Moments in Dirt and Ink

Potawot Indian Health Village ( map link ) When I was documenting even the littlest nature hikes available in the nearby city parks and similar at the end of 2021, there was a rather large omission. The Potawot Indian Health Village is split roughly in half between buildings and the Ku'wah-dah-wilth Restoration Area. This area has about two miles of looping trails around community gardens and areas purged of invasive species then replanted with native plants. The closer trails are paved while the outer parameter paths are dirt. I caught a sunny window and set off to wind and wander around these numerous trails, but managed to miss some of the outer ones. They were looking somewhat faint, but were not very muddy in spite of all the recent raining. I started at the information sign beside the parking lot. Dogs, bikes and other rolling things, and smoking aren't allowed in the Health Village. Starting out on the paved paths that loop this flat area. Looking toward the

Arcata Community Forest ( map link ) We woke up Wednesday morning with snow falling. Big wet flakes were plopping against the ground after only half surviving the journey down and not surviving contact with the ground. More waves of snow came throughout the day, only sticking to the most exposed areas in a thin layer. As the light started to dim in the evening, it began to stick properly. It built up until the morning dawned with a blanket of the stuff. There was snow all the way down to the beach ! Things were less thickly covered by the time the sun got to shining a bit on the trees, but still plenty more than seen in a decade. A look along Panorama to a patch of backyard trees. The garden rhododendrons have been blooming a few weeks, but the wild ones won't be for a few months. Down the stub end of Margaret to another patch of private trees holding rare snow. Up the steps and into the community forest itself. Yeah, it's not all that much snow. Snow was on th

(almost to) Arcata Field Office BLM ( map link ) I looked around the Kneeland area and concluded the Iaqua Buttes Lookout at the top of the highest of the Iaqua Buttes would be a nice place to go and a little over a day after a passing storm dropping a couple inches of snow down to 1000 feet might be a particularly picturesque time to do it. Well, assuming roads weren't too treacherous. The car managed to climb up one icy piece of road just fine, but wouldn't turn right to follow the curve of the road and stay out of the oncoming lane, so there was some treachery going on. I found a beautiful big parking area on the side of Kneeland Road just short of unsigned Slater Road to make my start. Back along Kneeland Road from the heart of working cattle rangelands Within 5 minutes, someone had stopped by to make sure I was okay (something that happens with disturbing frequency) and then informed me that this trip would be a failure. That county road goes up a little way and

OpenTopoMap (an OpenStreetMap service) showing my GPS track from backpacking in the Flat Tops Wilderness in 2016 . It is zoomed into the busiest entry point where one very excellent and well used trail is missing. The map in question is, of course, OpenStreetMap . While not explicitly setting out to do this, they've created the Wikipedia of maps and you probably use it even if you don't know it. It's on AllTrails and Strava and behind Gaia Topo and MapBuilder on Caltopo. If any of those have an error, you can fix it. There in the lower right hand corner on AllTrails is the attribution and an invitation to change and add to the map. It's not just on the internet. This is also the one electronic map I carry with me, offline , that I know it will cover the place I am. When I need a library, post office, grocery store, gas station, I can search and find it even if I haven't got any usable cell signal. The roads are (generally) there. The buildin

McKinleyville Parks and rights of way McKinleyville Land Trust ( map link ) All the rain that came through has brought the Mad River to a level not seen at any time last year. Admittedly, it stopped and the water has dropped back down a bit. That has allowed the little creeks started to run clear again. It's prettier when it all runs clear. I decided to go out and visit the river in its long run from getting almost to the coast (near the old railroad bridge) to actually breaking through to the ocean waves over 3 miles to the north. This time I would use the more common path on the McKinleyville side of the river rather than the long sandbar . There's a lot more places one might start such a trip and I've marked all the spots with public parking along the route. I actually started at the aforementioned bridge, the southern terminus of the Hammond Trail. Feeling a kind of tunnel vision at the southern terminus of Hammond Trail. The Mad River is still muddy on its

McKay Community Forest ( map link ) I was battling the "but I've already been"s when I visited the newly opened section of McKay . The north end is well used, but not expected to open until the coming summer. (The previous section was aiming at the summer, too, but got the fall.) It's hard to just leave it when seeing so many people enjoying the area. I broke down and went for a look. The main entry into the north end of McKay Community Forest should probably be locked I wandered in under the trees along the road, then nearly immediately turned off onto a well used trail heading east of the road. I was struck by how much more open the forest is in this area. It doesn't hurt that the day was nice and sunny without having to wait for it. Trail among the trees leaving and ferns that haven't been stomped A small stream comes down the hill

McKay Community Forest ( map link ) As of September 29, 2022, a portion of the McKay Community Forest is finally open. This includes the Northridge parking area in the southern portion of the forest and about four miles of trails. A map can be found here . I decided to return to the forest ( prior hike from this start is here ) to hike the longest loop available on the now officially opened trails. The parking lot was indeed open with a great big sign stating the gates would get locked at 6PM. Gates locking at a variable time sometime after sunset seems pretty common for Humboldt County parks. Kiosk with map and other trail signs at the trailhead beside the Northridge parking area I turned onto the Bob Hill Gulch Trail, which is a much smaller trail and harder to see than the Perimeter Trail, an old road that is also an option. Bob Hill Gulch turns back on itself and really is just a longer way through the dark and scruffy forest to join another old road that branches from t