Last Camp: Working Minnie Lake Trail and Solomon Peak Cutoff

Mendocino National Forest

DAY 1 | WORK DAYS 2-3 | DAY 4 | WORK DAYS 5-6 | DAY 7

static map — Green lines for days 5 and 6. Click for interactive map

I might have overdone it on the Two Peak Extravaganza on the nominal rest day. I still found myself up a bit earlier than the rest and decided to see if I could capture some of the area birds and a few flowers in the meadow.

176: mountain in shadow against bright sky — Distant Mount Shasta feels much closer in the sunrise.

177: bright pink flowers — The sun hits the Pacific bleeding heart a few yards from my tent.

178: bird on a nest — The robins were keeping the little ones safe and finding food.

179: bird of blue and orange and grey — The western bluebirds were popping in and out of their nest high up.

180: small water pooling and lots of green — At the nearby pond and meadow, there are lots of flowers, most noticeably the shooting stars.

181: close up on flowers — They are generally Sierra shooting stars.

182: singing bird gripping a willow — The Merlin app suggested that most the blue wearing birds singing out here were Lazuli bunting, not bluebirds.

183: blue topped bird — They were actually quite numerous and the males very visible.

184: bird in flight — The males were chasing each other, no doubt in territorial disputes.

187: brown bird with fibers in mouth — I caught a Lincoln's sparrow gathering material for a nest.

188: white spike of flowers — The real motivation for flower photography were the white bog orchids.

I made some more wild attempts at okay images of in flight birds before popping the camera battery onto the solar for charging.

189: bird on willow — He's thinking about it.

190: bird in flight — And there he goes!

Thursday

Breakfast was had and we headed off north once more, this time to work along the Minnie Lake Trail. After collecting tools and discussing this, we wandered over, missed the junction, and got a little more work on the Summit Trail before the boss pointed out we needed to turn off autopilot for a moment and we turned up where we were supposed to go.

193: overview of valley — Working on the Minnie Lake Trail as it climbs out from Thomes Creek.

The trail was perfectly easy to follow except for one switchback getting half eaten by ceanothus beside a bit of landscape rock that kind of looked like rough trail. It makes a nice climb up nearly to the top. Then it went over a small rock outcrop and narrowed down to a 3 inch line. It arrived at the top next to a collapsed cairn on one side and rocks in the form of an arrow sinking onto the ground on the other. How could we have missed that?

We snacked at the top and I had a look at a third trail that is supposed to be leaving from that saddle, a second connector to Summit Trail that doesn't loose so much elevation that will be gained again if going north. With a little effort, it can be found with gullies starting to cut it and brush encroaching. We didn't maintain this segment and started down the other side instead.

194: downhill — Working on the Minnie Lake side.

195: sign board pieces — Old sign pieces found at the saddle.

Work down the other side was straightforward almost until coming to that patch of green once more. There was a log before it that was moving the trail around and the ribbons came out and started marking the route. Most the folks made it down to the pond once more and a route to the climb beyond it was marked for the crew that would be working out of the same camp the next week.

196: water between corn lilies — There's flowing water in that little green patch, if one looks hard enough.

But the day was all too quickly ebbing away and we headed back out again, now on much more obvious trail than we hiked the day before.

197: worked trail — Along obvious trail tread to the saddle once more.

On our way down, we actually encountered a backpacker coming up. The footprint data on the fresh trail suggested he took the shortcut, in rough shape as it is, on his way back to Ides Cove where the trail was worked last year.

199: arrow and trail — A rebuilt cairn and the old rock arrow point the way to what is still a somewhat thin trail as it starts going down.

We gathered up our tools and hiked them back. We would be going the other direction for the final day.

Friday

After breakfast, we headed out of camp going south working on Summit Trail immediately.

200: lots of green and nice rock formations — The view from beside another well used camp area with a grill supplied.

201: hanging red flower — Western columbine at the steam crossing near the camp area.

202: cascade of green — Find the swimming hole (in better snow years) way up that valley above the white rocks.

203: flower puff in the pea family — Long stalked clover also was in the green.

We headed up the hill cutting back pine branches all along and ceanothus at the top. We stopped and snacked at the junction before starting work on the Solomon Peak Cutoff. What started out as a very clear trail soon could use a little definition.

204: ceanothus and trail — Trail getting defined by cutting away the ceanothus trying to root in it.

Then things got a bit iffy as the trail seemed to split. One faint way went past an old sign, long illegible as it broke apart. A distinctly lighter line of rocks headed into a thicket of pine branches and little trees. Neither looked right. Petr followed the one past the sign to find it starting down into the valley. I followed the other to find there's tread out the other side of the trees, then a faint bit, then a really obvious tread bench covered in little sticks, then more faintness.

205: broken sign pieces — This looks suspiciously like it was once a sign, with paint, which none of the others have displayed.

206: drop in the land — Cool basin area just off the possible old junction. There was no water or sign it pools, but it is directly above camp and all those springs.

207: smoothing slope — Where the trail fades again, there is a slope that doesn't hold a trail well, but it has a cairn where I turned around.

The left side of the possible junction followed where trail was marked on the map and was reasonably approaching where we'd been on trail on the free day, so we worked our way along it.

208: trees on slope — Hammerhorn Mountain to the south.

When the day was late, we turned to the other trail and followed it down. There were some maintenance cuts on trees along the way where the trail travels the top. There was a bit of clear tread as it was going down, but there's some bigger trees on it. I may have managed to follow it almost to intersecting with our track down on the free day. It is hard to say. At one point I had a sense that it should be turning back to the right. Later I was crossing the wet spot on the same trail-like section of small rocks. I skipped on some of the bad of my previous route and stuck to a tread beside a small stream back to the trail below. Maybe we did find some of the old trail this time.

209: missed wiggles — We definitely seemed to be on an old trail at least to here, where everything got a little steep.

Liked this? Interesting? Click the three bars at the top left for the menu to read more or subscribe!

Search This Blog

Moments in Dirt and Ink