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‘Tis the summer for backpacking. We have seen more people in the backcountry this year than ever before. We have also had more requests from friends and family as to where they should go backpacking that ever before. In this post we explore some epic destinations to get out, walk, and learn about ancient conifers.
This area of California contains some of the largest redwoods on Earth and holds extensive old-growth forests, protected as a national park in 1968. This particular walk, using the Zig Zag Trails and Prairie Creek Trail, is entirely in old growth. It offers an enigmatic temporal departure into a rare forest type. In addition to redwoods, other conifer specimens like Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce are coupled with clandestine western redcedar and Port-Orford cedar—be sure to look carefully and learn your conifers well. Watch for grand firs that occur infrequently along the road, particularly at the south end of Elk Prairie.
Continue ReadingMichael Kauffmann, author of Conifer Country, joined Matt to discuss his passion: Conifers of the Klamath Mountains. Please listen or even better, subscribe where you get your podcasts.
From the In Defense of Plants website: Today we celebrate conifers with educator, author, and ecologist, Michael Kauffmann. Michael fell in love with conifers early on and has been doing everything he can to share this passion with the rest of the world, from writing conifer books to creating a conifer-themed trail system in the Klamath Mountains. Learn how Michael and others are working hard to map rare conifers, study the effects of climate change, and hopefully conserve their diversity for future generations. Join us as we geek out over these amazing trees.
Price of the trip includes a book from the Backcountry Press catalog.
Conifer Country is the latest in Knot literature. Part field guide and part hiking guide, it is the product of scientist, explorer, conifer-crazy author Michael Edward Kauffmann, who shares a detectable passion for his subject. The last hike listed in the book is a 400-mile-long route that passes 32 conifer species on a winding course from mountaintop to sea. It’s doubtful that anyone has completed the traverse, except, of course, Kauffmann himself. He did it in 2009, and he called it “The Bigfoot Trail.”
–Tyler Williams
American Forests Magazine has a featured story on the Klamath Mountains written by explorer and author Tyler Williams. He highlights Conifer Country in the story and uses the book to explore 3 of the featured hikes.
