Richard's Wildflower Impulse

 The Wildflower Impulse

A Work of Richard Gorman

All contents ©Richard J. Gorman 2007 - 2028

North Fork Yuba River, Canyon Creek Trail, February 9, 2008

Of the over forty hikes Richard has made to Canyon Creek, this was by far the most challenging, yet it had it's own special reward. The last snowstorm was a week earlier, and there was at least a foot of soft snow on the trail, and there was evidence of recent windstorms as well, in the form of many trees down on the trail. The hike took an hour and a half longer than average.

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In mid-winter, there is still living color in the canyon, in the form of lichens and fungi. The lichen is at the cascade, and the fungi deeper in the forest.

At the seasonal cascade near the trailhead, the soaproot plants are starting to leaf out. The seeps along the old road cut are recharged, and are emitting enough water to melt the snow.

There were human footprints on the trail as far as Shenanigan Flat, but not beyond. From the favorite vista point upstream from Cherokee Creek, the river was glittering in the sunlight.

The depth of the snow can be seen on the bridge at Cherokee Creek,. Coming down the point to the mouth of Canyon Creek, snow obscured all of the features of the landscape.

The reward for making this hike:

The cat tracks started on the bridge at Cherokee Creek, and they were fresh and crisp, and about the size of a man's closed fist. The cat stayed on the trail much of the time, so Richard and his companion stayed alert and enlarged their event horizon. It was not long before they also began to see occasional deer tracks on the trail, although it appeared that deer stuck to the brush most of the time.

At one point (fourth photo), we saw clear evidence that we were probably less than an hour behind the cat, cooling in the snow and still soft. There is a crisp print to the left of the scat. Here is a closer look.

Richard took the last quirky photo at the creek crossing in Brummel Ravine, as he stood there bewildered, wondering why he had such a strong feeling that something was missing. It was only later that he realized that the animals' trails had ended somewhere in the ravine.

Returning to the bridge at Cherokee, they saw what appeared to be two sets of similar, but smaller, tracks emerging from beneath the east end of the bridge and heading toward the creek a bit upstream. As they were already running late, the hikers thought the wisest choice was to keep making tracks themselves.

The challenge of the day, along with the snow, was the number of trees down on the trail. Some appeared to be quite recent, while others had clearly been down longer. Pictures of some of the incidents are here.

<< January
Wildflowers Home

March >>

You can write him here.

		In mid-winter, there is still living color in the canyon, in the form of lichens and fungi. The lichen is at the cascade, and the fungi deeper in the forest. At the seasonal cascade near the trailhead, the soaproot plants are starting to leaf out. The seeps along the old road cut are recharged, and are emitting enough water to melt the snow. There were human footprints on the trail as far as Shenanigan Flat, but not beyond. From the favorite vista point upstream from Cherokee Creek, the river was glittering in the sunlight. The depth of the snow can be seen on the bridge at Cherokee Creek,. Coming down the point to the mouth of Canyon Creek, snow obscured all of the features of the landscape.



	The reward for making this hike: The cat tracks started on the bridge at Cherokee Creek, and they were fresh and crisp, and about the size of a man's closed fist. The cat stayed on the trail much of the time, so Richard and his companion stayed alert and enlarged their event horizon. It was not long before they also began to see occasional deer tracks on the trail, although it appeared that deer stuck to the brush most of the time. At one point (fourth photo), we saw clear evidence that we were probably less than an hour behind the cat, cooling in the snow and still soft. There is a crisp print to the left of the scat. Here is a closer look. Richard took the last quirky photo at the creek crossing in Brummel Ravine, as he stood there bewildered, wondering why he had such a strong feeling that something was missing. It was only later that he realized that the animals' trails had ended somewhere in the ravine. Returning to the bridge at Cherokee, they saw what appeared to be two sets of similar, but smaller, tracks emerging from beneath the east end of the bridge and heading toward the creek a bit upstream. As they were already running late, the hikers thought the wisest choice was to keep making tracks themselves.




		The challenge of the day, along with the snow, was the number of trees down on the trail. Some appeared to be quite recent, while others had clearly been down longer. Pictures of some of the incidents are here.