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Trip Report    

Naturalist Trip - McLane Creek Nature Trail

Winter trees and twigs were the focus of the day at McLane Creek. We began our day hoping to ID ten, and ended up with firm ID's for 8 of the 10 on a crisp winter morning with lots of frozen fog on many surfaces.

  • Road suitable for all vehicles
  • Trails were clear with little mud, although some of the boardwalks were slippery due to the frozen fog.  No one fell, but two of us made good use of our hiking poles for added stability.  It is evident that this state-owned property in Capitol Forest gets regular maintenance as there was a recently fallen tree that had been cleared from the road.  

We arrived around 9:15 a.m. to an empty parking lot and returned about 11:30 to a mostly full lot.  We saw a few people on the trails, all of whom seemed to be enjoying this crisp, sunny day - adults, kids, and dogs.  McLane Creek is a great place for viewing and learning about native plants as there are fewer invasive species than one sees in other areas.  Our goal today was to ID and learn about ten trees/shrubs.  We were successful with eight (and many more beyond that initial goal) but didn't locate two:  Black Cottonwood and Grand Fir.  Especially with deciduous trees and shrubs, winter time ID can be a bit more challenging,  and we'll go back for another exploration after more learning and research.