Moments in Dirt and Ink

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...

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 ...

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Click for map in new tab. For a second day among the redwoods, I proposed to wander the gentle loop of Rockefeller Grove and cross Bull Creek in my ripped up old shoes, then put on my good shoes and socks to hike beside the Eel River for as far as I got. (Perhaps I should refer to it throughout as the Wiya't River in a private little campaign against banal river names foist upon already well known bodies of water.) I figured this would be an excellent way to take in the autumnal season. Okay, I was worried it might stay too far up above the side of the river to really see those colorful trees at the edge, but it would be a good hike and I'd probably have it to myself without the bridges put away. The start of a trail over a flat expanse covered in huge trees. I was surprised to find no notes at the kiosk warning that the bridges were gone for the season and held out a little hope that they might still be out for my use. The trail is ...

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Click for map in new tab. I was wanting to do some redwoods "properly" meaning, well, wander beneath them for a while trying to look up far enough to see the top. Probably. I'm not really sure. But redwoods. Properly. I noticed I could find some and get a peak as well and went for it. I also noted that it is a bit of a long hike and I would want to use all the light of this short day and started off very early. The route up the mountain starts with a fire road signed as "lookout". The main parking at the bottom of the road is all signed no parking from sunset to 8 AM making it illegal for another 1.5 hours and I don't want the pressure of getting down before sunset (after all, there is still some light available after sunset) so continued on to something unsigned next to the gate. It is still quite dark as I park and a little lighter once my shoes are on, but still too dark for the camera to autofocus on the gate for a ...