Moments in Dirt and Ink

Sketches for July start with watercolor carried with me while backpacking and then along a day hike afterward. The lake in the morning . Outlet flow of the lake in the afternoon . The lake while fishing in the afternoon . The rock wall behind the lake in the evening . Creek by the campsite on day four . Up the funny mountain for the day. Actually, azaleas back at camp . The waterfall from a bit below Clark Point . Out on the rock everyone photographs it from. Submerged tree at the lake . Tuolumne Meadow from the top of the dome . One stint with the more traditional sketchbook, then it is back to the watercolor. Roads and trails coming up the canyon . Terminal Geyser , which is really a stream vent. The dunes from near Cinder Cone .

Lassen Volcanic National Park Map link. In one corner of Lassen Volcanic National Park, there is a section of land marked "Fantastic Lava Beds" and, next to it, "Painted Dunes". Next to this is another feature nude of vegetation simply labeled "Cinder Cone" and next to it is the much larger peak of Prospect Peak. I decided to see how fantastic this lava bed actually was and get another peak in for good measure. Arriving at Butte Lake, promptly found two trails, one heading west around the lake and one heading up the hill to Bathtub Lake. Heading west, I found my trailhead next to a small lot off the boat launch. There was another map, looking angled at relief and showing the weakness of this as data communication since sometimes the mountains hide the trails, and a box full of brochures for the interpretive trail that starts here and goes along the Fantastic Lava Beds to the Cinder Cone. I headed first for Prospect Peak, which breaks off just un...

Lassen Volcanic National Park Map link. Warner Valley has a number of hydrothermal features including the hot springs that feed Drakesbad and Boiling Springs Lake and the steam vents that puff and stink in Devil's Kitchen and Terminal Geyser. I decided to take the day to see all of these, and if there was time, drive around and actually go down Bumpass Hell for more hydrothermal madness. Also, I wanted to go to the waterfall just upstream Hell's Kitchen which are marked on the 2002 Lassen National Forest map, among other places. So I drove up to the end of the public road that heads to Drakesbad and started hiking at the sign that seemed to indicate that there might be a loop through the Devil's Kitchen, but the two trails might not quite meet and there was no trail beyond it to the waterfall. Following the same route I took to Boiling Springs Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail for a short time, I cross over Hot Springs Creek on a nice bridge and look down to see...

Lassen Volcanic National Park Map link. Passing the entrance station and halfway to the park boundary from there, a parking lot marks the start of the trail up Brokeoff Mountain. My hope had been to go up Lassen Peak, but since the park is doing a multiyear trail rehabilitation project and has that trail closed somewhere between half and two-thirds of the way up we came here instead. This trail is considered more pleasant but does go up to a shorter peak after climbing a longer distance. We passed some tiger lilies in the stream just before the lot and starting up the trail were greeted by more of them and other flowers as well. The trail crosses the stream, or attempts it for a while, near where a number of tiger lilies hang. Some purple bell flowers that are on their way to seed.

Lassen Volcanic National Park We stopped at the Sulphur Works where the highway crosses a hydrothermal area and we could have a quick look at steam vents and boiling mud. It stinks a bit and the rocks seem to have taken on a bright yellow in many places around it. Just off to the side of the road, a mudpot bubbles and boils quite noisily. Click here to hear it. A steam vent in the dirt above the bubbling mudpot. The rocks are stained yellow above the stream of runoff from the Sulphur Works. Rocks above the Sulphur Works pick up both reds and yellows. ©2012 Valerie Norton Posted 2 Aug 2012

Lassen Volcanic National Park We weren't feeling like we had the time to go down to the hydrothermal area known as Bumpass Hell, but we did stop in the lot and have a look around. View out over the valley that is the anchient caldera of Tehama Mountain, of which Brokeoff is the largest remnent. The hillside on the far side of the valley from the road has many colors in it. Brokeoff Mountain, the tallest remnent and the mountain we'll climb up later. ©2012 Valerie Norton Posted 2 Aug 2012

Lassen Volcanic National Park Lake Helen is a spot along the road, so this is just a spot to stop and rest and stretch and take a few pictures for us. The south side of Mount Lassen reflecting in Lake Helen. A little more of the surrounding mountains of Lake Helen. ©2012 Valerie Norton Posted 2 Aug 2012

Lassen Volcanic National Park Map link. We awoke in the south part of Summit Campground ready for a longer day of hiking without any need to drive around. The planned trail is a loop of a little more than 10 miles passing by a large number of lakes with a few more on spur trails (in relation to the loop) if we decide we need more. We checked the campground map at the entrance to find where the trail left from the south side of the lake as the main trailhead is at the north side. With a brief stroll down a trail that actually just went to the lake, we found our way to a bridge and a route past the campground amphitheater to the trail. We should have passed an intersection on the way for a trail that travels down the drainage of the lake, but it wasn't signed and there wasn't much certain indication of the trail. The junction to our trail was much better marked, although someone had tried to add arrows to confuse the issue. The trail started off climbing out of the la...

Lassen Volcanic National Park Locate the trailhead. Owing to one modern convenience's flip side of road construction and the age old problem of finding the perfect camp site (or any camp site not next to the road or stuffed too tightly between other sites) we only had a few hours before dark to meander our way along a trail on the first day in the park. The original plan was a backpack that wandered through the park and came out the Caribou Wilderness after many lakes and cinder cones and such. Considerations turned that into a series of day hikes. We decided upon a hike that started where we would have at King's Creek going downstream, but looped around and back to the road. It has spurs to a waterfall and cluster of lakes with views of Warner Valley below. It turned out a little long for the time we had. Grabbing a spot along the road in the parking turnout, we could hear a great flow of water passing somewhere nearby. It came mostly from above the road until we ...

