Moments in Dirt and Ink

Redwood National Park Click for map In the once upon a time, after backpacking around Redwood Creek , I stopped by Lyons Ranch and Dolason Hill Prairie . Then I only hiked down the trail as far as the historic barn, about a mile. I decided it was time to take on the whole trail. With temperatures climbing a bit inland and it being wise to consider this a mostly inland trail, it would be a warm day for it. The current conditions page lists the trail as only "partly open" due to downed trees. On the one hand, this page still lists the central portion of Rhododendron Trail as closed for the collapsed bridge that was cleared away and trail smoothed to make the small creek crossing easier years ago. It makes the bold statement that the seasonal bridges in Fern Canyon are both in place and removed. On the other hand, this is a National Park page and they might be better about the conditions of trails that are actually in the National Park, like Dolason Prairie Trail. (On th

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Click for map There's still plenty of trails I haven't tried out in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I wanted to finally get to the Childrens Grove way at the south end of the River Trail. This time the Eel River is low enough to cross and the summer bridges should be in, so a shorter trip is possible to access the grove. The weather folks over on Wooley Island were expecting 75°F in nearby Weott. Perhaps a bit warm now that all my Pasadena derived heat immunities have worn off, but tomorrow may rain so I'll go with the sun. The closest access point is Williams Grove (fee area), but I wanted to look around the Kent-Mather Grove (the only area close to road that I couldn't improve as I aligned most the trails and added the few missing ones in April) and walk all of the River Trail that I have missed so far. Besides, both the Kent-Mather Grove and Childrens Grove are rumored to be particularly nice ones and would therefore make nice bookend

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Click for map I decided I wanted to do the Rhododendron Trail entirely, and up the California Real Estate Association Trail (CREA Trail), and connect the loop via Prairie Creek Trail (now called Karl Knapp Trail) and Big Tree and Cathedral Trees even though the rhododendrons are long gone now. Maybe I'd get to see more of those various parasitic flowers? I really only expected the ghost pipes to still be around in some form, but the others I have found in the area are not such long shots at this time either. All of this encompasses a length much further than I really wanted to go, but I've gotten it into my head that CREA is important to seeing the strange flowers as they seem more abundant along its little trod length. I've done something similar before , when they foolishly closed off parking in the park due to Covid starting. My legs didn't fall off. My feet weren't worn to stumps. Paved trail takes one the short way fro

Samoa Dunes and Wetlands Conservation Area Manila Dunes Recreation Area Click for map The OpenStreetMap version of Mendocino National Forest looks a lot closer to reality after more work than anyone might care to know. There's also mapping for a chunk of forest north to Hayfork where the Bigfoot Trail goes that is vastly improved. However, it might be a bit more fun to generate some content rather than stare at the computer, particularly if I can find a little something new to show off. Well, there's this mildly mysterious little picnic area next to the old tracks for something new. I checked (every two months after the Saturday DERT day) on the "mysterious leaves" I found in March and now there's some orchids to show off. In between, I could wander some less new areas among dunes and beach. Picnic tables painted by the nearby school children for a public rest stop. In this section of the North Spit, the old tracks edge along the side of Humboldt Bay a

McKay Community Forest Click for map I've been waiting for things to dry out to make another foray into the southern reaches of the McKay Community Forest, this time all the way to the southern edge of the property. On the previous excursion , I only got a little way along the creek and a couple small climbs. It's not end of the summer dry, but there's a distinct containment of the wet areas these days. I decided I have waited long enough and headed to the Northridge parking area beside what is still the only officially open trails in the forest. Those trails that are officially open and signed are mapped at the kiosk next to the area rules. My first goal of the day was to cross Henderson Gulch and get high on the plateau between it and Ryan Creek. I headed for the Perimeter Trail and Triple C Trail as the most efficient way to get there. That it isn't yet dry showed up early on the road section of the Perimeter Trail as there are several spots of mud, with d

