Moments in Dirt and Ink

California Fish and Wildlife Click for map. This little spot is so close to the highway, I have actually noticed it while zooming past, tucked in opposite of the car dealerships. There was heavy traffic leaving the dealerships as I arrived, but no one at the trail. Plenty of information signs at the trailhead. So I stopped at the information signs to find out what was up. The important one was a large map showing areas closed to entry, areas closed to hunting, and areas where hunting is allowed. I had actually found out it is a hunting area prior to stopping by. "Hunting is only allowed in the hunting areas," it says. It goes on to clarify, "No exceptions." It can be important to clarify. "Hunt days are Saturday, Sunday and Wednesdays ONLY." Good thing for me it's Tuesday. "No holidays except if they fall on one of those days." It certainly seemed pretty clear, but I expect it's really important to clarify. Lots more rules as...

Eureka City Trails Click for map. I headed to the end of Del Norte for the rest of the Eureka Waterfront Trail to discover that there is a park and fishing pier there too. It's a happening place. There's a little loop trail through the park, which I did not take, but I did head out onto the fishing pier a little way. I discovered quite a lot of old pier or something like that surrounding it. The pier is built on the end of a jetty and had a few fishermen fishing from it. I disturbed the gull on the lamp. Industrial works to the north on the far side of the bay and loads of old pylons on this side. Looking south is into the bright sun over the reflecting water, but there's a bit more pylons to see. I headed back to the other side of the parking lot where there is one of many signs detailing the trail and a bicycle repair station complete with tools on cables and a pump. This particular sign details the Waterfront Trail to the south and the PALCO Marsh Trail tha...

Eureka City Trails Click for map. The Waterfront Trail is only 6.5 miles, so I suppose I could wander it in a day, but I decided to split it up and check out the northern part first, getting to where it starts following road a bit too closely for a bit too long, which would be my time to turn around. That is the bit that goes past the marina, so perhaps it wouldn't be so bad? I skipped it anyway. I parked at the end of Y Street where there is one of many access points. The back of the Blue Ox Millworks catches the eye immediately. It looks to have been built in an ad hoc manner and keeping it up must be a nightmare, but there it is. For now. The end of Y Street where it becomes bike path that intersects with the Waterfront Trail. The organic nature of the building around the Blue Ox Millworks (in blue) is not yet apparent from here. I turned right to walk along the abandoned tracks toward the short end of the trail instead of left to get a better look at the building. ...

Arcata City Park Click for map. Aldergrove Marsh isn't exactly a park and gets a special call out along with the Arcata Community Forest and Arcata Marsh when the city lists its open spaces. It is the smallest of these areas and only has trail along one side which might be as much as a quarter mile long. The rest of the area is marsh, so not all that inviting for stepping out. The rules of the place are on the side of the trail with parking. The alder (which are probably ash) have all lost their leaves, but the birds that are a star attraction for coming were still hiding away somewhere and singing. I didn't see them. At first I didn't even see marsh, but it quickly became clear that the area really is quite soggy. First a little puddle on the road side of the trail.

Arcata City Park Click for map. This is Arcata's largest city park outside of one with sports fields and Redwood Park (on the edge of Arcata Community Forest) at 19.1 acres. It's biggest boast is Mad River Access, but I neglected to bring a boat. (Probably because I haven't got one, but I've eyed a few.) I found parking to be difficult. All the surrounding streets are marked with "no parking" signs leaving just a bit of the gravel end of the road for both parking and turning around. After about two car lengths, there is a post, then the neighbor's gate, then no parking. Entry to Carlson Park. Signs tell the rules and indicate the direction to go for the trail. Since I didn't have a boat, I probably wouldn't be spending hours at the park, so I made do. A sign just past the gate points left for hiker trail, but the right looked more used, so I went that way. Even without a boat, I wanted to get to the river, and in a short time, I had. T...

