Trinity: Trinity Summit and Horse Trail Ridge

Six Rivers National Forest

Shasta-Trinity National Forest

DAY 1 | DAY 2

static map — Brown line for day 2. Click for interactive map

(Note that a free permit is required for backpacking in Trinity Alps Wilderness. They are available at Lower Trinity Ranger Station in Willow Creek.)

We had the coldest night of the winter with the temperature hitting -3°C on Daniil's thermometer. Mine only got down to 27.5°F just after I started breakfast. He also complained that there was moisture in the early night coming down the mountain and settling on his tent. I had my tarp up against the wind (which didn't gust or even blow much more a little after sunset) leaving my gear vulnerable to wet air from above, but noticed none. I was maybe a foot higher in the meadow, but I guess it made all the difference. The tent was dry by morning anyway.

077: lots of burned area — Farewell to the meadow camp surrounded by severe burn.

Full of lovely water before the presumably dry section of trail to be followed for most the day and packed up, we headed back up the hill to rejoin the hopefully much clearer Tish Tang Ridge Trail above. Finding it wasn't hard. Following it had a hiccough as we got to the next meadow above our camp. I popped up to a view from the ridge where a tree was obscuring the trail, then had a careful look about to discover where things actually went on the way down. Then we were on trail again.

079: meadow with more burn and scrub — The next meadow along.

080: gentle ups and downs against the sky — We'll get up to that ridge in the distance.

081: grassy spots — Bret Hole and a few other small meadow areas on the way to North Trinity Mountain.

The trail stayed pretty obvious after that although it wasn't quite on the rocky lands yet. It popped over the ridge to a greener area where some parts of the trail were soggy and one spot travels through some swamp alder that are starting to close in. I considered deploying the saw, but we probably didn't have time.

083: trail with snow — Over the top to where there's snow on the trail. Vaguely.

084: closing in swamp alder — Just passed through the swamp alder, which is closing in.

Once we were seeing a rocky ground, the trail was even more obvious. It did still take at least one opportunity to become confusing with overgrowth, but all trails on that patch lead to the same place.

086: rocky landscape — Looking back once getting into a lovely rocky landscape.

087: narrow trail continuing on — And looking forward.

We found several possible camp sites on the way, some even with water apparent nearby. We could have continued on a little bit further.

088: rocky outcrop with a large view — One potential camping area near a small stream.

089: tall incense cedar above a blue pool — Someone has used the flat spot near this magnificent incense cedar above the pond.

We gained the ridge where Horse Ridge Trail gains it from the other side to find a view of the somewhat snowy Trinity Alps far across the wilderness named for them. We didn't investigate the other trails much, but Bell Swamps Trail was representing more than I'd expected.

090: distant snowy mountains — The Trinity Alps from the West Salmon Mountains.

My much more massive (and risky) plan would have looped on down from here to climb Trinity Mountain from Sixmile Creek Trail, then wandered back up Soldier Creek, and ultimately would have hit a trinity of Trinities. You know it makes sense! We noted the rather extreme obviousness of some of Sixmile Creek Trail, but turned north to find our way to Trinity Summit instead. Trail was reasonably clear even on the south facing slopes as we went.

091: snow on trail — Our planned camping area on the ridge did have some flatter areas and prior use and probably had water not too far down.

092: well burned away trees — The southern slopes were torched by the Red Fire in 2020.

093: open areas with lots of green trees nearby — Trail is faint through these open areas and even fainter among the trees up ahead, but there is tread until the flat when you just have to look for cairns.

094: bird of blue — Under the watchful eye of a mountain bluebird.

095: higher mountain — Probably Dees Peak, which I never made it to shortly before the Red Fire broke out anyway. The Salmon Fire that with it was the Red Salmon Complex probably started half a mile from the trail I was hiking out on the day before I'd planned to do so, but I was already out then and missed the big storm that started them.

096: bear prints on trail — A bear had traveled the trail, probably a few times, and showed us the way through the snow.

098: snowed over trail — Okay, the bear just skipped some snowed over sections. Here the prints lead up to the left instead of across.

099: from the snow to the snowy peaks — Energetic clouds started appearing over the Trinity Alps.

We came to the top of Trinity Summit spotting the first of two structures that sit up there.

100: metal building — The remains of the Trinity Summit Guard Station.

We spotted the first, a smaller building exactly where the Forest Service marks the Trinity Summit Guard Station. It is a wood frame with metal siding and roof, one part of which has blown over to the other side. Inside, it is split into two sections. It is listing to the side and someone has used rope with metal fence posts that no longer have a purpose nearby to try to brace it on the inside. There's still a few things stored inside even though it has no windows and the door is on the ground.

102: open roof plan — Not much shelter in here anymore.

103: old trash — Artifacts on top of the fallen door.

