Trail Talk – November 2020

Fall finally comes to our woodland areas. Crunchy leaves give way to damp blankets of color beneath the naked stems, branches, and trunks of our deciduous brethren. Fungi again bravely venture forth, reclaiming a world denied them during the harsh summer’s drought. The forests are quieter now, beginning the long slumber of renewal.

The smoke-choked skies of late summer and fall have finally left us for the season, to be replaced by a canvas of spreading clouds over the pale blue of late autumn. Fog, on its creeping cat’s feet, has returned to the valleys and hollows, the moist air a joy to inhale on our walkabouts.

So let’s venture forth on unexplored trails, expanding our horizons. In the Woodlands, Liz’s Loop beckons. It’s two trailside benches provide a stark contrast of regional forests, one being under a developing climax Douglas fir canopy with lingering madrones, the other in an oak savanna, where the moss-like “old man’s beard” (actually a lichen) droops heavy, laden with moisture. Plan to linger some. Wildlife tends to appear after our clumsy entry into their world has had a chance to be forgotten. The trail is challenging, with some steep grades, and the tread is reliable, though it can become slick if exceptionally damp.

Across the road in Forest Park, this is a good season to hike the Arrowhead Pass Trail. The drive up Norling Rd. to parking area P5 or P7 has some fairly steep narrow grades, but until the heavy rains, snows, and frosts of winter, the roadbed should be in good condition. Hiking from P5 up Shade Creek Tr to access Arrowhead Pass Tr is always a pleasant outing, with a heavy carpet of maple and alder leaves blanketing the ubiquitous sword ferns. Wrensong bench, beneath a spreading Pacific yew is a pleasant stopping point, where a resident male Pacific wren is certain to serenade the patient traveler.

From P7, Arrowhead Pass Tr follows an old logging road. At the apex of the climb, in Arrowhead Pass proper, the trail continues over the ridge and down to historic China Ditch, which carried water to the hydraulic mining areas scattered around and below the ridge. A stroll along this ditch trail provides a first hand view of the heavy damage that can be done with surface mining activities. The vegetation tells a story of Nature reclaiming the abandoned mining site, with some proud specimens of Manzanita and Madrone. Ponderosa pine is slowly becoming the dominant canopy tree, along with some scattered California black oaks.

Another bench provides a view to the south and west, where the Red Buttes of Northern California rear their craggy, ancient heads. Soon, we can hope that snow covers those distant peaks, providing summer flows for the Applegate and Klamath rivers. Finishing the loop around the ridge, the return trip down the old roadbed seems to pass too quickly.

And speaking of benches, in a future article, we’ll be introducing an opportunity for our woodland hikers to pontificate on their favorite trailside bench. Stay tuned.