Moments in Dirt and Ink

Six Rivers National Forest Smith River National Recreation Area DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 Click for map. I found the Bigfoot Trail and even briefly thought I might like to hike it, but I just can't get too much excitement about hiking a long trail, roads and all, even if it is only 400 miles. The guide book does set it up as a scavenger hunt for conifers which sounds a little interesting. Hike a while getting to know a tree or two a day. There's 32 of them. I also found a couple trail journals that indicate the parts through Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness and Siskiyou Wilderness are the spots where the trail gets hard to find. They're also the major bit of wildernesses in Six Rivers National Forest. I found the Bigfoot Trail Alliance which mentioned various work outings helping the trail out. I found the South Kelsey National Recreation Trail. Surely I can trust a NRT? Okay, that's just naive. Anyway, I picked out a loop because that...

Six Rivers National Forest Click for map. I have to admit that in planning, Bug Creek Butte didn't even get a notice until I was looking on Peakbagger and noticed the "1k" marked on it. The trail I was looking at goes to Chaparral Mountain. I tried to do it on May 1st, but only got a couple miles down Titlow Hill Road before failing to watch for the fallen rocks. (I destroyed the rim. Again. The tire didn't fare well either. Expensive mistake.) I probably could have made it on the compact spare as it is paved all the way and mostly in good shape. It was getting late then and even this start was a bit later than optimal. There was a storm a couple days before with predictions of up to a foot of snow down to 5000 feet, so I wasn't sure what I'd see up high. There were plenty of freshly cleared trees on Forest Route 1, but I didn't see any snow until after I parked. It was just down a dirt road to a camp site. I noticed a couple old roads by where I p...

Arcata Community Forest Click for map. NOAA was promising a high chance of rain getting higher throughout the day, but I decided to head out to the north end of the community forest once again to wander the Arcata Ridge Trail for however far I might get. There's a bit of parking area marked for 4 hours only. Other than that, signs aren't particularly visible from the street although the trail is signed and has an information kiosk a little way along. The map in it implies the land needed to complete this trail has been obtained, but I still can't just walk it end to end. It was nice listening to the creek as I walked along until I noticed the biting mosquitoes. They're not even thick yet, but they were quite more than enough. There's well trod area west of the lot area that becomes signed trail. It closes into a green tunnel quickly. The salmonberries are ripening while the thimbleberries are still blooming. Someone has already had one of these. ...