Moments in Dirt and Ink

Redwood National Park Click for interactive map On the prior Thursday, I joined the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee's invasive species tour of Eureka. It was at the last minute because I figured I knew all about these things since I spend a bit of time each week hacking them down as a volunteer. Of course, they were talking about the lesser known things and the tour started out with aphids that affect Sitka spruce terribly as we toured Mouralherwaqh, a patch of land that is Wiyot again. This one is not open to the general public, but we also visited the 'O Rew Redwood Gateway, a piece of land that is Yurok again, and is open to the public as of 1 Aug and where I discovered a new trail. I also noted that although this was most recently an abandoned mill site, there are some nice rounded tree tops poking out of the forest nearby, one of the signs of old growth. I decided I would be back to try that new trail. The sign at the after hours/overflow parking a...

California Coastal National Monument Click for interactive map After poking around Ocean Ranch , I headed up the hill to Lighthouse Ranch, one of the 6 pieces of California Coastal National Monument that can be visited along the mainland. There's a loop trail, interpretive signs, picnic tables, and a toilet. If you are trying to get a stamp for your National Parks passport, you probably have to go to the Arcata BLM Field Office. Other nearby pieces of the National Monument are the Trinidad Head Lighthouse to the north, which is only open during certain hours on certain days; Lost Coast Headlands to the south, which has a little more trail but the road in can suffer winter damage; and of course most the rocks and islands you can still see at high tide. This is the easiest to visit. The pathway entry from the unpaved parking at Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch. The path is well established and the edges get mowed. Taking the right side of the loop, the trail comes quickly to t...

Eel River Wildlife Area Click for interactive map A little after I first (and last) visited Ocean Ranch , the California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched a restoration project in this bit of the Eel River Wildlife Area that I keep meaning to check out. It gets a mention sometimes on the twice monthly DERT days by Friends of the Dunes because they decided to test the best removal system for the invasive beach grass we pull by hand. The winner for efficiency includes fire. I pulled into the now paved parking lot at the top because that's all I was expecting, only to find there is now a paved road where there was a gated, uneven track down to another parking area with picnicking that is open sunrise to sunset. The wooden sign got an upgrade. There was very obviously a billowing plume of smoke originating from somewhere over by the mouth of the Eel River. A blackberry hunter suspected that folks who came to Crab County Park for the 4th to light up massive mounds of ...

Since I last wrote about digital maps, the S1 Mobile app has been shut down and the Forest Service released a new map app that looks pretty good. It might be time for a new post on maps. (Check the "equipment" tag for older editions.) USFS app in offline mode showing a section of the Pacific Crest Trail north of Marble Mountain Wilderness including intersecting roads, streams, and contours. As before, this will focus on legal, free ways to have maps stored on your handheld computer (AKA "phone") so you can have them anywhere and any time. While these are free, it does help insure that independent developers keep going next year if you send some money toward them. My criteria for a map app: Works offline. If you only have a map when online, you don't have a map. It is as simple as that. This is non-negotiable. Maps should include contours. I'm looking to hike with these maps after all. Shows location. User configurable storage opt...

Mendocino National Forest DAY 1  |  WORK DAYS 2-3  |  DAY 4  |  WORK DAYS 5-6  |  DAY 7 Yellow line for day 7. Click for interactive map The last day and we were heading back to Green Springs, then drive on out. It was hot. We figured we'd be wishing for that cold that we had on Monday. I don't think we were quite there, though. We were relishing shade once the day got into afternoon. Leaving Last Camp. Some gear left (far left) is for the mules to pick up and some for the next group to use. Over the ridge to the next valley south, Hammerhorn Mountain at the right. Further around to see Solomon Peak from the other side, or at least the ridge to it. Hammerhorn Mountain up ahead. There's a dip between it and the nearby ridge. I looked at the north side of Hammerhorn Mountain and wasn't sure where there might be a trail although we were told there had been one. It just looked like one would get to wandering in some rough st...

Mendocino National Forest DAY 1  |  WORK DAYS 2-3  |  DAY 4  |  WORK DAYS 5-6  |  DAY 7 Green lines for days 5 and 6. Click for interactive map I might have overdone it on the Two Peak Extravaganza on the nominal rest day. I still found myself up a bit earlier than the rest and decided to see if I could capture some of the area birds and a few flowers in the meadow. Distant Mount Shasta feels much closer in the sunrise. The sun hits the Pacific bleeding heart a few yards from my tent. The robins were keeping the little ones safe and finding food. The western bluebirds were popping in and out of their nest high up.

Mendocino National Forest DAY 1  |  WORK DAYS 2-3  |  DAY 4  |  WORK DAYS 5-6  |  DAY 7 Orange line for day 4. Click for interactive map Wednesday is a free day, and while one chose to simply rest, there evolved two excursions among the small group. The more relaxed characters who still wanted to do something planned to head over to a small swimming hole tucked away above camp just out of sight of our trail in, then off to Solomon Peak for the views and memories. Unfortunately the swimming hole was dry this year, but the peak hadn't lost its views. I dreamed up the "Double Peak Extravaganza". First we would continue along the Summit Trail to where the Bigfoot Trail joins it coming out of Ides Cove. I mean, here we were on a BFTA trip and we weren't even expecting to touch the Bigfoot Trail? So we would tag it. Then we would continue a short way further on Summit Trail to where someone has marked (on OpenStreetMap) the "Sugarloaf Tra...