Moments in Dirt and Ink

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link On my own, I could go on a big hike, and Alltrails is no help in planning that. The McKeldin area caught my eye and I constructed a big loop around it, including a couple crossings of the North Branch Patapsco River that looked popular enough in the Strava heat map although there are no bridges here. I couldn't quite sort out where the parking for the Woodstock area end, so went for the McKeldin North area end instead. I was fully intending to use the pay lot, but having handed all my change to the attendant on Sunday, I had none to deal with there being no attendant on Tuesday. I was the first to pull into the free parking. Maybe I was just after the morning users finished. I was an hour later than expected because I let a long 2 lane exit draw me off onto the wrong bit of I-70 (thousands of miles from the good bit) and there's no way to turn around for the 3 miles to the traffic jam. Map kiosk in the morning sun, acros...

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link I was charged with deciding on a hike that kids could do, except I have no experience in this or in evaluating what a particular kid can do. Plus, I would be without any parental supervision. Alltrails offered up Cascade Falls as a possible suitable suggestion, except that it would be done on the weekend and is a very popular location. I liked a climb on Garrett's Pass and a drop on the Cascade Falls Trail, which is 4 miles and only 300 feet or so from bottom to top. (It goes from ~20m to ~100m.) That's not so much, right? And I even had the means for up to 2 kids to be self sufficient, able to carry water, snacks, camera, and a light sweater on their own. Self sufficiency for the win, right? The hike would be in the Patapsco Valley State Park, like most my hikes would likely be. This park has a mix of free lots and pay lots. The pay lots have different prices for in state or out of state, weekends/holidays or weekdays. T...

Dorsey Hall Open Space interactive map link It was declared that I should "meet the nibbling" with the suggestion that "at 1 year old doesn't count" (which I must admit is true, but there were claims otherwise at the time) and that perhaps during the fall when the leaves were turning (probably late October) and when the temperatures were attractive to hiking. It was admitted that the area is not really known for its leaf peeping opportunities. Most of my leaf peeping aspirations revolve around larches at the moment, but that opportunity had already passed again, so I might try some eastern trees. All this is how I came to be on a plane for the second time since 2012 in the middle of a government shutdown when many in the control towers were rightfully calling in sick instead of working without pay. Somehow my flights weren't even delayed as I traveled, never in anything bigger than a 737. Do you know there is now a thing called "Basic Economy...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Brown line for day 3. Click for interactive map We had nothing to do on the final day but retrace our steps back down to the trailhead. We had plenty of time to do it, so I could record, on this final day of summer, the few flowers we had passed on the way up. It must be said that the canyon looked a bit better under the morning sun, too. Mount Shasta is hiding again. Thin clouds over the very pointy bear teeth of the ridge around Big Bear Lake. Folks weren't ready as fast as I was and I was deeply aware that I hadn't gotten the likely most common photo of Big Bear Lake from near the end of the trail, so I headed up the short way to the lake. The group that had arrived after us to camp there was still packing up and would start down just barely before us. At the edge of Big Bear Lake. The whole of Big Bear Lake in poorly executed panorama. Everyone was already moving down the trail wh...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Yellow and orange lines for day 2. Click for interactive map After finding that we had selected a camp site with a view of Mount Shasta, we got ourselves fed for the morning explorations. Dawn light on the clouds around Mount Shasta. We got ourselves together for a little day hiking and headed out. Judging we were already to the point of starting the cross country required to get to Little Bear Lake, we headed out into the somewhat trackless, but cairn rich, granite. Up on the granite on the far side of the creek from Bear Lake Trail. We generally followed along ledges. A lot of uphill on granite with a lot of views of Mount Shasta. There are a lot of possible trails, all a little hard, but most not too hard. We didn't all follow the same trail sections, cairns, or ledges, but we stayed pretty close. We could all see each other. After a lot of maneuvering along granite rocks, I found ...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Blue line for day 1. Click for interactive map Daniil decided to go up Bear Creek for a couple nights, allowing a hike about on the middle day. Bear Lake Trail is just south of Tangle Blue and is surrounded by sufficient contour lines to make it look interesting. Indeed, I got interested in going there when looking over the Tangle Blue route, so I went for it. We had a big group along this time, 6 of us and 2 dogs! The plan was an afternoon hike up to find a camp, a day probably devoted to hiking up to Little Bear Lake and around the area, then back down after another night's rest. Signed Bear Lakes Trailhead. The trail starts at a washed out bridge for Bear Creek. The sign beside the trail has been edited by sharpie just because it quite randomly points at a spot halfway up a mountain from the nearest trail and states "you are here". While they had the marker out, they added that the trailhead ...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2 Green and blue lines for day 2. Click for interactive map As nice as it would have been to bag Boulder Peak again, it turns out I tired myself out the prior day, and the timing expected for finishing the hike would be cutting it close. I didn't want to miss at least climbing up to the second lake, and ended up waiting to the last minute to start up the trail for it. By the time I did get up, it was quite a lovely day. Not quite so late in the morning yet. Lower Wright Lake in the light. With a minimum of gear, I headed for Upper Wright Lake. The old trail into the camp area is a failed thing with trees over it right at the top and a gully of erosion at the bottom. It's the trees that make getting on the main trail a bit of a fight. Climbing was easier once there. The flowers were at a different stage than those in the valley to Deep Lake and I was glad to have done the spur just to see the gentian blooming. The rain ...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2 Red and orange lines for day 1. Click for interactive map We headed up to the Boulder Creek Trailhead the night before and stayed in the equestrian parking area, a much quieter camping area than the remains of the pre-bridge ford I stayed in before. It is a large, fairly flat area just past the small parking area by the trailhead sign. The trailhead was sporting a brand new sign with the same old trail behind it. The new sign at the old trailhead. Shortly after light, someone else drove up and a collection of chainsaws started up with enthusiasm, sounding like they were opening up the closed road and maybe taking their motorcycles down it, or some other decidedly illegal activity. It turned out to be a fire crew tasked with thinning the forest. We passed by many a fresh burn pile from their work of the last few days. A whole lot of burn piles, but the trail is freshly cleared too. All with the tones of half a dozen chai...

Six Rivers National Forest Daniil decided he wanted to see the Lassics, which is a rather long drive, especially with CA 36 closed due to the inherent instability of the mountain side it crosses. He bypassed that using the good county road (only half gravel) past Kneeland and filled up the car to help make it feel a little less wasteful for a single day outing. Evelina (his wife) and Carl also came along. It's a bit of a triumph to get Carl to come out and do something fun because he's usually pursuing the destruction of those invasive plants that pursue the destruction of the local environment instead. It was particularly great to get him on this one since he got to poke around some childhood memories while hiking. His family would come to this area when he was a kid and would climb some peak, which we decided was probably Black Lassic, but he hadn't been back since. Black Lassic interactive map link Meanwhile, I was working with just 2 year old memory when I s...