Trinity Alps - 7/5/03

[Patrick Foley]

Mark,

You can take dogs into Mexico. You do have to get a veterinarian's 
clearance immediately before the trip. And the Mexican government has 
never checked this in my experience. We have taken our dog into Mexico 
several times legally. Of course, my wife is a veterinarian so it is 
easy to get the documentation.

But the Trinity Alps are great too. Incidentally, Art Shapiro (UCDavis) 
and students have done a fair amount of work on the butterflies of the 
Klamath region.

And even more incidentally, a good environmental detective novel, The 
Turquoise Dragon by David Raines Wallace, is set there. Wallace has 
written some local natural history, The Klamath Knot also.

Patrick Foley
patfoley at csus.edu

Mark Walker wrote:

> My son is planning his first solo backpacking trip for later this 
> summer, and he asked me if I could take him on a training hike in 
> preparation.  I was slated to head down into Sonora with some bug 
> buddies over the U.S. holiday weekend, but could not deny my son.  
> Though there would have been much hiking involved in Mexico, my wife 
> insisted that we bring our two dogs along for our road trip. 
>  Smuggling a West Highland White Terrier and an English Chocolate 
> Labrador back into the U.S. from Mexico was not high on my thrill 
> seeking list, so I got out the maps and searched for a more 
> appropriate destination.
>
>  
>
> I love maps.
>
>  
>
> Of course, there are a plethora of backpacking destinations right in 
> my backyard here in Southern California - but with the busyness of the 
> weekend, I was looking for something a bit more remote and unexplored 
> (at least by me).  Looking for strange and unfamiliar insects had 
> little to do with the decision.  Actually, it had LOTS to do with it, 
> but don't share that secret with my family - to them I was just being 
> a good father, and they accepted the notion that any good backpacking 
> trip required a 10 hour drive.
>
>  
>
> So on Thursday, July 3rd, my wife, son, daughter, niece, two dogs, and 
> I headed north on Interstate 5.  We drove all the way to Trinity 
> County, just west of Redding, California, and a few hours south of 
> Oregon.  There, nestled between the coastal ranges of Humboldt County 
> and the 12,000 ft. ominous volcanic summit of Mt. Shasta, lies an 
> incredible range of jagged, glaciated peaks known as the Trinity Alps. 
>  Aptly named, the mountains are still mostly snow covered and stand 
> majestic over the crystal blue waters of Clair Engle Lake.  The 
> landscape in this part of California is mostly coniferous, even at 
> very low elevations - and the highest peaks in the Trinity Alps are 
> only just above 9,000 ft.  Nevertheless, they are an awesome sight to 
> behold, and they possess some incredible above-timberline, alpine 
> meadows and lakes that are rarely visited - even on a 4th of July weekend.
>
>  
>
> The daytime temps all weekend were hovering around 90 deg. F, and we 
> saw nothing but blue sky the entire trip.  Though we spent much of our 
> time walking (we hiked 16 miles on Saturday alone), there were a few 
> brief opportunities to rest, swim, eat, and chase butterflies. 
>  Speaking of swimming, there is a lot of water in this part of 
> California and the swimming is incredible.  The Stuart Fork creek we 
> spent so many hours beside is not what us SoCalers know as a "creek".  
> This is a raging river, by all SoCal accounts - and the water is 
> strangely transparent.  Clean, I think they call it.  The water was 
> cold and refreshing. 
>
>  
>
> Being a true water dog, the lab couldn't resist jumping in the "creek" 
> at every opportunity.  The fact that he was carrying his own backpack 
> didn't seem to deter him.  My wife regretted packing the sourdough 
> bread in HIS backpack, but I say you get what you deserve when you ask 
