Moments in Dirt and Ink

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map The upper end of Marble Caves Trail comes off Forest Arterial 14. (It used to be called Flume Gulch Road and is now Bear Wallow Road, but the only identifying sign is the brown trapezoid with a 14.) There's a small turnout for 2-3 cars near where it should be, but I parked in a large lot area at the intersection of the good road with a couple closed roads. (Not that you would know they were closed from the evidence on the ground. The one with the lot area has the smallest hump to show it is closed and although the other has a gate to lock, it was standing wide open.) Since this offers a shorter route with much less elevation change, I expected to see good signs of trail. After looking around a bit, the best I could do was some stomped down grass along a fuel break, so I followed that. Trying to find trail among the burn and fuel break. The August Complex in 2020 did this trail no favors. The fuel break I was following seemed t

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I wanted to do at least one more hike before the end of summer, so I launched myself on a "Hayfork area" excursion. The weather wasn't exactly cooperating with that end-of-summer vibe I was hoping for. For the foreseeable future, it would be well above normal. Fortunately, the foreseeable future with weather is only about a week and half of that is iffy. Still, it was already noon and looking at a high approaching 90°F as I came to the patch of parking for the trail just outside the seasonal gate for Forest Glen Campground. I assume that's what it's for. I asked the fellow tasked with cleaning the bathrooms for the camp where I should park for the trail and he wasn't even aware there was one! I wasn't disheartened though. I'd seen a promising line climbing the hill as I drove in. There's no sign and there's no tread leaving the road where there should be between the gate and the first site,

Redwood National Park Click for map In the once upon a time, after backpacking around Redwood Creek , I stopped by Lyons Ranch and Dolason Hill Prairie . Then I only hiked down the trail as far as the historic barn, about a mile. I decided it was time to take on the whole trail. With temperatures climbing a bit inland and it being wise to consider this a mostly inland trail, it would be a warm day for it. The current conditions page lists the trail as only "partly open" due to downed trees. On the one hand, this page still lists the central portion of Rhododendron Trail as closed for the collapsed bridge that was cleared away and trail smoothed to make the small creek crossing easier years ago. It makes the bold statement that the seasonal bridges in Fern Canyon are both in place and removed. On the other hand, this is a National Park page and they might be better about the conditions of trails that are actually in the National Park, like Dolason Prairie Trail. (On th

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Click for map There's still plenty of trails I haven't tried out in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I wanted to finally get to the Childrens Grove way at the south end of the River Trail. This time the Eel River is low enough to cross and the summer bridges should be in, so a shorter trip is possible to access the grove. The weather folks over on Wooley Island were expecting 75°F in nearby Weott. Perhaps a bit warm now that all my Pasadena derived heat immunities have worn off, but tomorrow may rain so I'll go with the sun. The closest access point is Williams Grove (fee area), but I wanted to look around the Kent-Mather Grove (the only area close to road that I couldn't improve as I aligned most the trails and added the few missing ones in April) and walk all of the River Trail that I have missed so far. Besides, both the Kent-Mather Grove and Childrens Grove are rumored to be particularly nice ones and would therefore make nice bookend

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Click for map I decided I wanted to do the Rhododendron Trail entirely, and up the California Real Estate Association Trail (CREA Trail), and connect the loop via Prairie Creek Trail (now called Karl Knapp Trail) and Big Tree and Cathedral Trees even though the rhododendrons are long gone now. Maybe I'd get to see more of those various parasitic flowers? I really only expected the ghost pipes to still be around in some form, but the others I have found in the area are not such long shots at this time either. All of this encompasses a length much further than I really wanted to go, but I've gotten it into my head that CREA is important to seeing the strange flowers as they seem more abundant along its little trod length. I've done something similar before , when they foolishly closed off parking in the park due to Covid starting. My legs didn't fall off. My feet weren't worn to stumps. Paved trail takes one the short way fro

Samoa Dunes and Wetlands Conservation Area Manila Dunes Recreation Area Click for map The OpenStreetMap version of Mendocino National Forest looks a lot closer to reality after more work than anyone might care to know. There's also mapping for a chunk of forest north to Hayfork where the Bigfoot Trail goes that is vastly improved. However, it might be a bit more fun to generate some content rather than stare at the computer, particularly if I can find a little something new to show off. Well, there's this mildly mysterious little picnic area next to the old tracks for something new. I checked (every two months after the Saturday DERT day) on the "mysterious leaves" I found in March and now there's some orchids to show off. In between, I could wander some less new areas among dunes and beach. Picnic tables painted by the nearby school children for a public rest stop. In this section of the North Spit, the old tracks edge along the side of Humboldt Bay a

McKay Community Forest Click for map I've been waiting for things to dry out to make another foray into the southern reaches of the McKay Community Forest, this time all the way to the southern edge of the property. On the previous excursion , I only got a little way along the creek and a couple small climbs. It's not end of the summer dry, but there's a distinct containment of the wet areas these days. I decided I have waited long enough and headed to the Northridge parking area beside what is still the only officially open trails in the forest. Those trails that are officially open and signed are mapped at the kiosk next to the area rules. My first goal of the day was to cross Henderson Gulch and get high on the plateau between it and Ryan Creek. I headed for the Perimeter Trail and Triple C Trail as the most efficient way to get there. That it isn't yet dry showed up early on the road section of the Perimeter Trail as there are several spots of mud, with d