Moments in Dirt and Ink

I actually got out paper and ink (once) this month! And found the poor paper (and old sketches) had got water damage on the edges since the "dry bag" is many years worn. But that is just edges. And authenticity? A burned out stump along the Clintonia Trail .

Eureka City Park (Map link.) I decided to take the Hikshari' Trail, the southern end of the Eureka Waterfront Trail and part of the Humboldt Bay Trail, in a new season. For the most part, the different season just meant it was drier in the areas that are not bay. I started a little south of where I intended, having turned at the second road after the Bayshore Mall instead of the first, then wandering along to the parking at one of the parks. That just avoids the parts close to a little used road, leaving the parts on the far side of the water treatment plant. The view north over the bay from the park at the end of the road. I headed south on the bike path, but turned onto the gravel alternate almost immediately. It doesn't go very far, but it does it closer to the water. Information sign about the trail at the junction with the Melvin "Cappy" McKinnley Loop Trail, which provides an alternate for a short way. South along the bay from the gravel trail....

Redwood National Park (Map link.) I decided to give the Tey-wo-lew section another chance. (And since it's so short, I could maybe visit those ghost pipes again after.) My first time along it , all I knew was there was a line on the map. I didn't know it was the main highway until that was rerouted inland, then was the Coastal Drive until getting gated a couple decades ago. Finding a wide, fairly level "trail" that was sometimes paved and even lined, was an unwelcome surprise. The day happened to be fairly foggy, so I didn't get any of the views. I checked to make sure there was a reasonable chance of some clear coastline before coming. Unfortunately, my camera managed to make it onto the floor instead of into the car, so that coastline got photographed with a cell phone. It's a shiny new cell phone and it has three cameras, so we shall see. It was bought so I'd be on the T-Mobile network instead of the dying Sprint network, not for a good camera, s...

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (Map link.) Since I've noticed that I've walked almost every trail in Prairie Creek, the ones that I haven't have started to stand out. There's a mess of little things interconnecting by the campground that I might not ever do short of finding myself actually camping there, but the Clintonia Trail is a stretch up high in the Murrelet State Wilderness that makes some shorter (and perhaps more approachable) loops available through the old growth redwood trees. So I headed out for it with a thought to maybe visit the ghost pipes again afterward. There were still quite a few other visitors around and I needed a bit of luck to grab a shady parking space between the visitor center and campground, then wandered the tracks over to the biggest trailhead in the whole park behind the visitor center with its big sign of historical destinations. (I keep focusing on "Butler Backpack Camp", which presumably became Ossagon Camp, which ...

McKay Community Forest (Map link.) I headed down to the actual, official parking lot toward the middle of the McKay Community Forest for another visit only to find that it is currently locked up tight, which makes it much harder to find legal parking in the area. I should have reviewed the map prior to arriving, or at least brought it along. As it was, I headed south along the road, then turned east where there will be fully accessible trail eventually. I expect that means it will be paved, but for now it is more like the "improved access trail" that will be further out, wide and flat. Some garden escapees seem to be blooming in bright sprays of red and yellow at the moment. The trail follows an old road past young redwoods. The air hasn't smelled like smoke, but the reddened light suggests there's plenty high up. I found a bit of trail heading off to the right and decided to go for it. I wanted to get down to Ryan Creek and from there... take route I ...