It had been years since I was last over the Mt. Zion Trail and I had forgotten what a pleasant hike it is. Roughly a ten-mile loop, it begins at Chantry Flats, drops down the paved road to the beginning of the Sturtevant Trail, then winds up past the top of Sturtevant Falls, continues past Cascade Picnic Area and Spruce Grove Campground, to Sturtevant Camp, then in 1/8 mile the Mt. Zion Trail diverges from the main trail which continues on to Mt. Wilson. The Mt. Zion Trail crosses a saddle and then drops to a junction of the Winter Creek Trail, at which you have a choice of the lower trail (2 miles to Chantry Flats) or the upper trail (3 miles). Like many of the front range canyons, there are many invasive species resulting from a century of hikers and the cabins that dot the lower watercourses. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native species.

Tree tobacco *
Nicotiana glauca
Solanaceae
[Named for Jean Nicot de Villemain, 1530-1600]

Redstem filaree *
Erodium cicutarium
Geraniaceae

Wild cucumber
Marah macrocarpa var. macrocarpa
Cucurbitaceae

Canyon sweet pea
Lathyrus vestitus var. vestitus
Fabaceae

Sugarbush
Rhus ovata
Anacardiaceae

Hillside gooseberry
Ribes californicum var. hesperium
Grossulariaceae

Bladder senna *
Colutea arborescens
Fabaceae

California buckwheat
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum
Polygonaceae

California bay
Umbellularia californica
Lauraceae

Sweet-cicely
Osmorhiza brachypoda
Apiaceae

Chickweed *
Stellaria media
Caryophyllaceae

Annual moonwort *
Lunaria annua
Brassicaceae