> someone else to do your carrying.  Soggy sourdough is just not the 
> "kine" backpacking food.
>
>  
>
> The dogs were a joy to have as companions, even though they do tend to 
> be high maintenance.  We were a bit alarmed, though, when they managed 
> to spook up a gorgeous timber rattler - something I was not expecting 
> to see at medium elevation.  The snake was gorgeous, unlike any of the 
> southwestern rattlers I'm more experienced with - with deep 
> contrasting spots and rich ground color.  My son snapped a few digital 
> photos (which I'll share with anyone who is interested in helping me 
> id it), and - thankfully, the dogs didn't push their curiosity too far.
>
>  
>
> Later that evening while driving to a remote camping spot on the east 
> side of Clair Engle Lake, we had an awesome encounter with a very 
> large brown bear (are these black bears up here?).  He/She was 
> trotting along the roadside and suddenly appeared in our headlights, 
> just inches away from the front of the car.  It continued to trot just 
> feet in front of our vehicle for over 5 minutes - enabling some of the 
> most spectacular bear observation I've ever enjoyed.  Suffice it to 
> say that the kids were enthralled.  So was dad.
>
>  
>
> And then there were butterflies - lots of them, starting at about 
> 10:30 a.m., and flying well past 6:00 p.m.  I netted them whenever I 
> could, and managed to identify most of them - but there are still a 
> few Fritillaries that I will have to examine more closely.  The 
> Coppers were strangely absent, as were Polygonia, Monarchs, and all 
> but one grass skipper that I didn't ever identify.  Habrodais grunus 
> was exceedingly common, reliable wherever Quercus could be found.  
> Fritillaries were also abundant, especially Hydaspe (I believe these 
> are purpurescens, with a very purple sheen on the ventral hindwing). 
>  S. callippe rupestris was also common, and I think I may also have at 
> least one coronis.  Most of the leps could be found readily at nectar. 
>  Here's what I saw:
>
>  
>
> Parnassius clodius (Clodius Parnassian)
>
> Papilio zelicaon (Anise Swallowtail)
>
> Papilio rutulus (Western Tiger Swallowtail)
>
> Papilio eurymedon (Pale Swallowtail)
>
>  
>
> Neophasia menapia (Pine White)
>
> Pontia protodice (Checkered White)
>
> Colias eurytheme (Orange Sulphur)
>
>  
>
> Habrodais grunus (Golden Hairstreak)
>
> Satyrium fuliginosum (Sooty Hairstreak)
>
> Satyrium californica (California Hairstreak)
>
> Satyrium sylvinus (Sylvan Hairstreak)
>
> Satyrium auretorum (Gold-hunter's Hairstreak)
>
> Callphrys nelsoni (Nelson's Hairstreak)
>
>  
>
> Celastrina ladon (Spring Azure)
>
> Euphilotes enoptes (Pacific Dotted Blue)
>
> Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Silvery Blue)
>
> Lycaeides idas (Northern Blue)
>
> Plebejus saepiolus (Greenish Blue)
>
> Plebejus icarioides (Boisduval's Blue)
>
> Plebejus acmon (Acmon Blue)
>
>  
>
> Speyeria callippe (Callippe Fritillary)
>
> Speyeria zerene (Zerene Fritillary)
>
> Speyeria hydaspe (Hydaspe Fritillary)
>
>  
>
> Chlosyne palla (Northern Checkerspot)
>
> Chlosyne hoffmanni (Hoffmann's Checkerspot)
>
> Phyciodes pratensis (Field Crescentspot)
>
> Euphydryas chalcedona (Chalcedon Checkerspot)
>
>  
>
> Nymphalis californica (California Tortoiseshell)
>
> Nymphalis antiopa (Mourning Cloak)
>
>  
>
> Vanessa cardui (Painted Lady)
>
> Vanessa virginiensis (American Painted Lady)
>
> Junonia coenia (Buckeye)
>
>  
>
> Limenitis lorquini (Lorquin's Admiral)
>
> Adelpha bredowii (California Sister)
>
>  
>
> Cercyonis pegala (Common Wood Nymph)
>
>  
>
> Erynnis propertius (Propertius Duskywing)
>
> Erynnis pacuvius (Pacuvius Duskywing)
>
>  
>
> Mark Walker
>
> Cross posting like a big dog
>
>  
>
>  
>

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