User:SugarBowlSkier2006/sandbox

Gates Creek is a tributary of Corral Creek, in Trinity County, California. It feeds into Hayfork Creek several miles upstream of Hyampom, where Hayfork Creek in turn feeds into the South Fork of the Trinity River, one of the largest undammed watersheds in California. The watershed of Gates Creek is rugged and steep, totalling about 2.5 square miles. The highest point of the Gates Creek watershed is Pattison Peak, at 5151 ft (1570 m), and the lowest point, at the mouth, is at approximately 1700 feet (518 m).

Course
The stream rises from various seasonal and ephemeral gulches and drainages on the slopes of Pattison Peak, a U-shaped mountain that is marked at the north end (the bottom of the "U") by Pattison Peak, at 5151 ft (1570 m), at the southwest end of the "U" by Gates Peak (4131 ft [1259m]) and at the southeast by an unnamed peak 3307 ft (1008 m) tall. For the first 1.75 miles of it's course the creek twists in a southerly direction through the bottom of the "U", without any evidence of human impact. Just after the creek turns to the southwest, and the trail to Gates and Pattison Peak crosses the creek with a ford at a flat called the Cornfield. Approximately .75 miles downstream from the trail crossing the creek goes through a culvert on the Bar 717 Ranch road to the Bar 7, immediately east of the stream crossing. After this the stream enters another steep gorge and then discharges into Corral Creek. At the Gates Peak Trail crossing, the stream is small, cold, and swift, with a width of around three to five feet and a depth of one to two feet. It retains this character throughout much of its course.

History
The Native Americans knew this area as tc'araw' buyaspom' (lots of flats, Wintu), and maytra hita (lots of flats, Chimariko). This is the presumable eastern limit of Chimariko control. The creek's watershed was first homesteaded by Robert McKay in 1919, at the location known today as the Bar 7. There are two landowners in the watershed, the US Forest Service and the Bar 717 Ranch. The Forest Service owns the vast majority of the basin, with the Bar 717 owning only around 200 acres. The Bar 7 is the biggest human impact in the area, consisting of approximately 15 acres of cleared land, some of which is irrigated, a small (<1/4 acre) pond, a pioneer cabin, a barn, a garden, and a newer cabin. It has not been permanently occupied since 2015. In the early 2000s, a truck went off the road a quarter mile below the road crossing and is still believed to be in the canyon. The only other human modification is the Cornfield, a 2-3 acre patch of dry meadow, which may or may not be natural.

Watershed
The watershed is generally steep above the trail crossing, flatter between the trail and the road crossing, and very steep below the road crossing to the mouth. The entire watershed is part of the proposed Pattison Wilderness, which is a part of the Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act. Part of the basin, northwest of the Bar 7, was burned in the 2015 Pattison Fire.

Climate
The climate of the area is a warm-summer Mediterranean, with summer days around 90 degrees and summer nights around 50. Winters are moderate, with highs of 40 to 45 and lows of 28 to 32 in the coldest month. Precipitation totals around 40 to 45 inches, with almost all occurring in the winter. Snowfall is light to moderate, ranging from approximately 15 inches at the mouth of the creek to around 75 on Pattison Peak.

Flora and Fauna
The area is known for abundant wildlife, including black bear, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, gray fox, Columbian black-tailed deer (mule deer), and elk. The vegatation mostly consists of mixed hardwood-conifer forest. This includes douglas-fir (close to water sources), ponderosa pine, bigleaf maple, California black oak, Oregon white oak, canyon live oak, Pacific dogwood, and madrone. Red and white fir may be found at higher elevations. Althought the area is known for anadromous fish, there are none in Gates Creek, due to natural barriers on Corral Creek downstream of the confluence.