Alpine: Stuart Fork
Shasta-Trinity National Forest
DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4
Once again out to the more popular side of the Trinity Alps Wilderness, this time because Daniil really wants to visit some off trail lakes called Morris and Smith. He wants to get to them by rounding a lot of granite from Alpine Lake, which looks to me like the third easiest way to get there when looking at the map, but apparently this is the most common way people use. His plan was an afternoon to the ford, next day to Alpine Lake, next to Morris (or Smith, whichever looks more campable), then finishing by doing all of that in reverse. Could we at least just bomb down the drainage to the trail below instead of the long up and around? The maps and photography seem to show there's small cliffy obstacles that should be easy to go around and some possible thick vegetation and he wouldn't commit to that.
We arrived at Stuart Fork Trailhead about 4PM. It's a huge parking lot just past a campground. Being a Friday, the campground was bustling with John Denver blaring and the parking lot had only a few spaces free still. Well, it would be at least a third empty if they parked the way they do in Colorado, but California likes enough room to swing the door wide open. We changed our shoes and sorted out the last bit of packing in our packs and headed out. There's a lot of private property in Stuart Fork and it doesn't stop at the trailhead. We hiked road for a while passing mystery junctions. The Forest Service simply leaves this bit off their map, but is kind enough to place "trail this way" signs along the way.
The private property ends and the wilderness begins. Maybe. It looks like there's still a little road for one more patch before shrinking down to trail. But somewhere around there we finally found ourselves on public lands.
Eventually we got to a point where we could have more than a glance at the river although it was deep in evening shadow by then.
The trail makes a swampy route close to the river for a short distance before climbing up again.
The trail stays a little high, but alternates climbs and drops as it goes. Nominally it is climbing and the drops are long and gentle. There's signs for Little Deep Creek Camp and then Deep Creek Camp along the way, each one placed high on the hill far from where you would actually access the flat campable area seen a long way down. They state a distance over which the camp extends. Apparently they're new.
The middle of July was already a time to be worrying about smoke. There wasn't much as we started, but it did come in as the sun set somewhere behind the canyon walls pushing a cloud of mosquitoes ahead of it.
The junction is signed for Alpine Lake and Morris Meadows, followed shortly on by a sign for "Fork Camp next 0.1 mi". The trail looks invitingly well traveled, but that seems to be because the camp area is popular. The last bit of trail to the ford is a little smaller.
We selected sites, trying not to be too close to others already at the far end by the ford. I had skipped the tent, so had less to set up. I might have set up a bit of mesh to keep mosquitoes off, but the thick wave of them had clearly passed leaving practically none. Instead, I poked around in the last of the light trying to photograph those flowers that still bloom in the flood plain, get water, and then cook up some supper. Daniil has decided to take things the easy way and just cold soak everything. He's become a big fan of Outdoor Herbivore products for this purpose.
It was quite dark by the time I'd got myself ready to sleep. The smoke hadn't gotten too bad yet.
Continue on to the next day ⇒
*photo album*
©2025 Valerie Norton
Written 5 Oct 2025
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