'Twizt Red & Devils: West Seiad Creek

Klamath National Forest

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3

static map — Red line for day 1. Click for interactive map

Daniil had the idea that exploring the Pacific Crest Trail and Boundary Trail, one a National Scenic Trail and the other a National Recreation Trail, up by Red Buttes Wilderness looked like a grand idea and noted that it offers three entry options: head north on the PCT from the lot near Seiad, head south on the PCT from the parking at Cook and Green Pass, or the middle route along West Fork Seiad Creek. The pass might not be accessible with it being winter. The route from Seiad looks a bit too long but with some peak bagging opportunities along the way. I thought, by far, the creek side route looked the most interesting and obtainable, assuming the ford isn't too scary. There is definitely a point of view that makes it the most interesting and the ford wasn't too scary. So there's that. There is a large parking area at the bottom of the rump bit of road that turns into the trail at the first ford. We we camped the night before, so it made sense to get off the main road to the little camp site at the top. It is a somewhat rough road and the whole area was drenched in dew in the morning.

000: creek to cross — Hopping across West Fork Seiad Creek on rocks.

The ford was so nice that we actually hopped across it on rock keeping our feet dry. The far side also looked like old road, but there was probably a bridge in between once. As we continued along what is now trail along the creek, a couple old track roads broke off up the hill.

001: piece of iron leaning into moss — A discarded leaf spring is becoming one with the moss.

002: steep sided canyon — The goal it the "crest" where the PCT travels.

004: canyon through a space in the trees, top to bottom — Across the canyon, looking top to bottom.

006: red balls on orange bark — The fruit of the Pacific madrone, just as we were wondering.

We spotted an unusual conifer. What was it? I said juniper, since it had been so fruitful an answer in Yosemite. Eventually someone noticed we had so far been traveling or within the Seiad Baker Cypress Botanical Area, so Daniil suspected Baker cypress.

007: thin scale leaves — The "juniper berries" of the Baker cypress.

The trail turns downward, leaving the old roadway to cross the creek again. It seemed already smaller and was easy to hop across on rocks. On the far side, the trail was slick with soggy oak leaves.

008: single track in forest — Finally some single track trail!

011: trail rut filled with brown leaves — Oak leaves hide the trail.

012: looking out the canyon — Starting to gain a view.

013: short waterfalls in a row — Little water falls I hoped not to miss on the way down when the light might be better.

014: snapped, long ago burned dead trees — We've been in fire footprint (Abney 2017) the whole time, but now it shows.

015: seed pods above leaves — Toothed wintergreen with flowers fossilized into seed pods.

016: carving water — The water has carved chutes in the rocks below.

017: all the canyon side — It still takes a long look to get all the way up.

018-crossing: small creek to cross — This crossing of the West Fork Seiad Creek was very easy.

We found ourselves one last spot of view before the trail seemed to be plunging into a forested bit of canyon and stalled leaving it for snacks.

019: looking out of the canyon — Old road cuts are visible on the side of the fire denuded canyon wall.

020: lush trees — Everything becomes full of trees in the canyon above.

It turned out the be the last warm spot for a while. We plunged into cold air heavy with water as we continued on. My fleece soon went back on. The change in micro-climate was amazing. This happens to be where the fire footprint stops and we thought we knew why.

022: waterfall and cascades — The west fork shows off some more water features.

023: waterfall portion — Closer on that waterfall hiding above the cascade.

024: cones and small cones — This bit of Bakers cypress also shows some male cones.

025: trail on both sides — Coming into a much greener canyon. That's trail on the far side, too.

We crossed West Fork Seiad Creek again and that was the last of our dry hike. The trail disappeared at first glance, but with a little looking it was obvious that it was right there underneath the stretching branches of the local shrubbery. The very very soggy stretching branches of the local shrubbery. We were quickly soaked from the waist down and some of that water still had ice in it. After a couple turns it got even worse. We put on our rain pants, but it was a bit late for that. At least it was warmer. Then we progressed through a bit where we couldn't even see the trail, the last sign being a ribbon buried deep in the brush.

027: looking back at trail — Looking out from where there might be trail and it is so very cold and wet.

028: larger view — A little higher, looking out over the canyon.

After an ordeal pushing through and over bushes, we searched around to find some tread again. It lasted past the next crossing, which looked every bit like a well used crossing except that one tree just before it spread long branches so low to the ground that accessing it required crawling. Daniil fortuitously dropped his stick and had to take the game trail down and around to retrieve it, passing around the tree and rather beautiful crossing. Crawling worked well as it can, too. I could stand for the crossing.