Headwaters Forest Reserve Click for map I decided it was time for a pilgrimage to the spot of old growth coastal redwood trees they'll let the public visit regularly, at least if they're on foot and without a dog after the bridge at mile 3. They do give the bikes parking just before the curve down to that bridge, so one can bike most the way. I wouldn't, but one could. I hoped the South Side Trail would be open. The BLM website suggests it could be in May if the water is low enough. The docent led hikes on the Salmon Creek side of the Reserve (plus an extra birding walk by Ken Burton to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Reserve ) have started. (I should finally do one of those, but I would have to rely on a fellow hiker and likely stranger get from the meet point to the trailhead.) Paved big trail at the start of the Elk River Trail. The South Side Trail was still marked as closed as I passed. I wanted to take it on the way back, so I held ou

Knowing the temperature certainly rates among the nice to have, but not a necessity. When I first really took off with the cat and the trailer (winter solstice 2018), I didn't have any means to measure it. Wondering what the cat was subjecting himself to while I tried to make him understand that under the blankets may be restrictive, but it's warm , got me wanting a way. Knowing the real temperature, not just if it feels a bit chill, helps a little for planning. It would be really nice to know the outside temperature without having to experience it first. Somewhere around Lake Havasu (mid January 2019), I stopped into an Ace and picked up a Taylor indoor/outdoor thermometer. One month. That didn't take long. Much later, I picked up a cheap hygrometer (which is technically a humidity reader, but it needs to know the temperature to get relative humidity, or at least they did historically, so they do both) to tuck away in my backpack too. I didn't have the same feeling

Humboldt Redwoods State Park (blue and purple lines for day 3, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 I was slow to get up, hoping the dribbling would let up even though the weather seemed very settled on dribbling. The night's point prediction was 13% chance of rain falling quickly to 7% and continuing down to 3%. None of that discouraged it from dribbling the whole night and into the morning. The bear box hadn't proved to be watertight and everything near the front had gotten wet at the bottom and drawn water to everything behind it. Admittedly, that was of minimal imporance for everything except for the park brochure and map. It would never be the same. The morning view from under my tarp. I put away the bedding and cooked breakfast under the tarp. By the time I got everything in my pack, then the wet tarp stuffed in the pocket, there hadn't been much improvement. I pulled out the poncho to keep the drops off. I still didn't know if it was rain or the

Humboldt Redwoods State Park (orange, yellow, green lines for day 2, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 I didn't have very far to go for the second day, just around from Whiskey Flat Trail Camp to Grasshopper Trail Camp. However, I had a few excursions planned for the day. First would be out along Hanson Ridge (or Hansen Ridge on the map). Second would be something off toward Bull Creek Trail Camp. Exactly what, I wasn't sure. The proposed route on my map was following a decommissioned road past a likely gone barn to the camp, then back up following the South Prairie Trail. It annoys me that there's only one route connecting the trails that come up from the Perimeter Road to those around Grasshopper Mountain. Third would be a quick round up to the fire lookout at the top of the mountain after getting to camp. Since Grasshopper is a dry camp, I would have to collect water on the way. The most reliable option is a stream that Grieg Road crosses shortly before ar

Humboldt Redwoods State Park (pink, red, red-orange lines for day 1, Click for map ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 I decided the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day was to launch myself on a three day, forty mile backpacking trip after not really having any proper hikes since November. Or perhaps it just happened to be the day after quite a few days struggling with what might be my route and two hours of packing to grab the three day window before rain started again. I preferred to be hitting new-to-me trails, lesser seen trails, and stop by the Children's Forest. I got some of that. The thing is, you must stay at one of the five trail camps that have been built, which can be a bit limiting. There's a three night max, which isn't so bad. (Per camp or total? I didn't ask and this requirement isn't mentioned in any of the online material.) No dogs allowed, as usual in the State Park. (Nor cats.) They're so emphatically against wood fires that they stamp it