Moments in Dirt and Ink

El Capitan State Beach Link to map. The Sherpa Fire burned through much of the foothills around El Capitan almost a year ago, but the area is open to hike the Bill Wallace. I park on the dirt lot at the entrance to Ocean Mesa Campground. There is a sign that points around the corner along a bit of campground road out to the hills. From the road, a slot has been mowed through the tall mustard to the old sign saying "easy" to the right and "hard" to the left. The fire did not quite get everything. The start of the Bill Wallace Trail. A red winged blackbird sits atop a bit of mustard as I near the trail split. This time, I turn toward the "hard" side. We shall see just how hard that really is. It winds upward on the hill. The trail is narrower and the mustard is joined by thistle, but mostly just far enough that I can avoid getting stabbed. Both tower over my head. The trail gets narrower up higher and waist high star thistle joins...

El Capitan State Beach It is still too hot to leave the ocean, at least not for something short of 10,000 feet, so may be a good time to go exploring El Capitan State Beach. It is so close, but I have only zoomed past noticing how busy the campgrounds always seem to be. Download the park brochure and you will see that there is a small trail system on the bluffs above the ocean and a much larger system around the canyon north of the freeway. James Wapotich wrote about this trail a few years ago. Parking is located at the entrance to Oceanmesa Campground. Half of it seems to be taken up by some construction currently, but there is plenty left for a lone hiker. Choose your poison. I head out along the edge of the campground straight out to the hills that rise behind it. Here, there is a junction marked simply "easy" and "hard". The left is the trail marked on State Park Service map that climbs and wiggles to a view point. The right is actually m...