BFTA Trinity Alps: Long Gulch Trail

Klamath National Forest

(red line, map link)

DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6-7

I was signed up for not one, but TWO weeks of trail work with the Bigfoot Trail Alliance. Well, I never actually ever said "yes" to the second week, but I got an email that said I was on the list and reply if I wasn't coming and I didn't reply, so I was committed. And in between? Well, somewhere in between. I was too busy writing up the bunch of hikes around Mad River to get any more detailed than this. This first week was in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. Base camp was at Long Gulch Lake, so the first day was hiking up Long Gulch Trail and Long Gulch Lake Trail and settling into camp. (There's some debate about the identity of this canyon. It was marked as Trail Gulch by USGS since 1955, but was Long Gulch in 1934. Now it's Long Gulch again, lake, trail, and gulch, on the National Map built by USGS. This is sensible. It's the longer gulch of the two.)

00: tall trees around dirt path — The trail up Long Gulch starts on what is apparently old road.

There was some work to do along the way. Two logs needed cut out of one spot. That didn't give everyone something to do although the second log ended up taking a lot longer than expected. I had time to admire the flowers.

01: white flowers and much greeen leaf — A few late blooming bride's bonnet among a varied collection of leaves.

02: bright orange with spots — Leopard lilies.

03: lots of orange — So many leopard lilies!

Honestly, the trail could have used a little lopping here and there. Most the tools were on the mules along with the food for the week.

05: grassy open space with peaks beyond — Meadows open up for a little bit of view.

06: rocky area above trees and meadow — Some of the views preview the trails we'd see over the next few days.

The creek wasn't apparent at first. The trail narrows down about the time of the first crossing. From there, it winds upward over plenty of good rock work. It's a well developed and well used trail.

07: watery way — A peek at the creek down Long Gulch.

08: round purple flowers — Oregon checker-mallow brightened the day.

09: flowers with tails — Western columbine hanging over the creek and going to seed.

10: dangling flowers — White-veined wintergreen getting in an early bloom.

It's about a mile before entering the Trinity Alps Wilderness proper.

11: boundary marker — The sign upon entering Trinity Alps Wilderness.

12: trees and other green — Protected meadow! (But not from cows.)

13: narrow orange trumpets with massive flare — The scarlet gilia around here are actually kind of orange.

14: yellow flowers with dots set on very delicate stems — Threadleaf primrose monkeyflowers seem particularly delicate.

16: tiny flowers in an arrangement of arrow shaped leaves — Redstem springbeauties covered a dusty area.

17: narrow trail through close chomped meadow greens — Walking through a grazed meadow.

18: more cliffs around the edge of the gulch — Some of the sudden upward climb at the edge of this gulch.

19: showy purple blue flowers — Tall spikes of larkspurs were full of blooms.

20: tiny, long purple — Brewer's monkeyflower, a rather tiny thing in a jumble.

Finding the junction, we turned toward the lake. I'd been passed by the stock, but most got there before them. Camp was at the far end of the lake as this was considered to be the nicer area.