DISCOVER
TRINITY COUNTY CALIFORNIA

Ask anyone in Northern California about Trinity and you'll hear:
Trinity Alps, clear mountain lakes, primaeval forests, wild rivers and streams, get-away-from-it-all camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, backpacking... these are the things for which Trinity is known.

High Country Wilderness Lake;
(CC) Gary Robertson

But Trinity County has a lot to offer if what you're interested in is time-forgotten and remote places in nature's wonderland! Explore the Holy Trinity: Trinity Mountains, Trinity Alps Wilderness, and Trinity River - a nature lover's Paradise!

Mountains, Meadow, and Deer
(CC) Robert Nagy

The Trinity Alps are part of the Klamath Mountains, which includes some of the most isolated, untamed, and unvisited wilderness areas in California.

The scoured-out mountain lakes with their crystal-clear waters and the serrated ridges of the mountain tops are evidence of ancient glacier activity; travel up to Thompson Peak and discover there's one glacier that still remains.

I remember my dad telling stories about spending weeks as teenagers camping with his brother in the Trinity Alps during the summers.

They would hunt and fish to put food on the campfire, trek the forest trails, and skinny-dip in the lakes and streams, never crossing paths with another soul the whole time!

Fawn Crossing a Creek;
(CC) Gary Robertson

Consisting of over a half-million acres, the Trinity Alps Wilderness encompasses over 400 miles of trails, the headwaters of the Salmon and Trinity Rivers, small lakes and ponds nestled into glacial cirques, year-round snow-covered peaks, thick forests, granite slabs and pinnacles, gold mining relics, and a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Favorite activities include hiking and backpacking (map and
compass skills are indispensable), cycling and mountain biking the many loops and fat-tire trails, gold panning (there's still gold to be found in them thar hills!), rock climbing, fishing in the lakes and streams for trout, steelhead, and chinook, and the hunting of bear, deer, and band-tailed pigeons.

Another favorite pastime is wildlife watching. I found this video by Gary Robertson of a close-enough-for-most-of-us encounter with a Mountain Lion, I thought you'd enjoy. Gary lives in Trinity County and spends a lot of time in the wilderness photographing the views and the wildlife. I'm impressed he was able to keep his cool enough to keep shooting!

Best time to visit the Trinity Alps Wilderness is between late June and late July, or - if you want to avoid the "crowds" (which really aren't very crowd-like) - head up in the Fall.

Trinity River;
(PD) Fish & Wildlife Service

A completely wild and untamed river prior to the 1960s, the Trinity River then enjoyed a footloose and unfettered tumble from headwater to confluence, but alas, no more.

Dammed twice in the 1960s to provide irrigation and municipal water for the Central Valley Project in California's agricultural center, most of the river's water was diverted South, resulting in near disaster to the salmon and steelhead populations.

With minimum annual flows finally established for the Trinity River
in the early 1980s, the waters downstream of the Lewiston Dam were restored sufficiently to support runs of salmon and steelhead (maintained partly by hatcheries), and to provide opportunities for whitewater rafting and kayaking.

It was finally designated as the Trinity Wild and Scenic River by
the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in 1981.

Trinity Lake;
(CC) Cinden

Trinity Lake is actually a reservoir, created by the 1962 damming of the Trinity River through the efforts of then U.S. Senator Clair Engle.

Though the lake is tree-lined and beautiful with grassy shores and water that's warm enough for swimming during summer months...

Though it provides near-idyllic conditions for houseboating, water-skiing, fishing, and the like...

Locals have never really forgiven Senator Engle and the U.S. government for taming their precious Trinity River with a dam!

An effort was made to re-name the lake in honor of Senator Engle after his death, but it was so unpopular locally that most would not use the new name. Even today, if you were to ask for directions to Clair Engle Lake, you might just be sent to the local sewage treatment facility instead (as a prank, of course).

We'll have more to share with you about Trinity County in the
coming weeks; things like:

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