Moments in Dirt and Ink

Redwood National Park Click for interactive map On the prior Thursday, I joined the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee's invasive species tour of Eureka. It was at the last minute because I figured I knew all about these things since I spend a bit of time each week hacking them down as a volunteer. Of course, they were talking about the lesser known things and the tour started out with aphids that affect Sitka spruce terribly as we toured Mouralherwaqh, a patch of land that is Wiyot again. This one is not open to the general public, but we also visited the 'O Rew Redwood Gateway, a piece of land that is Yurok again, and is open to the public as of 1 Aug and where I discovered a new trail. I also noted that although this was most recently an abandoned mill site, there are some nice rounded tree tops poking out of the forest nearby, one of the signs of old growth. I decided I would be back to try that new trail. The sign at the after hours/overflow parking a...

Redwood National Park Click for map In the once upon a time, after backpacking around Redwood Creek , I stopped by Lyons Ranch and Dolason Hill Prairie . Then I only hiked down the trail as far as the historic barn, about a mile. I decided it was time to take on the whole trail. With temperatures climbing a bit inland and it being wise to consider this a mostly inland trail, it would be a warm day for it. The current conditions page lists the trail as only "partly open" due to downed trees. On the one hand, this page still lists the central portion of Rhododendron Trail as closed for the collapsed bridge that was cleared away and trail smoothed to make the small creek crossing easier years ago. It makes the bold statement that the seasonal bridges in Fern Canyon are both in place and removed. On the other hand, this is a National Park page and they might be better about the conditions of trails that are actually in the National Park, like Dolason Prairie Trail. (On...

Redwood National Park ( map link ) I found that quite a few of the local rhododendrons in the Arcata Community Forest were blooming, even dropping flowers on the ground so you can't miss them, and decided to make a second try at the Lost Man Creek Trail. It may or may not have rhododendrons. I checked the conditions page to find the trail is open. It would still be open the next week, too, but the road would be closed. The trail climbs 10.5 miles to a second trailhead on Bald Hills Road. I wanted the bottom part without so much hiking to get there, so I didn't wait. I arrived to find no mystery "trail closed" sign contradicting the web site like I had before. So far so good with the plan. The trail starts off in an old growth forest, then travels into an area that was logged shortly before the area became a National Park, eventually climbing to a ridge where the other side is still being logged today. The rest of my plan was to get to that ridge with young but ...

Redwood National Park ( map link ) I got to Lost Man Creek only to find a "trail closed" sign which possibly shouldn't have been there. (I asked after since the online status indicates it is open and my informant in the visitor center was certain of many things including that that sign or the web site needed clarification.) I glared at the sign containing no statement as to why it exists, then remembered I wanted to hike Berry Glen again. ( The previous hike is here .) Lost Man Creek would have been a new trail, but Barry Glen has more old growth. It's a sweet trail with sweet extras at the end points. Maybe a little bit of highway noise, but have you seen the trees? Let me show you the trees! Picnic area and trailhead where once redwood logs were stacked. Berry Glen goes up the hill directly ahead where the trees are large and not off to the left where they decidedly aren't. As is typical in National Parks, dogs are not allowed on these trails. There a...

Humboldt Lagoons State Park Redwood National Park (Map link.) I was determined to experience the bit of California Coastal Trail along Stone Lagoon as it was "built". The predicted weekend rain wouldn't be enough to raise the level of the lagoon sufficiently to leave the north end of the trail once more underwater, but it might be enough to allow some attention to the inland areas that have otherwise been smoky and even slightly on fire. Now is the perfect time to finally walk the whole of this short trail. I planned to go all the way to the parking lot at the north end, then return the same way. I did have some thoughts about heading to Sharp Point and then walking the beach south from there, but the tides weren't looking very cooperative. They were coming in about 3 feet at sunrise and then climbing to about 6 feet at sunset with a brief backtrack in the middle to about 3 feet again. Sometimes there's just no such thing as a low tide all day. On the trai...

