Moments in Dirt and Ink

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,