Redwood Park to Loop 8 and more wandering

Arcata Community Forest

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I got myself over to Redwood Park and wandered the Arcata Community Forest for a bit. The wander generally took me around Loop 8 and a little of Loop 9 and Fickle Hill. Here are a few pictures.

The forest around Redwood Park is particularly cleared by the stomping action of those who are playing among rather than hiking past.

For the first time, I hiked the road past the parking on Fickle Hill. It promptly passes a sign that mentions, among other things, that the forest is kept in a sustainable way meaning that logging is balanced by growing. Logging?

The trails are a mixture of roads, used and not, and narrower trails.

And then I found the fresh stumps and the long ribbons printed with "timber sale boundary". Yep. Logging.

Big broken stumps are very old, but very old redwood so they stick around for a long time.

There's a little water in the Jolly Giant Reservoir and the sound of it flowing through the dam.

I wandered out into a neighborhood to find a geocache. One trail was blocked with signs clearly stating I shouldn't use it for access, so it was a little longer an extra walk than I expected. I found a grand Little Free Library on the way.

Away from the park, the forest is quite a tangle of undergrowth.

I decided to return along a high route, which brought me along Loop 8. As I came down the hill again, I got back into seeing fresh stumps and eventually ribbons marking the edge of the timber sale again. At least it isn't a clear cut.

The Little Free Library is a repurposed doll house of rather solid build.

Sometimes it takes a moment to realize you're looking at graffiti.

I dropped into the lower creek areas by the park where it is cute and bridged and thickly green. There are also some stumps from the first logging. Only one new stump I saw was anything like a similar size.

Did I mention fresh logging? A few stumps, one the last before the forest returns to its usual character.

The way back to the park.

Back to the park, it was lively as ever. I had passed a wedding party on the way in, so I guess it was a little less lively with the later hour.

©2020 Valerie Norton
Written 5 Oct 2020