The mission of La Purisima is quite an elaborate set up these days with a giant visitor center full of displays showing what once stood here and details about life, and buildings around the place appointed like they might have been while it was a working mission. We are skipping all of this for the trails around the buildings today. The trails are a wide dirt road and a lot of sandy tracks that are generally named. First, we head up the hill toward the cross. Today, the sand is wet and generally holds together well under our feet as we climb. It is not consistently sand, but quite a lot is, so the little bit of extra firmness is quite nice.
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Kings Canyon National Park Sequoia National Forest Giant Sequoia National Monument Click for map. DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 It was another mild night, but the mosquitoes very nearly vanished early on into it. The sun comes quickly here and the morning golden hour is really quite something. I enjoy it with breakfast and happily the mosquitoes seem to be slow to wake up. Our northerly view from near camp: the morning sun as it hits Ball Dome. Morning over Ranger Lake. We head out to the trail again and wander gently downward, still high above the valley bottom. The air seems a lot clearer today and the snow on the far mountains is much more defined. The snowy distances.
King Range National Conservation Area, Arcata BLM (purple line, map link ) DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 I looked around at how soaked everything was from the dew and decided I had enough water to cook breakfast right there (well, on a rock under the Douglas fir) while waiting for everything to dry out a little. My windbreak trees became morning shade trees, but they were still blocking some strong gusts most excellently, so I wouldn't want to trade them. Good soggy morning! So I headed out on the faint old road to join a much better road until getting pointed off to the left at a gate. Trail gets really faint there, but it's all much easier to follow on the second pass than it was on the first. A bit sunnier, but most spots aren't much drier than they were. After the short road section, follow near the fence on the faint track. If truly desperate for water and it has rained well recently, there might be a tiny
Six Rivers National Forest ( map link ) Mount Lassic actually has a trail up it, I just didn't know where. It was built (possibly by California Department of Fish and Wildlife, but still official and maintained) but not drawn on a map nor described except that its purpose is to move feet away from the rare lupine that grows over less than 4 acres in the whole world. All but a garden sized plot is on this mountain. I wanted to visit it, but not to stomp across its whole territory. (Also, I made really certain that my shoes were completely purged of any seed before arriving in the area. After Clover Gulch, that was a challenge, but worthy.) I decided to start off on a small trail I found by my parking. It was minimally flagged and marked and probably not the one meant for the public. There's a faint trail just to the left of the smaller tree here where the road drains its water. Weather seemed to be forming over the Lassics, as it had the last few days, but then roam
San Juan National Forest (map link) I was collecting things together to backpack a small loop on the Calico National Recreation Trail from the Priest Gulch Trailhead when a pair of backpackers just finished with through hiking the 19 miles popped up. The usual hiker greetings are important, for they give the opportunity to then gain information. In this case, this spring on the map, is it any good? If it is good, there is an excellent opportunity to grab a few peaks. As it turns out, they had searched out that spring and creative water gathering was required because they did not find it. Almost all of the water to be found on the ridge was snow. I am not a fan of this particular water source, personally. Third worst water ever. Anyway, if I'm looking for views and possible peak bagging, I should be at the other end. This loop will be entirely in forest. Yes, even the ridgeline that Calico follows. I could follow them there, if I liked. So I took this advice, although I'm
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