The Wildflower Impulse 
A Work of Richard Gorman
All contents ©Richard J. Gorman 2007 - 2028

North Fork Yuba River, Canyon Creek Trail

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

Welcome

This is a growing inventory of living things on the North Fork of the Yuba River, arising from a monthly hike Richard makes as a volunteer River Monitor for the South Yuba River Citizens League, and from an interest in wild plants that goes back fifteen years. It is still in progress. The pictures on the left of this page link to each month's page, where all of the small pictures link to larger ones. Click the little picture to see the big picture, and then use your browser's "Back" button to return to the page. When photographing the plants, Richard tries to capture a picture of the flower close-up, and of the plant in context. This is by no means an all-inclusive catalog of all of the flowering plants and other life on the trail, just those he is able to get pictures of good enough to share. His amateur identifications are tentative and open to correction, and are being updated as he gets feedback from friends. Where he has confidence in the ID, the species name links to the Calflora Database for wildflowers, and to Mykoweb for fungi. This is Richard's learning project, a sort of self-guided class, and this is how he does his homework. Please feel free to contact him with any suggestions.

Where

Canyon Creek Trail is in the Tahoe National Forest, in Sierra County. The trailhead is between Camptonville and Downieville, at the bridge where Highway 49 crosses the North Fork. It follows the river downstream for about 3.5 miles to the mouth of Canyon Creek. The Forest Service rates the trail as easy, though there is some elevation change near Canyon Creek that may be challenging for some. A mountain bike will get you halfway, to Cherokee Creek, but Richard recommends chaining your bike to the bridge there, and hiking in the second half. Richard is working on a better description of this trail and its diverse plant environments. The River Monitoring Team hikes this trail every month, generally on the first Saturday.

Important resources:

South Yuba River Citizen's League (SYRCL, known as "Circle")
SYRCL River Monitoring program
Tahoe National Forest
California Department of Fish and Game
Calflora Plant Database
Mykoweb Fungi database
California Native Plant Society

Richard's favorite new books:

Wildflowers of Nevada & Placer Counties, California; Blackburn, et al; Redbud Chapter, California Native Plant Society; 2007. Eight years in the making, and worth the wait, it is a stunning presentation of over 500 local species, for the novice and the knowledgeable.


The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada; John Muir Laws; Heyday Books, 2007. If you could carry only one book, this would be it. Beautifully and creatively organized, indexed, keyed, and illustrated.


All That The Rain Promises and More&; David Arora; Ten Speed Press, 1991. If it's the fungi you are looking for, this pocket field guide has a clever yet simple key.

How - the camera and web work

The inventory started in May 2007 because Richard acquired a Nikon Coolpix, an entry-level digital camera. Richard thinks there is a genie in the camera that makes it take really good pictures from time to time. A few of the photos have been cropped, with no other processing. All of them have been reduced in size for the web. Richard is a rookie with the camera, and would probably be flattered if you wanted to use any of the photos, especially if you asked, and gave him credit.

Richard creates this suite of pages using a primitive (by today's standards) HTML editor, suitable to his skill level. He apologizes for not having any ads, pop-ups, sound effects, banners, color or flashing type, etc. It's just a photo album with captions.

Thanks for stopping by!

This page has been visited times since January 2008
All contents ©Richard J. Gorman 2007 - 2028

You can write him here.