Moments in Dirt and Ink

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Green line for day 3. Click for interactive map Daniil decided to head up Kings Castle before heading down, but didn't get a very early start. I think he was expecting me to want to go up, but I didn't want to add the 1.5k feet of descent from it to the 4k feet already waiting for me. I got to watch the newts and read from Teddy Roosevelt about his trip through South America . The snow around us, at least that which was left, now had a very distinct crust to it as I plowed through it to the lake. Morning by the lake when the light is still colored. I can confirm that Daniil made it to the top of Kings Castle. Rough skinned newt minding its own business. Away it goes.

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Red and orange lines for day 2. Click for interactive map I had a selection of possible day hikes for our middle day. We could go south to tag Box Camp Mountain that I have become fixated on (probably because its smack in the middle of everything) and maybe tag Black Marble Mountain once more. We could try hiking a loop with the old trail that passed on the west side of Kings Castle and down to Bear Lake, probably tagging the peak on the way. It's an easy up from that trail. Morning comes to the bumps near Kings Castle. Remembering the terrain to the south and seeing how covered with snow that sort of terrain was, anything going that way wasn't very attractive. There's similar terrain to the north, but then it opens up to a ridge, or so the map says. North to Big Ridge (or even Buckhorn Mountain, which sounds more like a "real name" but is a lower point) looked like the most pleasant use of the day....

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Purple line for day 1. Click for interactive map In the continuing saga of going to high places because "it's like June out there", Daniil and I headed to the upper trailhead of the Kelsey Creek Trail. For this episode, however, there was a spring storm through on Wednesday, so we weren't quite sure what travel would be like in the high elevations. Copernicus sailed by after, but took pictures of clouds. Just a little mystery to keep us on our toes. Regulations and map on the left, a little history in the middle, at the trailhead. This is the easternmost portion of the Kelsey National Recreation Trail, which will take you at least as far as the west side of Siskiyou Wilderness, admittedly with a big chunk of road walking and a name change in between. The historic Kelsey Trail was a major supply route from Crescent City to Fort Jones in the 1850s. This day's travel would complete my travel along the ...

Mendocino National Forest Shasta-Trinity National Forest Six Rivers National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Purple line for day 3. Click for interactive map Being up on the ridge, we did get something like a sunrise. There were no clouds for the coming sunlight to decorate, so it was quite plain for a sunrise. As soon as I was vertical, I headed down the hill to see if the water I expected really was there. At the bottom of the very slanted meadow, it started running. A few more feet and it was easy to gather. It was maybe 100 feet vertical down, certainly not more than 200 feet. It didn't feel like too much at all. A little orange tint to the sky as the sun rises. The view of Shell Mountain from the top of our meadow, now with a lot more light. We packed up and got moving along the ridge. We saw some spots that looked a bit like a length of trail tread, but it was hard to claim there was a trail in the area where Chicago Camp Trail travels tha...

Mendocino National Forest Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Brown line for day 2. Click for interactive map It was dark, but easy to get up, from our forest camp. We packed and made sure to have water and started up the trail, soon losing it. I think we got upset that it turned into a very very minor wash and started looking for something else. I wandered up the ridge while the others stayed lower. The ridge presented a little piece of history in the form of a telephone line before giving a really good view of beautiful tread wrapping over from the far side of the wide valley the others were walking up. The trail was right there the whole time! Meanwhile, I pondered where the telephone line was going. Black Rock Lookout and the North Yolla Bolly Guard Station were off to the east and there were once settlements in the little bit of wilderness to the west . There were probably some more guard stations, too. It used to be a lot easie...

Six Rivers National Forest Mendocino National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Blue line for day 1. Click for interactive map I've got a Caltopo map of fairly random maybe trips, including some along the more western side of the northern edge of Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness where I'd like to explore more and Daniil has never been. This is possibly the only part of this wilderness that can be visited on paved roads. He picked a small loop, about 15 miles, going out of Little Doe Wilderness Trailhead (perhaps better known as Waterspout, named for a spring the trail used to go to when traveling away from the wilderness) and traveling Yellowjacket Creek and Doe Ridge by Shell Mountain. It should be a snow-fest this time of the year, just not this particular year. We gave it three days, starting very early to maximize the time to cut away trees in the road. The trees are still down. Folks with emblems painted on their doors were working high up the ridge ...

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge Click for interactive map The fact that the National Wildlife Refuge doesn't allow dogs (or horses or bikes or even running) tends to create more possibilities for wildlife encounters. That this particular bit is closed Tuesday to Thursday and sits beside a bit that's closed to all except those who have obtained a permit makes it a little more wild. For one frequent volunteer with the Friends of the Dunes, that meant getting to watch a family of otters diving and chomping away at their catch from the end of one trail. After the regular third Sunday removal of invasive beach grass on the far north end of Ma-le'l South, I headed out to where the otters had been seen, not that I really expected to see them too. Kayakers on the Mad River Slough send the shorebirds on the nearby island into flight. The otters were seen a the end of Tsoutsgish Trail, a very flat route following the old railroad grade at the edge of Mad River Sloug...