I woke after about 6 hours and took to reading Tortilla Flat at 3AM before getting a few more hours of sleep. That seems to be how too long nights work. I didn't get moving until almost 9AM. Steinbeck helpfully points out that a watch is useless: 7AM is a fine time to be sitting out on the porch in the summer when the sun is already warming it but not in the winter when it isn't even light yet.
Some of the most beautiful bits of fall color on the creek were just below the camp site, especially in the morning light. Some nice, big trees above the camp.
I didn't bother to put on my socks and tried not to think much about the water as I hit the crossing and stepped into it. It didn't feel quite so shockingly cold, but when I stepped out, I could feel the function in my feet was reduced by the chill. Then there were the downed trees to navigate before the last crossing.
When documenting a log across the trail, it is always good to put something like a hiking stick in for scale. Now, who has an 8 foot crosscut saw? This is a far easier way to pass a log. That was a long way to underbuck on this admittedly somewhat smaller log.
I sat down to wring out as much water as I could before pulling on my socks for the rest of the climb, then noticed what I'm assuming is an old sign post has some odd details. There's a groove cut all the way down one side, a bigger groove down the other, and nails hammered into the top. Fence post? The blazed tree next to it offered no help. It doesn't have a blaze for that direction, either, but there is a trail marked on the old 15 minute quads. I got moving upward. Snatching a little bit of view while climbing the ridge. Everyone has their own way of making trail signs. The bears are enthusiastic on this madrone. A gentle flat to provide some rest before coming some more.
I was dreading that I had let the sun get up so far and have so much time to warm the badly burned areas, but it was distinctly cooler as I climbed, even compared to the same time of the day the day before.
Over the knob and about to dip and climb again. This knob has a funky bit of green rock that looks like an obsidian at first, but is quite crumbly. There's a look at Peak 8 and/or Doctor Rock again, but from too low to see the details I was trying to capture.
So when I moved back into the more forested area, it was just a return to a little more difficult trail and not so much welcome shade. The difficult spots aren't long anyway. There's a place where it scrambles down (but not too steeply) and around a heavily overgrown area with a few logs that I'm sure was once the trail. Otherwise there's almost always enough tread to find trail and, for now, ribbons remain to help.
I moved some branches and found a wintergreen still blooming underneath.
There's a second bump a lot closer to the trail that, according to the old USGS maps, could be just as high as the large, flat peak. It's been smoothed out of existence on the FS quad, but I decided to tag it, just to be sure. It's a rocky point that is easy to walk up and offered some specific views.
Rock Creek Butte is the bit of particularly badly burned trees the road passes through just before getting to the trailhead. North-ish across the rocky little peak.
Then I got moving again. There's a big dip of about 700 feet, all along the ridge line, before climbing again to the top that is not much higher than the peaks along the ridge.
Other wintergreens are far past flowering. (This is actually from a different big group of things that get called wintergreen.) Still failing to find that view of the western peaks. Northwest again. Other specimens of the same sort of wintergreen are also far beyond flowering.
I was chugging along slowly on that last climb back to almost 5000 feet, but quite happy for the cooler day. Muscles were feeling it, but not too badly.
Conifers (mostly) and madrones and a lot of oaks may be evergreen, but the low stuff participates in the fall colors. Leaving the wilderness.
I was a little late if I was trying to get back "to camp" at the car by 6PM, but not too late. I should have got a good sunset, but with no clouds to take up any colors, it was a bit of a fizzle.
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.
Six Rivers National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 (map link) Bluff Creek Historic Trail gets my attention as I zoom by because it is clearly signed to be visible from the road and the trail is obviously used and in good shape. Also, why is "Historic" stuck in there? (Besides the obvious, the Forest Service simply says, "Gateway to Bigfoot Country" , which doesn't seem particularly unique along the Bigfoot Scenic Byway.) It doesn't get my attention when I'm looking at a map because it just offers about 1.5 miles of connecting the highway to Slate Creek Road, a paved road that leaves the highway a short distance northeast of the trail. However, further along in the same direction and connected by an unimproved road is "Wright Place (site)" which sits next to Bluff Creek. The trail is numbered, the road is not. While it is tempting to think that an old road is bigger and therefore more likely to be passable, it doesn't really work out that wa
Little River State Beach, Trinidad State Beach, Sue-meg State Park, Humboldt Lagoons State Park Redwood National Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park Introduction The California Coastal Trail (CCT) is approximately 1200 miles of interconnected public trail following the coast from Mexico to Oregon. Or at least that's the dream. Currently, the trail is about 60% complete. In more populous areas, it often takes the form of boardwalks and multi-use paths marked by the swirl of blue wave crest. In rural areas, it may be pushed to the beach when that is usable, or to the nearest public route when that is not. The crest for the CCT marks a coastal access trail at the Lost Coast Headlands. There are thoughts of a route beside the ocean, but the primary route is substantially inland along Mattole Road for now. The beach becomes impassible in several places south of here and above the high tide mark is private property. The hiking trail rout
Loleta Community Park ( map link ) I've seen that this hike is detailed in a couple news articles and blog posts and YouTube videos and Hiking Humboldt volume 2 and that it even has a geocache along it. It was seeing that the last barrier to the Great Redwood Trail has fallen and the right-of-way is now property of the Great Redwood Trail Agency (GRTA) that got me thinking more about it. It was seeing trucks marked "CCC" out on the rails clearing vegetation from the Humboldt Bay Trail , which is part of the Great Redwood Trail, that got me to come out and do it. On the drive here, I even spotted a sign claiming that the Humboldt Bay Trail - South was now under construction just south of the industrial park at Bracut. The north part of the trail currently ends at a missing bridge just north of Bracut. It all served to embolden me about this other little piece of the same right-of-way. The start of the trail in Loleta. In the newspaper articles, which are only a c
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