Scott Flat Campground

Shasta-Trinity National Forest

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Scott Flat Campground is sometimes referred to as Scott Flat Dispersed Area. I stayed a couple days, ironed out what the rest of my trip might look like, and read a John Muir book (A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf). When I finished backpacking in the dark, I had gone off toward the middle of the camp. It basically is an empty dispersed area there and would be easier in the dark. The August Complex in 2020 killed off all the pines and some of the oaks in that part. The dead have been downed for safety and the sawdust suggests the downed are getting hauled off for firewood. It leaves a cluster of oaks in a large meadow. At the north end is the small site I photographed on the way to starting backpacking. At the south end, past the trailhead, are the regular numbered pullouts of a campground. There, it is surrounded by lush pine forest. Two sites were taken by hunting groups. Camping is currently free, but the information board requests comment on raising that to $15 per night in season. (Hell Gate and Forest Glen Campgrounds are currently $12 a night, so I suppose that means they are increasing soon. Still cheaper than concessionaire controlled portions of the forest.)

Anyway, I strode out on both days to do some "botanizing", without the plant press, but including some hanging out over the river on the bridge. A couple times over it and my knees no longer felt weak while crossing it. I clearly am prone to becoming an overly timid person if left without enough adventure. Looking down from up there, I found the turtles. The big log lodged in the river is full of them! How did I miss those?

One turtle showing the work it takes to get a turtle on a log.

It's probably turtles all the way down.

I looked up from the turtles to find a squirrel had gotten halfway across the bridge before noticing it was occupied by something scary.

Douglas' ground squirrel deciding what to do now that it's noticed the other creature on the bridge.

I found a few remaining wildflowers among the drying grasses. Ribbons proclaiming "noxious weeds" waved from a few nearby trees, but not quite all of those flowers were.

A very few western vervain still with flowers.

I let Merlin have a listen to the woodpecker squeaks and it assured me that the ones hanging around in the oaks were fittingly acorn woodpeckers. It is iNaturalist's belief that I have never seen an acorn woodpecker. There were a dozen of them working on the telephone pole across the driveway one day, the one that got replaced a few years later. I've seen acorn woodpeckers. I took a lot of photos to make sure I could prove it.

Sneaky little woodpecker having a stretch.

More of a mourning dove than a woodpecker.

The hammer is about to fall!

Sneaky little woodpecker.

Letting Merlin have a listen to the dawn chorus gave a much longer list of birds to find. White-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, golden-crowned kinglet, northern flicker, California quail, dark-eyed junco, hairy woodpecker, blue jay, golden-crowned sparrow, and Canada jay in addition to the acorn woodpeckers. A little later it added mountain quail to a similar list. A couple of those are birds I would like to add to the collection.

Little brown creeper, which I added a couple days before. Those pictures weren't much better.

I mostly found acorn woodpeckers. Some of them with acorns.

Action goes clockwise from the upper left to arrive with a grub for breakfast.

This acorn woodpecker comes bearing gifts. Of an acorn.

I had gotten some photographs of the "noxious weeds" with my iNaturalist app, but decided to get some better photos as I strode out to explore the campground area a little more fully.

The moth mulleins have some pretty to them, but they aren't expected to live here.

Yellow star thistle is just vicious.

And hang out with the turtles a little longer.

One western pond turtle was out on the river and seeming to float through the air as it went.

A few were resting on the log in the water.

Most turtles were unmoved by me being there.

These turtles let me capture so many details!

Triple threat.

There's some big rainbow trout in that water too.

That's the bridge.

I headed along to the end of the campground road where the pines are still lush and green. The river makes a loop around it and there's access down to the gravel left by the slower inside water during flood.

Arriving down at the water near the end of the road.

And out onto the gravel bar. The fire came low on the far side.

Still a few pines and other trees on this side.

I climbed up on a log for a while dalliance and, it turns out, to listen to the complicated song of the American dipper almost indiscernible above the river rumble. I pulled out my brush pens and see if I can start up a cycle of using them again. Some of them are in sad shape, including the nicest. A little soaking and maintenance can put them right. Some are no worse than when I last opened them.

A line of umbrella plants from up on the logs.

The American dipper out in the river, singing away.

The dipper dipped into the shallow water between rocks and stood in other places.

The result of investigating the state of my pens on the logs. When I last identified this umbrella plant, they were given the common name "Indian rhubarb".

Out on the gravel. I even checked some of the water pens filled with ink. They are no worse than before, but before included a love of oozing.

Then off to the other end of the campground where the single site near the information board has another river access point. This one requires a very small scramble. I didn't find any other access points in between although a few would be expected.

A few very yellow California poppies remaining among the seed pods.

A mylitta crescent on some naked buckwheat.

A much smaller South Fork Trinity River access.

A frog jumped away in case feet might fall carelessly. The fish I could see were much smaller. I read in the shade.

A few of the small fry, or are they minnows? Western speckled dace.

The foothill yellow-legged frog kept coming back over to check if its spot had been cleared yet.

When I finished the book, I let the frog have the spot back. However, the sun was inching its way there and it may not have wanted it anymore.

The long, open center portion of Scott Flat Campground with the remaining pines at the far end.

A doe and her two youngsters came by a little before sunset. In rifle season.

Perhaps that was more "zoologizing" than botanizing.

Now I can really see how hot it was and how much cooler down by the river side. Not only did I have one logger with me in the pack, there was a magnetic one stuck to the side of the car. As you can see, the pack is a bit warmer when it is inside said car. It's not much cooler standing on the bridge over the river, but once I get down to the log about 5 feet over the river, it cools a bit. Getting to the gravel or bank depresses the temperature even more. Travel between causes spikes.

Temperature at the car and at the pack.

*photo album*




©2024 Valerie Norton
Written 27 Oct 2024