Moments in Dirt and Ink

Six Rivers National Forest (blue for day 2, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2 I woke up with a bit less to do than had originally been in the plan, and even that plan wouldn't have inspired hurry. I let the sun get up a bit before heading out. The lower swimming hole in the morning. A green water, both within and in reflection. The waterfall on Gary Creek gets sunlight early. Pondering the ford once more. To be done near that tallest of rocks left of center. While packing up, I decided to actually try the bear can in a vertical orientation instead of horizontal. Rather than being too awkward to use with my water bag, it worked great and I didn't have to wonder what to do with all the room left under it on a short hike. So I managed to achieve something.

Lowest: South Fork Six Rivers National Forest (red for day 1, click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2 Back to South Fork Trinity River, but this time on a familiar trail. I hiked this trail in spring of 2020 . That was a day hike determined to get as far as the ford. This time I was determined I would cross that ford and see the rest of it. The plan, assuming all is well with the trail, was to hike to the road at the far end, about 9 miles, then return to some camping area. Grouse Creek looked promising for that camp. To that end, I packed for the overnight. Great big parking area at the end of some decidedly one lane road. I stopped by an information board containing only the most generic messages. I agree, my campfire should be dead out and everything I pack in should come back out with me. Turn around and start down the unsigned trail. There's a trail number and an arrow further down the road, if signs are required. Trail with a couple trees down. There aren't man...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map Monument Peak was a whim to fill in the day of hiking lost to not finding East Fork Divide Trail. It happens to have 1000 feet of prominence and isn't reachable by car. Others can drive a lot closer than I can. I actually drove a little bit of road (that has been downgraded from improved gravel to unimproved) until an easy parking spot. The peak had not been saved on my Peakbagger app, but a nearby and much less prominent peak had been. If I was feeling it, I'd take the extra 1.5 mile walk to that one and find out why. The number of hunters past inspired me to pull out the biggest wad of orange I had: my long sleeve BFTA shirt. It's very bright. The view out over Corral Creek. The Monument Fire was here in 2021 too. I walked a rather smooth road although the last bit I'd driven had been mildly rough. There was evidence of once having a thin paving. Bituminous surface treatment, they call it. It is long gone in most...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map My plan for this day was to hike up the East Fork Divide Trail and probably along the closed spur road of China Gulch since the trail is only 2 miles long. It should be a good bet as this is a class 4 trail. That's highly developed. National Recreation Trails tend to be in this class. It does happen to pass through an Inventoried Roadless Area, so no bicycles allowed. There are turnouts not too far from the bottom end of the trail. I parked south of the trail where there's a cut in the hill for the road, but that cut ended by the time there was supposed to be trail. There wasn't any trail. I climbed up to what could have been a 40 foot section of trail once, but there were no clues where to go next. It looked more like it could have been trail after I'd walked up and down it, but that got me no closer to two miles of hiking. I looked around a little more, found nothing, then threw up my hands and headed off for a late s...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (map link) I encountered the Natural Bridge, AKA Massacre Natural Bridge, while improving the area mapping and decided I had to go see it, whatever it is. It is the third and last hike included in the Forest Service's Hayfork Area Trails handout that I happened to find while researching the location. Here, the map will get you somewhere that works (but not the picnic area) while the description claims the picnic area is directly off the county road, leaving the traveler over a mile from their destination. I wasn't too sure about the road up to the picnic area anyway. It was mapped as improved gravel in 2014, but is now marked as unimproved in their digital data. There is a usable dirt turnout just north of the junction of Bridge Gulch Road (FR 31N19) and Wildwood Road (CR 302) for any who are concerned, but I ended up giving the road a try and parking at a turnout partway up. This widening in the road was sufficiently long to allow a pair o...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map The second suggestion for Hayfork Area Trails is the north portion of East Tule Creek Trail with a side jaunt off to Plummer Peak. It is accompanied by a most confused map where roads and trail are left off, but the creeks are labeled as road and trail. This may not be the highest quality handout the Forest Service ever produced. Following the written description places one in a large dirt parking lot with a sign for the trail at one side. As I drove in, it also contained a few stacks of mystery hay bails. Since I already did the part up to Plummer Peak when I hiked the south end of East Tule Creek Trail , I was just out to see the rest of the trail. This part is shown following, and often crossing, the east fork of Tule Creek, so should be a very different experience from the ridge line following southern portion. One big, bold sign to mark the trailhead and a smaller yellow sign to warn that this is a burned area. And is there ...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I found the Bear Creek Trail topping a page of Hayfork Area Trails , but it was already on my radar because, well, it's on the map. It's even got a bridge! I was so confident about the bridge that I didn't want to add it to OpenStreetMap until I saw it. It should be easy to find because it starts by the "9 Mile Bridge" (happens to be right next to mile marker 8). I had a look at it the day before just to be sure it was there. (It was!) Then I took advantage of the official dispersed camping road a smidge to the east to find camping. The top is a bit rough, so I elected to walk in. The car probably would have made it back up. Review: Bit loud with Hayfork Creek crashing past, but the major county road that runs past the other side gets very little traffic at night. This line of dirt looks well used and it connects into unmistakably built trail. There's paved parking on the same side at the trail, but I t...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for map I was a little worried what the state of the county road serving this trail along the South Fork Trinity River might be, especially for the last mile after it encounters the long, "good" forest road. When I got to it, I found it in better shape than the one I'd been driving. It is good unpaved road all the way to the end, which is just a slight bulge surrounded by a dark forest. It took a moment to find the well signed trailhead back at the start of the bulge. Indecisive over the proper orientation to park here. As this is about 20 miles from the nearest pavement whichever way one comes, I was a bit worried it might be faint. Nope! It looks used and the few trees down look somewhat recent, at least in the first mile. Rather clear trail as it skirts a piece of private property. It's a while to the first view of the river. Had I been slowed down by having to walk the mile of road, the sun would have been highe...