(Day 4 of 7 4.) I noticed my toilet bag was missing as I packed up. That explained why the pocket it should have been in was shifting differently. I expect it is sitting on the ground at Bear Skull Camp. If I had investigated the oddity either of the first two times I noticed, I'd have been able to grab it on the way back down. I actually went and got a titanium spade that's in there. I'm sure no one wants to find the emergency menstrual cup. Leaving it is neither good for my pocket nor the environment. At least I wasn't trying to grab it for use. I couldn't bring myself to spend two more days on the creek needed to retrieve it. Silicone and plastic and titanium. Arg. I turned to finish off the last threeish miles.
With the whole of Wooley Creek at its back, this deer wants the trickle of water. Maybe this is the reason for the name of the creek a few feet off. (It's Deer Lick Creek.) The mule deer seems to know I'm up on the hill across the curve of the creek. Some red ribbons beside the trail.
I stomped my way back on the high trails. It was nice to see the Salmon River again. I dropped off my stuff at the car, then went down to it to grab water to try to wash out the poison oak in my clothes as best I could. I only had the one set since I was only supposed to be on one backpacking trip. It was already so hot that I didn't mind pulling on soggy clothes after. It is not the time of year to be at 900 feet. I got in the car and started the long drive to a nearby spot at 5000 feet instead.
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Anonymous said…
Hi! Stumbled upon this blog as I was recently in the same area and was looking for more information on the cabins. Anyway, ended up reading through your 4-day trek and wanted to let you know the Wooley and Bridge creek trails are now all cleared thanks to Siskiyou Mountain Club. They just finished up work (my brother a part of the crew) on Tuesday, August 23, 2022. You were right to be at a loss for finding that trail - the brushing they had to do to clear it sounded horrendous, and they cleared somewhere between 100-200 downed logs I believe. All is clear now if you're up for re-trying your adventure. ;)
Well, it's been a few years and a fire, so it was probably a lot worse than I saw it. I've been wondering how the Wooley up to the cabin got so bad since the fire didn't hit there and it was seeing regular clearing. Bridge must have been crazy. It'll be great for the winter and early season to have it open, though. Other times too, of course.
Kings Canyon National Park Sequoia National Forest Giant Sequoia National Monument Click for map. DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 It was another mild night, but the mosquitoes very nearly vanished early on into it. The sun comes quickly here and the morning golden hour is really quite something. I enjoy it with breakfast and happily the mosquitoes seem to be slow to wake up. Our northerly view from near camp: the morning sun as it hits Ball Dome. Morning over Ranger Lake. We head out to the trail again and wander gently downward, still high above the valley bottom. The air seems a lot clearer today and the snow on the far mountains is much more defined. The snowy distances.
King Range National Conservation Area, Arcata BLM (purple line, map link ) DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 I looked around at how soaked everything was from the dew and decided I had enough water to cook breakfast right there (well, on a rock under the Douglas fir) while waiting for everything to dry out a little. My windbreak trees became morning shade trees, but they were still blocking some strong gusts most excellently, so I wouldn't want to trade them. Good soggy morning! So I headed out on the faint old road to join a much better road until getting pointed off to the left at a gate. Trail gets really faint there, but it's all much easier to follow on the second pass than it was on the first. A bit sunnier, but most spots aren't much drier than they were. After the short road section, follow near the fence on the faint track. If truly desperate for water and it has rained well recently, there might be a tiny
Six Rivers National Forest ( map link ) Mount Lassic actually has a trail up it, I just didn't know where. It was built (possibly by California Department of Fish and Wildlife, but still official and maintained) but not drawn on a map nor described except that its purpose is to move feet away from the rare lupine that grows over less than 4 acres in the whole world. All but a garden sized plot is on this mountain. I wanted to visit it, but not to stomp across its whole territory. (Also, I made really certain that my shoes were completely purged of any seed before arriving in the area. After Clover Gulch, that was a challenge, but worthy.) I decided to start off on a small trail I found by my parking. It was minimally flagged and marked and probably not the one meant for the public. There's a faint trail just to the left of the smaller tree here where the road drains its water. Weather seemed to be forming over the Lassics, as it had the last few days, but then roam
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
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