Santa Barbara Front Country Los Padres National Forest Map link. After hiking up Romero Canyon by the trail , I continued down it by the road. It felt very flat at first, although was dropping a few feet. It quickly comes to a large turnout that is an unsigned junction with a trail that was not on my map. The cut of this trail followed an easy upward slope and eventually joined with the road at some distance. Other routes seemed to join there, too, but this one seemed like a built trail while others looked more like old fire break. Keeping on the road, it wraps around the outside of a hill in its lazy descent. A few rock slides partly block the road, but all but one has been small enough to clear a route by hand, which someone has done long ago. Quickly, expansive views can be seen from the road in the Carpinteria direction. A deep purple thistle displaying all the stages of thistle flowers.

Santa Barbara Front Country Los Padres National Forest Map link. I've been thinking for a while that I'd have a look at Romero Canyon, which once had a public road to Camino Cielo. Besides the road, there is also the trail that heads all the way over the top and into Blue Canyon on the other side. I decided on a route heading up the trail, along Romero Camuesa back to Romero Saddle where the pavement ends, and then back down along the road. I didn't pay much attention to the distance because, well, it's front country and they're all about that long. Actually, the mountains are a little shorter at this point than further west. I got a late start out, partly because I stayed up way too late the night before and partly because I've been noticing that the islands have been crisping up in the afternoon so I expected better vistas later in the day. Of course, weather is changeable so it might not work out, but the best bet is usually that today will be exa...

Yosemite National Park I caught the bus from Yosemite Valley back up to my car in Tuolumne Meadows and then decided upon a hike that should take a few hours before I abandon the park for home. I found what I was looking for just up the road. Parking by Lembert Dome, I could take the trail around it and up to Dog Lake. Afterwards, I would take a different trail down going toward the Dog Lake parking where a spur trail climbs to near the top of the dome. After climbing the dome, I could go the rest of the way down that trail and either catch a shuttle back or walk along a trail paralleling the road. It seemed a little funny that the lake is closer to the dome parking and the trail up the dome is closer to the lake parking, but there it was. Starting from the Lembert Dome parking, it wasn't too clear where the trail was. One well used trail went from the lot at a "no pets" sign and just climbed up onto the dome rock. From there, there was no indication of where to...

Yosemite National Park > Map link. For a second little hike while in Yosemite Valley, I stepped off the shuttle at the Mirror Lake trailhead, the stop just before North Pines Campground and the backpacker camp behind it. A sign warned against allowing children to linger or run too far ahead and against hiking alone as this is mountain lion country. They don't seem to be spotted as much here as in southern California. I was hiking "alone", but there was also a dad and a couple of lagging, running kids around. We seemed to be both blatantly ignoring the sign's warning. One of the kids found something interesting off to the side, and then I really was alone for a short bit. Another sign warned of a major rock fall that had closed the trail in approximately 0.7 miles. This was next to a sign saying that Mirror Lake was still 1.1 miles off, or a little further than it had been from the bus stop. The rock fall area is closed as there are still chunks of gra...

Yosemite National Park After finishing my 6 days of backpacking and before the hiker bus started up to Tuolumne, which only runs at 8AM, I had a bit of time to poke around Yosemite Valley.  Unfortunately, the camera had given up as I tried to take one last photo which happened to be of Upper Yosemite Falls as it is glimpsed on the return along the Mist Trail.  This new camera runs on a proprietary battery and I haven't bought an extra, so that was about it with picture taking.  Still, with the whole afternoon and, it being summer, evening, I have to do the touristy things.  After setting up camp and getting rid of my bear canister, I hopped on the park shuttle and got off at the Yosemite Falls stop. I wandered my way off to the right, where a path meandered its way in the vague direction of the falls.  Boardwalks and pavement make the routes here accessible to all.  There is some climb, but it is gentle as the path snakes around.  A spur goes off t...

Yosemite National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 For the last day, most of the group left wanted to leave early. I didn't see any need to, but somehow managed to be packed up and ready to head out even sooner than I'd been for the Half Dome excursion. We hadn't had any more bear incidents in the night. We headed out from camp and Sunrise and Muir for the second and last time and started the long downhill. I had both pairs of socks on for that extra cushion through the granite stairways to come. One of the denizens of the meadow by camp. A few cedar trees that have had a hard time of it in area fires.

Yosemite National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 Ah, morning. Time to attack Half Dome for the rest of us who haven't already done it the same day as Clouds Rest. I got up plenty early to beat the heat and find out a little bit about a local bear in the area. This bear, it seems, likes packs. In the night, one of our group awoke to this bear chewing away on his son's backpack. He shooed off the bear, which the bear obligingly did while carrying the pack, empty of everything but a pair of dirty socks. He gave chase since that is sort of a needed piece of equipment, ending up plunging through the nearby meadow with its sounds of water flowing in stocking feet generating a very dirty pair of socks in the process. The bear did drop the pack after a couple short chases and it was retrieved, muddy but still quite serviceable. While we were listening to this tale, another member camp...

Yosemite National Park Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 After trying to ignore the bright moon light, the morning light finally came and with it a moment for breakfast and breaking down camp. The plan for today is to head up and over Clouds Rest to camp down at the intersection of the Sunrise and Muir Trails near the spur to Half Dome. Sunrise at Sunrise Lakes isn't quite as good as the sunset this time of year. Hiking up out of the lake basin, we quickly come to a junction with the trail in from Tenaya Lake. From there, there is a general gentle drop to some lakes and meadows and one marked creek on the map. I left getting water to the creek since I prefer to get water from them rather than lakes, so I stopped at the first creek to get some. It was little more than a trickle, but I found a good spot to take from. It turned out that there was a larger creek further on just as we ...