029: ice grown from the ground — A frozen tread, but very clear.

030: trail and upper canyon — Onward and upward, on tread for a bit longer!

032: snow on a curved tree trunk — Finding snow on a formerly snow abused tree.

033: tall trees — Among some tall trees. Also trees extra fluffy with abnormal mistletoe growths.

035: last trail — A touch of trail just before crossing back over the creek.

We found bits and pieces of trail as we continued up. There was even one blaze! Sometimes we sensibly gave up on the trail and just traveled. The little bit of snow on the ground didn't help, but may not have hurt much either.

036: shadow and trees and dead meadow grass — Already in the afternoon shadow as we climb.

037: snow on rocks — The snow picks out details of the rocks.

038: dip in the meadow — A dip in the meadow might be trail. Or water course.

039: water dropping off rocks — The waterfall of the outflow of Lily Pad Lake.

041: snowy mountain in the distanct — First view of Mount Shasta just past the mountain and over the trees.

042: lower meadow and higher ridge — Cypress Ridge and the meadow below Lily Pad Lake and the mountain in the distance.

One might expect the very upper part of the trail to be obvious simply due to people hiking the Pacific Crest Trail using the area as a camp or water supply or just wanting to visit a lake for the afternoon. It didn't seem to get particularly more obvious. Daniil did apparently find it. I took off up what is likely an animal trail and arrived at the upper trail like a highway just "northbound" of the junction.

045: trail with snow — Only deer track the snow on this northbound bit of Pacific Crest Trail.

Heading southbound, I found broken remnants of a sign and post marking a trail down and another, more obvious, trail up. We took this trail up to the saddle above, first getting to the closed section of Lily Pad Road.

047: lake and mountains — View over Lily Pad Lake.

048: brush growing road — Big manzanitas grow in the middle of the old road, also decorated with snow and deer tracks.

The old road continues over the saddle, but long ago someone built a rock wall across it. In this wall was a style and a gate. There should have been enough time to follow this down to Towhead Lake below. We hadn't actually gone very far. There wasn't, so it would have to wait.

049: gate in rock wall — A passage into Red Buttes Wilderness.

050: pole with wires — The old telephone line, perhaps.

052: canyon — Off down the canyon is Towhead Lake.

053: lake through trees — Lily Pad Lake can be seen from near the saddle.

More trail headed back down to the Pacific Crest Trail. Judging by the oversized crest half eaten by a tree, the upper trail used to be the route, but they are always playing with it and nudging it around here and there.

056: tree devouring an oversized crest — Frozen drops hang from the half eaten oversized trail crest.

058: snow on everything — There's a lot more snow on the north sides of the ridges.

059: lake and snow and rock far above — A bit of the Red Butte above Lily Pad Lake.

We were heading for a camping area near Kangaroo Springs marked on the map. It is just one of many possible camps along this section of trail.

060: snow and far snow — Snowy stuff in the distance over our own snowy neighborhood.

062: low snow — Around the south side of the trail with the sun in our faces and very little snow.

063: many mountains — The view out over the next valley along. Canyon Creek is below.

The area of Kangaroo Springs was a surprising one of many ponds. Most had open water. It might not be easy to get but there was certainly something to drink here.

066: open water in the snow — Some of those open ponds below the ridge of Upper Devils Peak and Middle Devils Peak.

067: valley with snow — The valley where most the area camping happens. Not as flat as it might look.

068: red rocks above — The slopes above, this particular one with the sound of water running down it.

We continued around the valley examining the more obvious camping areas, then out the other side expecting to find a mapped spring by the trail. It wasn't obvious, so we headed back, checking out one area before following a trail down to the mapped site, which is what we ultimately decided upon.

069: across trees and valley — Climbing back out of the valley far past where there should have been a spring.

071: icy pond — Smaller pond among the collection.

073: open water spots — Ice and water at the edge of another pond.

074: mountain standing in the light — A good night from Mount Shasta, still in the light as everything around it is already shadowed.

076: wispy clouds in sunset colors — Sunset on the other side of the ridge.

We set up our tents, partly on snow trusting our mats to do their jobs, and failed to dry our boots from the drenching by bush held water. They were opened up wide before going to bed since they would likely be frozen in the morning.

Continue on to the next day ⇒

*photo album*

©2026 Valerie Norton
Published 13 Mar 2026

Search This Blog

Moments in Dirt and Ink