Redwood National Park (Map link.) I decided to give the Tey-wo-lew section another chance. (And since it's so short, I could maybe visit those ghost pipes again after.) My first time along it , all I knew was there was a line on the map. I didn't know it was the main highway until that was rerouted inland, then was the Coastal Drive until getting gated a couple decades ago. Finding a wide, fairly level "trail" that was sometimes paved and even lined, was an unwelcome surprise. The day happened to be fairly foggy, so I didn't get any of the views. I checked to make sure there was a reasonable chance of some clear coastline before coming. Unfortunately, my camera managed to make it onto the floor instead of into the car, so that coastline got photographed with a cell phone. It's a shiny new cell phone and it has three cameras, so we shall see. It was bought so I'd be on the T-Mobile network instead of the dying Sprint network, not for a good camera, s...

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (Map link.) After hiking Hope Creek , I still had a few hours before dark to wander trails. Where to find a gnome plant? Since my GPS is rather primitive, I had elected to name the points in it according to how accurate they were. Knowing the accuracy helps me not get wrapped up in looking around an area only defined to ±1km, but wasn't as helpful for finding a specific plant. There were quite a few points near the visitor center and a couple up on West Ridge, so I decided it was time to finish off walking West Ridge. (As I walked it, it's parts total: this south bit, the middle , and north .) Parking near the visitor center was a little crazy. People were waiting for the 15 minute spaces next to it. I found one space near the campground and there's approximately half a mile of parallel parking along the meadow, so they weren't actually about to run out of room. I wound my way likely the long way around to get to the visitor cent...

Redwood National Park Click for map. I keep noticing the Streelow Creek Trail and wondering about it, so I headed out to try it. It's not very long. It seems to be part of an effort to make more trails available to mountain bikes, but that doesn't mean I can't walk it. I made it a loop with a bit of Davison Trail I'd noticed across the road from the parking for Trillium Falls and Berry Glen. So that's where I went to start. It does leave a little bit of Davison Road to walk. I put it at the end so I could chug along while thinking about the places I'd just been more than, well, the dusty road. As you arrive at the end of the pavement, there isn't anything to say what you might turn onto, just a complicated one about what is ahead, including a fee station. Left is Trillium Falls and right is the gated Davison Trail. Leaving, there's a good direction sign. I wasn't expecting much of Davison Trail. It follows along US-101, so of course ther...

Redwood National Park Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park Click for map. I spent most of a day working up a map of the California Coastal Trail as it exists between Arcata and Crescent City and I got to wanting to get that last* bit of trail along the DeMartin Section hiked. It's not like I can't come back to see the rhododendrons in bloom if I hike it now. It's good to see a trail in different seasons. This is the one part of the trail that is further inland than US-101, so it might even have some of those hills I've been wanting. I got an earlyish start and found my way to the beach parking beside Wilson Creek to start. (*There is actually one other piece of trail I haven't been on: Enderts Beach Section. This is a short section that parallels road and I probably won't bother with it. If I had a temporary base near Crescent City, it would get included in the places to explore. The 80 mile drive just for it doesn't seem worth it.) False Klamath ...

Redwood National Park Click for map. I stopped at the parking lot just outside of the gate for the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center. (The gate is locked at 5PM, so inside is not a good option.) I figured I'd hike the beach over to the Gyon Bluffs to check out what they look like from the north, then cross over to the lagoon and hike back. After, I could loop around the beach to Redwood Creek, then back along a boardwalk. There's parking all along the side of US-101 above the beach, so there's people scattered all along the beach too. Looking north, there's a picnic area with sheltered group areas and the visitor center. There's lots of sandy beach between me and Gyon Bluffs. Signs all along the parking by the highway illustrate that this is a particularly dangerous beach due to the way it drops off steeply just under the water. They indicate the waves will pull you down under along that slope and keep you there. The warning of strong undertow (and rathe...