Moments in Dirt and Ink

Eel River Wildlife Area ( map link ) After stopping by the Cannibal Island Unit of the Eel River Wildlife Area , I stopped at the Cock Robin Island Unit, or rather almost to it. The obvious parking spot on the map is the Pedrazzini Boat Launch, which has plenty of unpaved parking just before the very long single lane bridge over the Eel River to the island. That seemed fine to me. I was happier walking across the bridge than driving and it's a hotspot for bird watching on eBird . While the California Department of Fish and Wildlife plans on replanting the Cannibal Island Unit with trees, the Cock Robin Island Unit already has been. There really is a boat ramp here. The river current can be strong in winter. I headed for the bridge and across. It seemed solid enough and the railings probably aren't even very old. There weren't a lot of birds out. The start of a very long one lane bridge. Down the Eel River to the almost visible mouth.

Eel River Wildlife Area ( map link ) After the railroad and tunnel , my next objective for the day was to visit a couple of units in the Eel River Wildlife Area . This is California Department of Fish and Wildlife land that doesn't require a hunting permit of any kind to access. Its purpose is to "protect and enhance coastal wetland habitat". I have previously hiked on the Ocean Ranch Unit . Today, I would explore the Cannibal Island Unit, which occupies the north and west sides of Cannibal Island and the north side of Mosley Island. It looks like there are a couple of ways to access the parts on Cannibal Island on county roads (noted by the yellow tag on the road signs), but they aren't terribly good roads and they are a bit flooded at the moment. I was aiming for Crab Park, a Humboldt County park, at the end of the road as the only obvious place to park. It is more of a turn around. The road is paved to the bridge from Cannibal Island to Mosley Island, then wa...

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...

Redwood National Park ( map link ) I got to Lost Man Creek only to find a "trail closed" sign which possibly shouldn't have been there. (I asked after since the online status indicates it is open and my informant in the visitor center was certain of many things including that that sign or the web site needed clarification.) I glared at the sign containing no statement as to why it exists, then remembered I wanted to hike Berry Glen again. ( The previous hike is here .) Lost Man Creek would have been a new trail, but Barry Glen has more old growth. It's a sweet trail with sweet extras at the end points. Maybe a little bit of highway noise, but have you seen the trees? Let me show you the trees! Picnic area and trailhead where once redwood logs were stacked. Berry Glen goes up the hill directly ahead where the trees are large and not off to the left where they decidedly aren't. As is typical in National Parks, dogs are not allowed on these trails. There a...

Arcata Community Forest ( map link ) I finally noticed that the trails previously marked as "private road" and "no entry" are now half numbered trails on the newest version of the Arcata Community Forest map. This comes about from the 20 acre Lima Expansion purchased in 2018, and been open a while. Disappointingly, they didn't even name these new trails along with not quite giving them their own numbers. The rest of it somehow became less of a maze once I paid a little attention to the names even though they're only found on the map signs and the online map. The bottom of Meadow Trail (trail 3) as it climbs. I had wanted to get a space at trail 3 (Meadow Trail, but where's the meadow?), but decided against squeezing in beside the two cars already there. I wandered down from the main parking area instead to start up the hill. This trail shows some old paving as it climbs. I figured that would get me most quickly to the first of the old "pr...

I took a few hours to play with setting up the tarp for sleeping shelters. Why would I do this if I own a fancy tent? Well, there's two reasons. First, I think it's just a good skill to have. Of course you have to do it more than a few hours, setting each thing up once, to really learn it. Second, I keep pondering what the car camper who wants to try backpacking minimally needs to just get out there. Gathering up the camping gear and then seeing what needs changed out to bring it to a reasonable weight seems like a good start. With today's penchant for huge cabin tents, that has to go. But maybe the tarp it sits on is all you'd need? And who knows, if you decide you actually like tarping it, you'll never have to spend the big bucks on an ultralight tent. The tarp in question for this exercise was one I picked up for about $30. It is 10'x12' weighing in at 850g (30oz) of coated polyester and came with 4 stakes and 6 guy lines. It has tie outs at the corne...

Sue-meg State Park ( map link ) I almost got enticed by the siren song of a King Range permit that was sitting spare for Tuesday, which was the start of both good tides and good weather for the Lost Coast Trail. But! I want to do too big a trip to get ready in the half day that I had to sort things out, so I let that treasure go, likely unused by anyone. I decided to get out to Sue-meg for the first time since its older name was applied to the whole state park, not just the ceremonial village within, during some of that perfect weather and tides. There is an $8 fee to drive in, but it is free to walk in or bike in. Trails don't allow bikes or dogs. Fancy new signs to mark the park under the old Sitka spruce. I headed for Sue-meg Village first. It isn't a village in the sense that no one lives there, but it does have purpose beyond showing off the local architecture. The outside of one sturdy home. Inside a house including its big bear-proof doorway. Next, I h...

Arcata Community Forest ( map link ) I decided to make a reprise of my old wander looping across Janes Creek twice . This one still has the same fundamental parts, the basic loop involving the South Fork Janes Creek Loop Trail and the second loop with Lower Janes Creek and Upper Janes Creek Trails (more commonly known as 6 and 7 because that's all the signs say), but I decided to connect them together a little differently. Still starting on Diamond Drive because I rather like that trailhead. There could be some support that the Long Loop Trail (17) should get included since it's the uppermost trail crossing over Janes Creek, but it fails in not having Janes Creek in the name. Hey, thems the rules. Into the woods from Diamond Drive. There were some nice patches of trillium, this one even with one aging into some purple. I took off for the upper/lower loop first, passing the lovely trail 10 (Vista Trail) heading for 8 (Forest Loop Road, a nice meaningful name found...