CA 284, Little Last Chance Canyon Scenic Area, Plumas County, CA, 10/22/2010
Canyons are often difficult to photograph because of the short-lived and uneven sunlight that reaches the canyon floor. This is especially true in narrow canyons. Little Last Chance Canyon in Plumas National Forest runs mostly north-south and so it does receive some direct sunlight each day. In this photograph I took advantage of the uneven lighting to set off a group of backlit black cottonwoods (Populus trichocarpa or California poplar) against an unlit black rock canyon wall! On a clear calm autumn morning, here is the view south by a small bridge over Little Last Chance Creek at an elevation of 5,420 feet above sea level. During an earlier autumn I had traveled this canyon one day admiring its beauty but unable to make any photographs due to poor lighting and high winds. Thus, I was very happy to get another chance in Little Last Chance Canyon! Over many years, the creek and the elements carved this beautiful canyon through volcanic rock. The Plumas National Forest occupies 1,146,000 acres of scenic mountain lands in the northern Sierra Nevada, just south of the Cascade Range. Black cottonwood is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to this area and much of western North America. Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest used the inner bark of black cottonwood for a variety of purposes - mostly medicinal. It was often used raw or in salves to treat aliments including tuberculosis, rheumatism, baldness, and wounds. The wood, roots, and bark of the tree were used for canoe making, rope, fish traps, baskets, buildings, and firewood.
