Moments in Dirt and Ink

Rhyolite Historic Area, Tonopah BLM (map link) From Walker Lake, I took off south wanting to be set up to climb Corkscrew Peak. That gave me the whole afternoon to check out Rhyolite before finding somewhere to camp. The area itself is day use only, but there's a lot of surrounding Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, so that isn't terribly hard. I started out at the cemetery (south from the area shown on the map above), where there is a geocache. It's a nice one that requires one to find information on the gravestones to get the location of the hide outside the actual cemetery but nearby. It seemed like an excellent way to do such a thing. None of the original markers from when it was a town can be read (or, often, found) now, but a few people have been giving more modern markers. The Bullfrog-Rhyolite Cemetery is fairly blank, but not empty. The monument in the middle is a general one set in 1959. Most the graves are only marked by the heaped rocks now. Th...

Walker Lake Recreation Area, Stillwater BLM (map link) Peak bagging is a bit of a go to for me when looking for a hike in an area without any trails. I especially wanted to go up Mount Grant, the county high point. I expect it requires permission even if one does not try to obtain the key to drive up. Bald Mountain also looked like it could be an excellent hike. There's a canyon west of Sportsmans Beach Campground that looks interesting. What I settled on, partly because I had pulled in forward and didn't want to move the car, was Copper Canyon, directly west of Tamarack Beach. A stub of road gets to it and there is a benchmark far up it implying there was more road once. It could be hiding something. I thought I might turn from the main canyon to pass by a spring, and then make a loop up through some mining history on old pack trails. First, I struck out cross country to the mouth of the canyon, stopping for quick searches for benchmarks, one near the old highway and one...

Walker Lake Recreation Area, Stillwater BLM (map link) After driving far too late into the night, I finally found myself a spot at Tamarack Beach Campground along Walker Lake. This is one of a pair of free Bureau of Land Management campgrounds along the lake. It looks small, but tent campers are allowed to drive down to the lake to find a site as they like. I kept to a pull in site rather than risk getting mired in the sand. A walk beside the lake seemed a sensible thing to do while I was there, so that's what I did. The north end of Walker Lake and the mildly colorful mountains on the far side. I headed off first to see what the danger signs I'd passed in the dark were about. They simply warn that the south shores are off limits and may contain unexploded munitions. The south shores are part of the Hawthorne Army Depot, which lays claim to being the largest munitions storage area in the world. Not a problem for me as I was headed north. I followed the generally comp...

Headwaters Forest Reserve (map link) Since I had spotted the single blooming fetid adderstongue (and the two already seeding!) near Avenue of the Giants, I decided to head up one of the only real climbs around Eureka to see if I could find some more. I had seen many of them before, but all with drooping stalks to seed pods in May and June. It would be something to see all of them when the stalks are stiff and holding up flowers. Unfortunately, wheels were starting to turn and I might not be around for the more opportune time after mid-February. I started up that first paved mile. The South Side Trail was closed, of course, so there was no going around it. The barn along the way used for educational exhibits. The nearly obscured South Fork Elk River water level isn't very high at the moment. The paved ADA accessible portion of the trail ends at Falk after a mile. It gets a little more rolling for the next two miles. There is a slick mud section where land slides have ...

California Coastal National Monument (Map link.) Trinidad, with its sheltered bay, was a hub of activity in the 1850s. Founded April 8, 1850, it is the oldest town along the northern California coast. After a rather astonishing loss of life considering the size of the population, it was determined that a lighthouse should be built on the headland that protects that bay. The light was first lit on December 1, 1871, which makes this it's 150th year in operation. As such, a little extra activity was planned around the regular first Saturday of the month opening day. It is 3 days late, but when you've had that many years, a handful of days just slide. They planned to stay open 10AM-3PM rather than the usual 10AM-noon and had a few extra activities planned around it. People do seem to love the lighthouse and I was a little worried that it might test the parking area by the harbor, but there was plenty of room at the start. I was also needlessly worried about the king tides, wh...

Table Bluff County Park South Spit Wildlife Area (CDFW) Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Map link.) I headed out to the Ocean Ranch Unit of the Eel River Wildlife Area to hike the little bit of old road and levee, making various stops by the waters and looping back along the beach to see what the storms have washed up. That was all very well and good, but as I got there, I saw three diggers hanging out by the ranch and a great big closed sign. It is "closed due to a restoration project until rain and weather shut down operations." I was left with my "rest of the day" plan, which was find things to do on the South Spit. The Ocean Ranch has very little trail, but the spit has even less. My first stop became the parking lot that is the entirety of the Table Bluff County Park that the public may visit. From there, I could check out what was up, at least. The road behind the dunes is blocked for the restoration work. I crossed over to the access road...

Headwaters Forest Reserve (Arcata BLM) (Map link.) I've got the Elk River Trail penciled in for February to try to catch the fetid adderstongue (specifically Scoliopus bigelovii ) in bloom, but by that time the river will be high again and the South Side Trail closed again. To see what it offers, I would have to get out much sooner, so I did. The South Side Trail provides a longer dirt alternative to the paved first mile of the Elk River Trail. Well, unless you are dog walking or bicycling. Neither are allowed on any of the trails south of the Elk River. They're less serious about being a reserve on the north side and allow leashed dogs along with bicycles. Just a little of the information available at the trailhead and the start of a mile of ADA accessible trail. A few feet along, there are signs marking the west end of the South Side Trail. The second is a long explanation for why dogs, no matter how small or leashed, are not allowed on the south side. One hopes i...