Nature Viewing

Choose from the following to find a site: The viewing platform at Trinity Vista viewpoint affords a beautiful view of Trinity Lake

Viewing Wildlife

The Shasta-Trinity National Forest offers excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing. Several areas have been designated and signed for this popular activity. They are White's Bar on the Trinity River, the Sven-Olbertson Side Channel below Lewiston Dam, Coots Roost and Pine Cove Boat Ramp on Lewiston Lake, the Jones Valley and Packers Bay areas of Shasta Lake and the McCloud River Loop area east of the town of McCloud.

With a little luck, persistence and patience, unforgettable wildlife experiences can result. Please do not feed wild animals you encounter.

The Forest Service manages the habitats of hundreds of species, seeks opportunities to improve habitat conditions and works to blend wildlife management objectives with other resource management actions.

Viewing Plants

Because of its unique geographic setting, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest is home to dozens of unique species of plants.

Trees: From the towering and stately sugar pine of the mid-elevation pine belt to the attractive quaking aspen found in scattered pockets at higher elevations. Trees provide us with an almost innumerable variety of services...from simple shade, to stunning forested vistas, from much needed lumber to homes for birds and other animals. Native Americans found an excellent supply of food in the acorns of the California black oak and in the nuts of the gray pine.

Conifers, from which most lumber is sawn, lose needles throughout the year but keep green needles year round. In the winter they make a stark, green contrast to the hardwoods of the forest. Hardwoods are deciduous trees that lose their leaves each year and stand with bare branches throughout the winter months. Spring brings new green leaves to theses trees and in the summer they provide us with shade. Autumn brings the turning of the leaves as another cycle of growth comes to an end and their demise is marked with a flutter of red and gold.

Wildflowers: The Shasta-Trinity National Forest sits astride 7 major geographic and botanic regions: the Coast Range, Klamath Mountain, Willamette Valley, Cascade Mountain, High Desert, Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. Each region has its own unique plant life and they all are found together on this forest. The variety is amazing and, depending upon the elevation, wildflowers can be seen from late January through mid-November.

A few examples of wildflowers would be: Indian Pink (silene californica), Cobra Plant (darlingtonia californica), Leopard Lily (lilium paradalinum), Western Azalea (rhododendron occidentale), Mountain Violet (viola purpurea), Bleeding Heart (dicentra formosa) and Lupine (lupinus ssp.).