Moments in Dirt and Ink

Klamath National Forest (Map link.) It has been a couple years since I actually did some trail work besides kicking the odd log and a lot of sticks off the path. There have been some excursions by the Siskiyou Mountain Club that got far enough south to tempt me, but none had worked out thus far. I noticed they would be working out of Clear Creek for five days and that sounded long enough to make it worth the drive. Is it odd that these California trails are getting a lot of maintenance by people from Oregon? Yep. I also notice that the folks driving out of Ashland are actually a couple miles closer to the trail than I am. I'm coming from another county too. Judging by the license plates on the way, it looks like more people from Oregon are using these areas too. In fact, you can find it covered in guide books for southern Oregon. Thursday The lower (last) parking area at No Mans Trailhead with the traditional burn area hazards signs marking the trailhead itself. The wo...

I have only had one single solitary backpacking trip this year and it is not nearly enough. It has me thinking about winter backpacking opportunities in the area. I am specifically thinking about trips that, in a fair weather window, require no special winter equipment, although microspikes might still be a good idea. While you shouldn't need to exercise any special winter skills, the are still important to have. Weather tends to be a bit less predictable and a swollen creek will be more dangerous than one the same size that usually runs high. I'll start with some I have done, one way or another, then move on to trips that are speculation. These do happen to be reasonable summer trips, too. Keep in mind that while a trail may be low enough and not cross large bodies of water, access may still be a problem for potential backpacking areas. Anything over 3000 feet can have snow that sticks around for a while. Storms can bring snow levels down to 1000 feet and less. For elevation c...

Arcata Community Forest (Map link.) I headed off to the Arcata Community Forest to, uh, frolic along the creek. Give or take. For this hike, I started at the entrance off Diamond Drive. This entrance has parking along the street in a break between the houses. A dirt turnout provides a turn around and parking for horse trailers. (You do see horses from time to time in the forest.) The entry from Diamond Drive. Ah, the trees! (Ah, the stumps... it is second growth redwoods.) It is most decidedly mushroom season. I passed the spur to the parking on California Ave., which is not quite so easy to utilize, and looked for trail 10 (Vista Trail, but these names are only on the maps) to cut over to the top of the South Fork Janes Creek Loop Trail. I found it and quickly was reminded that it's a trail worthy of travel just because. It is quite a nice stretch through the forest as it dips down across a stream, then climbs again. A little at the start of trail 10. Trail 10 ...