side of the road, offering a reminder to avoid these plants by keeping to the roadbed. After a 0.75-mile climb, you reach a signed junction with Peltier Trail on the right.

Pleasantly graded trail leads away from the junction, around the fold of a hill, and then down to a crossing of a seasonal stream that, when flowing, picturesquely spills down a grassy and rocky nook bordered by lush plants. Shortly past the crossing is a three-way junction with the Kanaka Cutoff on the left, offering a short return to the trailhead for those looking for an early escape route.

Farther along the loop trail, a moderate climb leads to the crossing of a usually dry seasonal stream. Beyond there, the roadbed dwindles to a singletrack trail and begins a stiffer, switchbacking climb through Douglas-firs, tan oaks, and Pacific madrones on the way toward the ridgecrest above. Tree-filtered views of Whiskeytown Lake along the way offer a hint of the much more extensive views that start to unfold upon gaining the top of the ridge west of Kanaka Peak. Following a fence line delineating the recreation area boundary from private property to the south, you drop steeply into a narrow saddle and then climb just as steeply toward the top of Kanaka Peak. As you near the 2,616-foot-high summit, the forest parts enough to allow stunning views from the grass-covered ridgecrest in every direction. Snowcapped Mount Shasta is the dominant Cascade volcano to the north, while much-lower Lassen Peak and its immediate neighbors lie to the east. The range of peaks to the south is the Yolla Bolly Mountains, while the broad plain of the Sacramento River stretches away into the distance. Nearer at hand, Whiskeytown Lake lies at your feet and 6,199-foot Shasta Bally, with a panoply of communication towers littering the summit, seems a stone’s throw away to the west-northwest.