Elk River City Wildlife Area Click for map. I will get to the Waterfront Trail eventually, but the spit of land by the Elk River got my desire for this afternoon. It is quite the curiosity to me. I have been known to wonder why the rivers generally love chugging north along the coast befire finally breaking out into the ocean. I saw one sign ( was it at the Mad River Bluffs? ) with an explanation for why the rivers do this, but I'm not sure it applies to a river that exits into the bay. Anyway, I didn't believe it completely. I wasn't entirely sure how you get out there, but there was a geocache on it and it suggested starting at the (former) park and ride. I knew where that was, so I parked and got out and found myself on the wrong side of the river. Looking out from the raised area of the parking over the grassy flats to water and then some trees that look suspiciously like the ones on the North Jetty. I followed a sign claiming there was bike trail in the so...

McKinleyville Land Trust Click for map. I've decided I should be more complete about the local trails. I'd seen a sign for one in McKinleyville and did a little research to find it is on the local land trust's first property. The parcel is just 9.5 acres with a grid of trails, so I stopped by in the early evening on my way past. I didn't see the sign once I was looking for it, so got there after a minor run around. Parking is very easy and the area itself is well signed. The start of the trail to access the property. I followed the access trail from the parking to the property itself. The bulk of the land is sparsely covered in trees with grasslands north between it and the parking and thick trees to the south on some private land. A sign explains the name of the area and that it is transitioning back from cleared ranch land to native forest and grasslands. It adds a few Wiyot words for common items in the area. (The Wiyot were the people who lived here at ...

Arcata BLM Click for map. I've just been getting around the neighborhood loop, sometimes with a bit of a spur, and not really enough of that. I needed to get out and do something fresh and new even if it is something small and just the other side of something old . I didn't get out to them until the afternoon, but even the short visit served as a nice reminder of what the various dunes have to offer. At first glance, that's a wide, sandy path to the beach over low hills covered in invasive plants. There is more, so much more. A couple went up the path to watch the waves. The grasses may or may not be native, the sagebrush is local, but the ice plant came from South Africa. The waves are rolling in in layers as usual. There's people on the beach just where it starts to get misty. I had decided to make a search for the nearby multicache , so I went over to its first stop by the pedestrian underpass. It seemed rather splendid in fresh paint that had some pic...

Tension is pain. Sometimes the lesson comes in an unmistakable form. I once had it delivered in the form of chilled feet. It seems that my feet are prone to cramping when allowed to cool too much. One day I allowed them to do just that and when I went to use them for more than standing around, a muscle within started to contract and it just wouldn't stop. As it tensed, it became painful. As it became painful, it became more tense. The forward feedback loop went on until it was as tight as it could go and it just held on until I somehow managed to relax it. By then the damage was done and the muscle was badly pulled. Running seemed not so bad, but every controlling touch or powerful kick of a soccer ball for the next three weeks was done with my left foot. It was good training, but shouldn't have been necessary. The lesson has tried to repeat itself twice since then as my cold feet again launched into a sudden onset of great pain as they cramped. I managed to forcibly relax th...

I seem to have quite a lot of shoes about at the moment between what has remained around and what I've just obtained. I thought I'd put together something like reviews for them. I'm photographing them with my foot on the insole that came with them under the expectation that the inside is roughly that shape. It doesn't seem to be perfectly true, but gives an idea. My larger left foot is size 8.5 nude and 9 in a light or medium cushion hiking sock and on the narrow side of average. Inov-8, Roclite 280 in size 10.5. All my Roclite shoes have had great tread for sticking to trail and exceptional for sticking to rocks. This is my 6th pair of these slippers with lugs. Unfortunately, they reserve little-toe space for the more expensive shoes. The lugs wore down quickly on the identical pair before this one and the mesh fabric showed divots in it after the first wearing. These probably have about 100 miles on them and will be ripped at the toes by 400 miles and too smooth und...

I can't say that it's a very good history, but perhaps it is informative. I started my hiking the same way I expect most people do: wearing whatever shoes I had on. I was a tiny tyke and not going very far along well used trail. Really, if that's all you want to do, you shouldn't agonize about the "right footwear" and just pull on something you aren't worried about ruining. For a number of years, that would have been a pair of black, leathery high-tops with laces to the ankle and hook-and-loop at the top. I would wear them until the laces had broken in 3-5 places until I started playing soccer when I started putting holes in them around the toes. I don't think I had a dedicated pair of hiking boots until I went to camp for a backpacking unit and the packing list said we should have some proper hiking boots. So we went down to the store and I was allowed to pick out whatever I wanted. I came home with a really heavy pair of leather work boots complete ...