The other, larger, building was also quite plain to see in imagery dated 2021, a year after the Red Fire, so it was disappointing to find that it has been torched so badly that even the wood burning stove has fallen to pieces.

106: rubble pile — My guess is that this was the newer Trinity Summit Guard Station, but now it is bed springs and other metal debris.

108: collapsed wood stove — Seriously, how bad does a fire have to be to achieve this result?

109: rocks and grill — There's still a grill around the back.

From there, we found the trail again and headed down Horse Trail Ridge, named for there being a horse trail on it, now called Horse Ridge Trail kind of for the ridge. The north facing slope was fine for trail finding and the flats okay.

110: lots more burned area — Onward across Horse Trail Ridge through the burn and lesser burn.

112: mountains beyond the burn — North Trinity Mountain on the left and Salmon Mountain, Humboldt County high point, back there on the right.

113: small pond in basin — The upper basin of Soldier Creek, with a small pond, looked like it might be a nice camping spot.

115: light purple flowers — Spreading Phlox still spreads along here.

116: ridge after ridge after ridge — The rugged country that the Soldier Creek Trail descends into, along the first ridge.

117: difficult to read sign — One piece of actual evidence that this is a National Recreation Trail, but the crest is gone.

We found a mystery trail heading down the east side just past a sign board with a missing National Recreation Trail crest. We found distinct trail coming up from the west where Crogan Basin Trail should be and continuing off to the east where One Mile Trail should be. The trails are out here.

118: energetic clouds and rugged area — Still energetic clouds forming in the distance, seen from near the junction.

119: little white flowers — Lanceleaf springbeauties by the side of the trail.

121: wide meadows — Another wide meadow high on the ridge.

122: big rock piles — Cairns mark the way along a slight depression of trail in the hillside.

124: bear eating among corn lilies — You noticed the black bear in the above two photos, right?

125: deer and bear — A black tailed deer came by to graze a little too, but the bear got most the attention.

127: running bear — The bear ran off when it noticed us. It took a path through the swamp alder eventually.

128: ponds in meadow — It's another lovely spot with ponds and a snowy mountain view.

130: more snow with bear prints on bear prints — Some of these bear prints looked really fresh.

133: wood scattered area — The trail ahead may look scruffy, but it's pretty well defined all the way to the lakes.

134: slightly higher peak — Salmon Mountain across the basin of Red Cap Creek. The trails between follow the Devils Backbone, the ridge on the right.

135: longer views of the ridge lines — The mountains of Salmon Summit Trail.

136: well defined trail — Some easy part of Horse Ridge Trail.

Trail seemed to curve around toward the Waterdog Lakes and I didn't actually notice the junction where Horse Ridge Trail should continue north instead of following this shortcut the Forest Service doesn't admit to. Some of it seemed like a steep old bulldozer cut.

138: toward a basin — Over the top approaching the Waterdog Lakes. Note the berm of rocks on the right, pushed there by a bulldozer.

139: small lake — The first of the Waterdog Lakes.

140: small bird at the top of a small tree — A northern house wren sings to send away the invaders.

141: lake and meadow — Wandering past that first Waterdog Lake.

We actually met people around that lake although they were only out for the day. Daniil popped over to the lake to check on the frogs (noisy) and then chatted with the people (actually knew at least one) before we continued on to the other Waterdog Lake for snacks.

142: another lake — The Waterdog Lake we've visited before.

This Waterdog Lake was also very noisy with frogs. Ear protection might be wise it was so noisy.

144: behind the penninsula — This Waterdog Lake with North Trinity Mountain behind.

145: frog with inflated neck — One of the noise makers. Pacific chorus frogs.

146: two images combined to show the frog inflated and not — Another noise maker in action.

147: one frog inflated and two frogs stacked — A pair of frogs passes another noise maker, but they're quiet.

149: newt actually — There's still rough-skinned newts in the pond.

151: four frogs swimming in a stack — There seem to be some extra frogs here.

153: newt face — And the newts just hang.

The clouds started coming over us, not just the far peaks, and we got a move up Long Prairie Trail, badly rutted and well used.

154: lake and distant mountains and clouds — Leaving the Waterdog Lakes behind on a steep and rutted trail.

The clouds didn't look worrisome once higher up and able to see more. We could pause to tag the top of North Trinity Mountain once more.

156: meadows and mountains — Meadows off the north side of the mountain and Salmon Mountain beyond.

157: station marker — Found the station on North Trinity Mountain. It was right underneath the register.

The register informed me that this was exactly one month earlier than when we were on North Trinity Mountain last year. There was a lot less snow as we finished than there had been when we started. There was a whole lot less than there had been at the end of last May.

*photo album* for a few extra

©2026 Valerie Norton
Published 23 May 2026

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