Moments in Dirt and Ink

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Green lines for day 3. Click for interactive map I decided that hiking back what had been given 3 days to hike in and then driving hours back to Eureka would not be wise, so getting to the lakes over the ridge would need to happen as a day hike. The morning sun comes to Alpine Lake. It takes a little time, but sun gets to our side of the lake, too. Daniil was wanting to have evening light and morning light by the lakes for photography, but relented easily to the idea that it would be a long return. It made us a lot lighter and a lot thinner as we trotted back down the trail again, now looking for signs of a sort of trail going up, possibly in a gully. Back past the pond. Happy to be climbing away from that smoke sitting in the valley. I found a fallen cairn in the middle of a slot of rock that clearly runs with water sometimes, although it was dry. How can you tel...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Orange line for day 2. Click for interactive map Unfortunately, the smoke had moved in overnight. I mean, I've seen worse, but I prefer a little less. We packed up hoping the afternoon would bring similarly clear skies as the last afternoon. What view can be seen from the somewhat clear areas near the ford is looking a bit murky with smoke. With a little difficulty finding where the ford is meant to be, we found something with a bit of trail on the far side. With a "Splish, splash!" we plunged in, boots and all, to cross the river. One spot did go over the knees. The ford across Stuart Fork Trinity River on the Alpine Lake Trail. And then we sogged our way back downstream. I think the ford used to be a little downhill of where it is now, but there's a bit of a climb on the west bank of the river there now. It's not the only spot that has been experiencing erosion. While...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Red line for day 1. Click for interactive map Once again out to the more popular side of the Trinity Alps Wilderness, this time because Daniil really wants to visit some off trail lakes called Morris and Smith. He wants to get to them by rounding a lot of granite from Alpine Lake, which looks to me like the third easiest way to get there when looking at the map, but apparently this is the most common way people use. His plan was an afternoon to the ford, next day to Alpine Lake, next to Morris (or Smith, whichever looks more campable), then finishing by doing all of that in reverse. Could we at least just bomb down the drainage to the trail below instead of the long up and around? The maps and photography seem to show there's small cliffy obstacles that should be easy to go around and some possible thick vegetation and he wouldn't commit to that. Stuart Fork Trailhead. We ar...

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge and more interactive map link The Humboldt Bay Trail is meant to be one continuous trail connecting the local communities with a multiuse path. For years there has been the "Bay Trail North" and "Bay Trail South", but now, finally, it is all one trail! This connection was meant to be completed last November, but the contractor (who is of the area and knows the weather) miscalculated and didn't get the paving in before the rains softened everything too much for the heavy equipment. So we waited very impatiently for this last four mile stretch between Arcata and Eureka to finally be completed. It's more than a decade in planning and haggling and work. As of the last Saturday of June, it is officially open. I joined the Volunteer Trail Stewards cleaning up the "north" section from Arcata Marsh to No Longer Two Rocks on that day, but decided to hold off actually walking it until it was a little less busy. It...

Mendocino National Forest Work DAY 1-2  |  Move/Rest/Play DAY 3  |  Work DAY 4-5  |  Work DAY 6-7 Purples for day 6, black finish: interactive map link The crew were tired of walking down that hill, where "that hill" is the Burnt Camp Connector, so we headed off to the split of the Ides Cove Loop way back near the start (which isn't that much further and is definitely easier trail to walk). Did you know, there is a spot called Ides Cove, but to get to it, you have to go along the vanished South Yolla Bolly Trail? Thursday: 19 Jun 2025 Today's view out over Cottonwood Creek to the central valley. We headed down the lower loop of Ides Cove National Recreation Trail looking for a bit of work at first. The severe burn of the area left it needing just a little light tread work here and there, small wood clearing, and some trimming of the elderberry that was growing about frequently. That growth does suggest there's water down there, on this hi...

Mendocino National Forest Work DAY 1-2  |  Move/Rest/Play DAY 3  |  Work DAY 4-5  |  Work DAY 6-7 Greens for day 4, blues for day 5: interactive map link I was comfortable and warm in my hammock overnight. I did wake up with the mat pushed up a third or so, but it was still doing its job. I don't have the double layer hammock style that is needed to lock a mat in place. It felt like my muscles never really relaxed while I was sleeping. That's a problem, so I popped everything into the tent for the day and the rest of the time. Play day was over, time to work again. Tuesday: 17 Jun 2025 We headed down the steep connector once more, grabbing up our tools and protective gear on the way to the work at the bottom. The goal was Cedar Basin, a spot on the map beside the trail and rumored to be a memorable one. Not like the Cedar Basin we visited at the north end of this Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness. Part of a patch of grey mule ears just b...

Mendocino National Forest Work DAY 1-2  |  Move/Rest/Play DAY 3  |  Work DAY 4-5  |  Work DAY 6-7 Yellow and brown for day 3: interactive map link Moving day! Also there is usually a do your own thing day on these week long trips and it was determined that if we were going to, this would be the day to do it. First up, moving ourselves and gear to Square Lake. Group gear had to be packed up in time for the packers to load it up as they liked. Packing our own gear was a little more relaxed. With bear canister and chair and hammock and tent and and and, it was a little heavy, but the hike isn't bad. Our new home for the rest of the week: Square Lake. The weekend campers had taken off mid-Sunday, so the lake was otherwise deserted when we arrived. Most the volunteers were gone again by the time the stock showed up. The packers were ready to drop everything in the same meadow the campers occupied until it was mentioned the crew all wanted the ge...

Mendocino National Forest Work DAY 1-2  |  Move/Rest/Play DAY 3  |  Work DAY 4-5  |  Work DAY 6-7 Reds for day 1, oranges for day 2: interactive map link I signed up for the first week of Bigfoot Trail Alliance trail work in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness at South Yolla Bolly. Traditionally, these week long trips start with getting packed out to a remote area, but the trail out of Ides Cove Trailhead wasn't quite ready for that yet. We would be two days at the trailhead, which even has an official camp site with a metal fire ring, then we would move to Long Lake and the next week would be at Cedar Basin. This plan soon crumbled, but only slightly, as it was determined that Square Lake would be the better headquarters for both. First we had to have the trail cleared to Square Lake so that stock could get there. Saturday: 14 Jun 2025 The view to Tomhead Mountain, middle left, and Elkhorn Peak, right. Behind are some Trinity Alps and w...

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park interactive map link The Rhododendron macrophyllum looked spectacular as we drove through Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park the week before. It is a little far for a day hike, but a group headed out to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, another bit of the Redwood National and State Parks, for a hike. No actual trail was planned at the point of arrival, but once when I hiked a loop climbing both west and east trails, I found only three Rhododendrons on the west side of the creek. Either Hope Creek/Ten Taypo or the Rhododendron Trail are better options than anything on the west. If you want the Rhododendron Trail for Rhododendrons, you really should be on the higher (more northern) end of it. So that's where we went, eventually, via Karl Knapp Trail, and a return along Brown Creek Trail. This last just happens to be a super nice area of trees. We parked across from it to start, then headed the other way on a short connector to Karl Knapp Tr...