Moments in Dirt and Ink

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I thought Maddox Lake looked like a good candidate for a dispersed camp area, so set off looking for it. Just short of the closed road to the lake, I found a suitable space. I could hear rushing water and poked along to find a small but robust and quick flow down the hill. Then I wandered down the road to the gate to see the lake. Closure period all year, but there's a sign to explicitly allow walking. The parking is basically blocking the gate. It's a generally clear road lined with very tall trees. I spotted a small pond below the road and the stream didn't seem to have quite so much flow as above.

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I had the coldest night of the trip (at 35°F!) at Philpot and it was tempting to stay to try to wait out the two really hot days coming up. I had the 5 gallon jug full and a couple gallons extra filtered too and was done sitting about before noon. Plenty of time for a short hike up to an old lookout site, which logically fit in as the next thing. Much of the road is high in a parched, but somewhat tree covered, country. Passing through Indian Valley, I found out where all the long trailers end up. (And the road to there is not just paved, it has two whole lanes!) The turn for Limedyke Lookout Road (2N16) is just past most of free Indian Valley Campground. It's marked as being rough, but passable in passenger cars and no OHVs allowed. (I'm surprised by how many area roads are marked with the white line of licensed vehicles only on the Motor Vehicle Use Map in this area.) Except for a short stretch after Friend Mountain, it ...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I needed water and hadn't been able to fill up at Hell Gate Campground (the first spigot was dry and the second added "dangerous" flagging), so I eyed the dry creek bed at Philpot with great consternation. Philpot was once campground, now signed as "Philpot Picnic Area", but returned to campground status again with a fresh "14 day stay limit" sign. I was there for the short Philpot Creek Interpretive Trail. Built after a fire to showcase the changes resulting from that, it now just showcases the decay of an interpretive trail. It finishes at a little waterfall, which keeps people coming back, and caused a bit of disappointment to mix with my consternation. However, it was a bit too cool in that pocket of land to believe the dry creek bed. A little investigation showed some water still remains. Basic signage at the trailhead in the campground. A little of the trail as it follows the water course. ...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for location Scott Flat Campground is sometimes referred to as Scott Flat Dispersed Area. I stayed a couple days, ironed out what the rest of my trip might look like, and read a John Muir book ( A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf ). When I finished backpacking in the dark, I had gone off toward the middle of the camp. It basically is an empty dispersed area there and would be easier in the dark. The August Complex in 2020 killed off all the pines and some of the oaks in that part. The dead have been downed for safety and the sawdust suggests the downed are getting hauled off for firewood. It leaves a cluster of oaks in a large meadow. At the north end is the small site I photographed on the way to starting backpacking. At the south end, past the trailhead, are the regular numbered pullouts of a campground. There, it is surrounded by lush pine forest. Two sites were taken by hunting groups. Camping is currently free, but the information board requ...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (purple line for day 5, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 I hadn't got hiking water the day before and figured I could just get it at the first good stream crossed on the way out. It wouldn't be far. It put an end to any prospect of doing the higher, longer trails of Saint Jacques Trail and Snow Gap Trail since those have no water. Starting out on a section with plenty of very burned trees. Where does this mushroom find the moisture? However, when I got to the junction: "Well, I will want to try to put this trail in the right place on the map later," thought I. "It's always better to have a little bit of track at least." So I started up Saint Jacques Trail. Just a little bit. On the very good track. "A little more is better." Why not? It is a gentle slope. Trail work that has definitely happened since the August Complex in 2020. Promising. The trail looked so f...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (blue line for day 4, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 The logical end point for the day would be Smoky Creek, which did have another camping area that I hadn't used that didn't look too bad. But you know what? I don' wanna, I don' wanna, I don' wanna, and you can't make me. Plus, spending three out of four nights within a mile of each other? Massive eye roll. I decided to only go as far as Saint Jacques Place. It leaves a long day for the finish, but not too long. It would give me a chance to poke around a little. I would be set up for trying the alternate trails, but that looked like two extra miles. Based on my performance so far, it was too long, so I certainly wouldn't be doing that. The unsigned start of the South Fork Trinity River Trail as it leaves the dispersed camping road (which was signed). My shoes were still moist from the previous day's fording, but that w...