Moments in Dirt and Ink

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for interactive map We hit the Swift Creek trailhead for a day hike up to the snow survey cabin. Daniil wanted to do a survey of the terrain, but the fact of the cabin suggests it's pretty safe hiking in winter. We only hit snow on the road shortly before the trailhead around 4000 feet, although the trailhead parking was totally covered in white. We started out with the snowshoes on our backs. Snow exists, as we see at the trailhead. Into the wilderness that started a quarter mile back down the road according to the map. Soggy trail with a little running water at the second sign for the Trinity Alps Wilderness. The morning wasn't freezing and the trail ran with water. We passed several very seasonal streams and the ones marked on the map tended to need a well placed rock to keep the feet out of the water. When we hit snow, it was neither hard nor particularly soft. Swift Creek churning below. Closer to Swift Creek. Bei...

Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Blue line for day 6. Click for interactive map The location of the Merced Lake Ranger Station is deep in a canyon in a thick forest and it wasn't much less dark and dreary in the morning than it was in the last of the light. I know Daniil would have preferred to go that last little bit to Merced Lake the night before. There's only a few little things we would have missed in the last of the twilight. Following bridges and trails through the flats above Merced Lake, surrounded by tall trees. Then everything opens up as the rocks take over the bottom of the canyon. Merced River pours into Merced Lake. We found the High Sierra Camp in its winterized state, and some of that in a bit of disrepair. Apparently these haven't been open since 2018 although 3 of 5 opened briefly last year. The park service...

Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Green line for day 5. Click for interactive map Morning came and we needed another early start because it would be the longest day of the trip. We didn't get it because we were feeling the long day prior, if only a little bit. And anyway, it's all downhill. Morning on the upper unnamed lake by camp. The lower lakes and Triple Divide Peak and neighbor sporting a last piece of snow. We found our way to the trail to start the long day's downhill. The long downhill begins. We soon came to a junction that clearly told a tale that most people turn left. Petr already took much of that trail the prior year, so that was not the plan. We would be following the higher trail instead. While lesser traveled, it was still very clear and had plenty of footprints to tell of recent users. On a thin and well...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Blue line for day 4. Click for interactive map The lake didn't brighten up so much as the day before as weather was coming in. Bits of clouds passing over Alpine Lake. And just up the hill, there's a valley covered over by clouds to see, too. But this was all a preview of things to come and passed over. Still, it wasn't quite as hot as it had been, which was nice.

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Red line for day 1. Click for interactive map Once again out to the more popular side of the Trinity Alps Wilderness, this time because Daniil really wants to visit some off trail lakes called Morris and Smith. He wants to get to them by rounding a lot of granite from Alpine Lake, which looks to me like the third easiest way to get there when looking at the map, but apparently this is the most common way people use. His plan was an afternoon to the ford, next day to Alpine Lake, next to Morris (or Smith, whichever looks more campable), then finishing by doing all of that in reverse. Could we at least just bomb down the drainage to the trail below instead of the long up and around? The maps and photography seem to show there's small cliffy obstacles that should be easy to go around and some possible thick vegetation and he wouldn't commit to that. Stuart Fork Trailhead. We ar...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Click for interactive map Daniil claimed he could get my snowshoes used rather than just floating around in the eternally not quite unpacked car. To that end, we headed up Canyon Creek, with Jeff, aiming at the snowed areas. Both have been up this trail at various times earlier in the year. It crosses largish Bear Creek almost right at the trailhead and I insisted on seeing what it was like the evening before to be confident about the return crossing the next evening when the day would be even warmer. It wasn't that impressive. It is big, so even at lower morning levels, it is a wide wet foot crossing. I elected to wait until after crossing to actually put on my boots and waterproof socks. My water crossers got stashed under a rock at the far side and we took off on rocky ground. Sun hitting the far side of the canyon and the peaks above. The Bear Creek crossing is made annoying by the logs in it, but it was no more than halfway to the kn...

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Light blue for day 3. Click for interactive map The trail crew had come in on the first sunny day in a while and enjoyed a lack of rain. It wasn't planned that way, they were just lucky. Now the weather was turning back to rain. We were headed out. They would head out, too. On the trail again. The Tolmie's pussy ears had opened up. I got hit with three whole raindrops early on, but nothing more came of the heavy clouds. I focused on getting a few of the neglected flowers on the way out.

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Red and orange for day 2. Click for interactive map We headed out in the morning with the trail crew. There were a couple miles to the start of work because they had already gotten as far as the access trail to the private inholding along the way. Wooley Creek, wild and scenic river, rages below. The trail crosses Deer Lick Creek toward the right, wet foot currently, but the crew decided to brave the high log bridge using a long stick for extra balance. Getting some little waterfalls on the way. Some few western trillium .

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Dark blue for day 1. Click for interactive map Daniil wanted to hike and have evening chats with the Bigfoot Trail Alliance supplied trail crew, which would be clearing the Wooley Creek Trail to the cabin once more. Would I like to go? Well, I seem to be failing to plan my own thing and it's been a while since I was up the trail. He kind of wanted to head up toward Black Mountain, which has also been on my agenda once. I warned there wasn't much there to follow. So we headed off with a plan of an evening hike into camp only 3 miles along, a day of wandering about, then a finishing hike out. A little of the large parking and some trail, somewhere up there. We go off on the left, but we'll be back high up. We neglected to factor in the time required to admire the wildflowers for our inbound journey. Purple-pink bushes of western redbud burst from the hillsides. Loads of yellow wingstem monkey flow...

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Click for interactive map I thought I'd go see the gnome plants in Prairie Creek, then, realizing they haven't been spotted until later in the season, decided to see what has become of Ossagon Trail over the years since I took it. It's a short trail, so I decided to meander along to Fern Canyon via the California Coastal Trail (and the little waterfall that should be less little today) and then loop around over Friendship Ridge before coming back. Or I might do it the other way around. Being a weekend, Fern Canyon would be crowded, but the weekend was the break in the rain. Sunday should even bee a sun day, so that's when I went. Signs and paved parking and even trash service at the trailhead for Ossagon Trail. Ossagon Trail is one of the few in the park where you may ride a bike. It is not, in spite of defacement of the sign, a trail where you may walk your dog. Neither the state parks nor the national park allow dogs on th...