Moments in Dirt and Ink

Klamath National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 Click for map. (Day 3 of  7  4.) I got a late start and it wasn't entirely to do with sorting out a new plan taking the Wooley Creek Trail all the way to the Pacific Crest Trail, head south for a bit, then return via Big Meadows. Or maybe the other way around since I wouldn't want to get to the Wooley Creek ford and find it a bit too much to cross. (The there's a KML of the plan here , but just from and to North Fork Camp about 15 miles up the trail from the trailhead. It can be imported to Caltopo to view.) I covered the ground a bit faster than I'd been doing the day before. Bear Skull Camp should be pretty reliable for an open place to set up no matter how overgrown the area gets. Another sort of wintergreen, this one with leaves. A great big crossing which is North Fork Wooley Creek. I made an effort to protect the electronics from mishaps, then started across trying not to have any. There w...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 Click for map. (Day 2 of  7  4.) I was hopeful as I started out. I'd missed the bypass trail below the cabin, but found it easily above the cabin and there was nice tread. Of course, nice tread could just mean the dirt is good for trails. I remembered to grab a photo of the cabin on the way out once the area around it was a little less occupied. Of course, the junction with the bypass isn't the trail I was looking for. The actual junction along the bypass trail is signed and still there's great tread to be found. So far so good. There certainly seemed like nothing to worry about. The trail up Bridge Creek is signed and the tread clear at the junction. The trail takes a couple switchbacks up the hill, then pops up onto the ridge looking down to Bridge Creek. The canyon is still narrow and steep like at the bridge below, but deeper. There's a bit too many trees to actually get a good look at it or even...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 Click for map. (Day 1 of  7  4.) Looking at the map of Marble Mountains Wilderness, Portuguese Peak seemed like the obvious choice to start for a loop hike as there are two trails leaving from there. On closer inspection, there's actually about a mile of road to trudge along to join them, but that's not really so bad. I made a plan for a grand extravaganza around the wilderness. It was eight days at first, but I adjusted to seven. (A KML file of the plan can be found here . Import to Caltopo for best viewing?) I would head up Wooley Creek, then swing up Bridge Creek, tag Medicine Mountain, then up around Cuddihy Lakes. Plunge east to Marble Mountain where the Pacific Crest Trail runs and swing through Sky High Valley before actually taking the PCT south. Past Summit Lake and Cliff Lake, I would turn west again up Bug Gulch, then along more ridges to English Peak, past more lakes to Portuguese Peak and the long ...

Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park Click for map. There were a number of parking areas along the way that seem to also be part of the park and serve as river access as I drove over to the east section of Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, but the one by the visitor center (with an $8 day use fee), central to the trails, was closed with the campground. I tried for the parking marked at the end of the loop through Abe Wouk Grove, but missed it and landed next to a bit of river marked Devil's Elbow and walked along the narrow highway to the trail. It was empty of river goers since it sits far up a cliff from the water. Looking down on the Van Duzen River from a bit of old road. Only a small trail sign back in the ferns marks the trail beside the dirt. I missed the parking I was aimed for because it is just a dirt loop around a tree at the side of the road and doesn't look official. I started down the trail beside a sign not caring particularly which bit of the loop ...

Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park Click for map. I decided it was time for another Redwood Edventure quest and generally walk every trail of tiny Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park . There is a day use fee of $8, but it appears to only apply if one parks in the eastern section of the park by the visitor center. All of that parking was closed as a pandemic precaution. This first hike is the western part of the park, so not subject to a fee. I arrived to find a few cars in the small lot and one group leaving the grove as I entered, then had the grove to myself. Signs at the trailhead. The bump at the end of the pavement and the hole in the dirt beside it had me a little worried for the little car. The redwood sorrel is still blooming a little. These pink ones didn't have the nice red backed leaves. I am suspicious it might be some other sorrel. The grove is a particularly open one. The trees range in size dramatically with a few particularly large ones. Birds were twi...

Six Rivers National Forest Smith River National Recreation Area DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 Click for map. I packed up and got myself up to the meadow next to a sign post with just a few splinters of whatever sign was once there. I wondered where out there the rest of the trail was. The map hints off to the left and I thought I saw a hint, but that was wrong. I noticed another camp site as I wandered a bit more. The pile of rocks was a somewhat flattened large cairn with a pointer and that way lay trail. I could see the dim remains of switchbacks up the hill, but mostly it just went up. Once it leveled off, there was more difficult, but not impossible, trail to follow through the falling dead trees near the top. Back at the big meadow, now in sunlight. Pointers are excellent, especially when the trail is hidden by a fallen tree as it is here. There was a nice big, dry area that could have been a nice enough camp on the way. I took a spot full of cairns...

Six Rivers National Forest Klamath National Forest Smith River National Recreation Area DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5   Click for map. I decided I should probably continue along Boundary Trail rather than follow the one along the west side of Chimney Rock as I originally planned. It just adds a mile and three miles of little to no trail with no maintenance since the fire could easily be harder than four miles of maintained trail and road. I walked what I could find of the trail again and found it harder to see in the light than it had been in the twilight. (It's to do with glare.) For all I know, what little track is there with tiny cairns along it just turns off to Buck Camp Ridge and there is nothing heading down to Chimney Rock. The character of the topography the trail traverses looks a bit like some of the bits that had needed it reestablished, which could further complicate actually getting through. I started down Boundary Trail instead and found it li...

Six Rivers National Forest Klamath National Forest Smith River National Recreation Area DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5   Click for map. I packed up what I needed for a day hike and started along the South Kelsey Trail for the last little bit before it enters the next forest. There was only a brief moment when I wasn't sure where the trail might go. Most the way, I had plenty of idea where it went because there were so many trees cut from it down under the numerous trees crossing it and making the climb hard. Looking back at Baldy Peak. The lake is at the bottom of a steep west facing slope, so everything is shadow for a while in the morning. Just a few of the trees fallen on the trail that is cut wide through the brush and previously fallen trees. The trail reaches an open ridge top and keeps on climbing. I stopped where it turned down again and turned toward the peak, which was many rock spires away. I tried over them and it wasn't going to work ...

Six Rivers National Forest Smith River National Recreation Area DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5   Click for map. It rained during the night, but I was nice and cosy. Knowing everything on my feet was just going to be wet soon, I pulled on the same wet socks and shoes from the day before. The morning wasn't as cool as I had expected and the water wasn't cold at all, but it was a little deeper than I thought. Finding stable places to put my feet among the big rocks was difficult and made it a slow crossing. On the far side, I promptly lost the trail. There was the suggestion of something by the sign, and then it was really a matter of too many choices. There should be three. Somewhere the secondary trail up Buck Ridge follows up Harrington Creek to cross right back over before getting serious about climbing, if the one map with it marked is to be believed. Gunbarrel Trail makes a quick getaway from the wilderness after crossing the river. South Kelsey Trail w...