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (green line for day 3, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 My hope for the day was to finish off the Bigfoot Trail section of South Fork Trinity River Trail (the non-National Recreation Trail version of the name) doing some of the far southeastern end day hiking style like I'd done most of Smoky Creek Trail. As I started, I really wanted to get all the way back to Saint Jacques Place, but figured camping somewhere near Soap Creek was more realistic. After that, it looks like two miles high and dry and then probable camping right at the end beside South Fork's East Fork. Getting a bit extra would allow for trying out Saint Jacques Trail and Snow Gap Trail on the way back. It really best fit into the trip if I did it on the way out, but I wanted to have a look at the trails first. Honestly, I wanted to check them for basic existence. Snow Gap Trail looks good, arriving without a...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (orange+yellow lines for day 2, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 I packed up my gear, wrapping my quilt around the mat and stuffing the whole in its sack. That should stop the curious little creature from taking a bite of it. Again. I tucked what wasn't needed for the day by a tree and then rounded my way over to the trail to start climbing. The August Complex 2020 burn scar was apparent as I climbed from the wet creeks. A trail with choices. The lower one is animal trail. They cross this hillside frequently. The view up the main stem of Smoky Creek. There are clouds in the sky! I chucked a lot of little fire killed trees off the trail as I went. Got rid of some stick piles that were pushing users to the outside. Even broke up the branch piles of a few fallen trees I couldn't really do much about. At least it would be easier to go over them without leaving the trail. I...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (red line for day 1, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5 Fall is here! I decided to greet the new season with a backpacking trip. I keep meaning to see what the South Fork Trinity River Trail (a National Recreation Trail over part or all, depending on which source you believe) has to offer. Last year I even got as far as calling Hayfork Ranger Station for conditions. They said the damaged bridge at Scott Flat was repaired, but couldn't say anything about the "other bridges". (They are as well as can be expected, as it turns out.) For some reason, there's two web sites for information about the trail ( here and here ) and they both give unusually bad information for a Forest Service site. For instance, they both still claim the bridge is closed as of this writing. One states that mountain bikes are allowed "on some stretches" although they are allowed (but discouraged) on all of ...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map The upper end of Marble Caves Trail comes off Forest Arterial 14. (It used to be called Flume Gulch Road and is now Bear Wallow Road, but the only identifying sign is the brown trapezoid with a 14.) There's a small turnout for 2-3 cars near where it should be, but I parked in a large lot area at the intersection of the good road with a couple closed roads. (Not that you would know they were closed from the evidence on the ground. The one with the lot area has the smallest hump to show it is closed and although the other has a gate to lock, it was standing wide open.) Since this offers a shorter route with much less elevation change, I expected to see good signs of trail. After looking around a bit, the best I could do was some stomped down grass along a fuel break, so I followed that. Trying to find trail among the burn and fuel break. The August Complex in 2020 did this trail no favors. The fuel break I was following seemed t...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I wanted to do at least one more hike before the end of summer, so I launched myself on a "Hayfork area" excursion. The weather wasn't exactly cooperating with that end-of-summer vibe I was hoping for. For the foreseeable future, it would be well above normal. Fortunately, the foreseeable future with weather is only about a week and half of that is iffy. Still, it was already noon and looking at a high approaching 90°F as I came to the patch of parking for the trail just outside the seasonal gate for Forest Glen Campground. I assume that's what it's for. I asked the fellow tasked with cleaning the bathrooms for the camp where I should park for the trail and he wasn't even aware there was one! I wasn't disheartened though. I'd seen a promising line climbing the hill as I drove in. There's no sign and there's no tread leaving the road where there should be between the gate and the first site, ...