Moments in Dirt and Ink

Shasta-Trinity National Forest (map link) I encountered the Natural Bridge, AKA Massacre Natural Bridge, while improving the area mapping and decided I had to go see it, whatever it is. It is the third and last hike included in the Forest Service's Hayfork Area Trails handout that I happened to find while researching the location. Here, the map will get you somewhere that works (but not the picnic area) while the description claims the picnic area is directly off the county road, leaving the traveler over a mile from their destination. I wasn't too sure about the road up to the picnic area anyway. It was mapped as improved gravel in 2014, but is now marked as unimproved in their digital data. There is a usable dirt turnout just north of the junction of Bridge Gulch Road (FR 31N19) and Wildwood Road (CR 302) for any who are concerned, but I ended up giving the road a try and parking at a turnout partway up. This widening in the road was sufficiently long to allow a pai...

Tonopah Field Office BLM ( map link ) Corral, it says. Cave Spring, it says. Ruins, it says. There's a couple prospects and a building marked too. Okay map, I thought, we can stop there and see what all the fuss is about. That's quite a few little marks. Cabin, corral, and Rhyolite Ridge. I did find myself deciding that the way up Rhyolite Ridge was up the valley north of the road and pick one of the later minor ridges to the top. The only trouble is the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project. (Sponsors of Radio Goldfield , oldies western and a whole lot more. Strongly Appalachian sounding when I first stumbled on it, playing "Christmas songs for folks who don't like Christmas songs" later, and highly recommended.) There's a bit of activity south of the road including "no unauthorized entry" signs and seemed like even more activity north of the road. No exclusive signs, but still worrying. So I discarded actually doing my plan for the Rhyoli...

Lassen National Forest ( map link ) I had a hike planned with more miles than hours of daylight, which requires getting an early start. I know, some people just walk fast, but that's incompatible with taking way too many photographs, checking out all the flowers, trying to catch all the birds and lizards and everyone else out on the trail. So I got up in the dark and got moving before the sunrise. I had second thoughts about getting going quite so early, and ultimately started exactly 5 minutes late to get out to the edge of Hat Creek Rim for the best of the dawning light. Trailhead on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) a quarter mile north of the Hat Creek Overlook The area burned in the Hat Creek Complex in 2009 and there's hints that there was once a much larger forest here. There's a lot less burn and a bit more recovery to look at than on the last hike along the Bizz Johnson . It's still a bit, well, scrubby. Leaves the view clearer. Trail through the old ...

Coconino National Forest Click for map. I have fond memories of getting lost in the lava tubes of Lava Beds National Monument, but not in any dangerous way because there's a lot of openings to just pop up out of and navigate above ground to where you need to be. I mentioned that to one guy and he said I didn't need to go to the lava river, then. It's just one short segment. It doesn't even go anywhere. Such nonsense. It goes for almost a mile of lava cave goodness! The roads in are rough, but they are well marked for this particular destination. I was coming from the unusual direction and still got a sign to point the way. This is one of Flagstaff's most popular destinations and can see hundreds of hikers in a day. It might have something to do with the fact it's always cold, even in the summer. Annoyingly, someone has gone and locked both bathrooms. Maybe they've decided it is out of season. There's still two other cars besides my own, although ...

Coconino National Forest Click for map. Old Caves Crater boasts a different sort of ruin, from people who made their homes among the small "caves" of gas bubbles in the old lava rocks. Unfortunately, some of the different character of this one is "heavily disturbed", as the kiosk at the start warns me. This was the last known Sinagua settlement in the area, but there are a couple more "excavation-quarry settlements" like this one in the area to the east. Anyway, it's a short trail, so no harm in going to see. I'll tag the peak, too. The settlement is quite close to the top. Kiosk full of information and a trail register full of people who probably won't be getting lost. It's a wide path through the cinders surrounded by ponderosa. There seem to be quite a few extra paths as well. It's generally clear which is the official one. There are signs for the loop around the bottom to the west and later the one to the east. I fol...

Bears Ears National Monument Click for map. Geocachers assure me that there is a living limestone cave a bit north of Arch Canyon. Well, they refer to it by the formations of stalactites and stalagmites, but that's surely what they mean. The road is rather good up to the junction to get there, and then continues being good to the left until a crossing of Comb Wash. That's fine, because I'm not going to try crossing it and there is parking a short way before. The rest of the road in either direction is not something to attempt without appropriate wheels if one is looking to drive it. Odd that they sort of keep the road up to here. The road just before it stumbles into Comb Wash and the cave that holds something a little different. Following the road up is easy. There's a camp site at the end and a big red pickup truck trying to hide the more obvious of the trails up. There is a second across the slick rock above the canyon as well. I take the one up the ...

Coronado National Forest Click for map. If you want to go into a cave, then stop right here because you can't get into Crystal Cave without at least a chat with a ranger way down in Douglas. It is locked up and left a bit obscure although the trail to it is the only thing on the map. Across from it is parking for the Snowshed Basin Trail that connects Snowshed and Basin Trails. Or maybe it's the Herb Martyr Trail. They sign actually says "Snowshed Basin Trail / Snowshed Trail / Basin Trail / Herb Martyr Campground / Road 42" which is a lot of things to be, but none of it has arrows. Oh, and there's a warning about entering a burned area because this part of the forest burned not too many years ago too. It would be nice to get away from burn, but it's getting harder and harder to do. I turn around and there is a clear, narrow trail. It passes a blank sign board on its way to places unknown. The signage is for other trails and destinations. Si...

Mojave National Preserve Click for map. I noticed there was a spring marked on the electronic map not more than a mile from my campsite and decided to see what it may hold. Probably the cows know about it and it is just a mess. Certainly man knows about it, it's on the map. Probably it has been piped for the cows. Zooming closer, a name appears. "Cave Spring" probably means it's another mine that hit water. Anyway, I resolve to stride out across the desert and see it, then wander back along the ridge it is nearly on and see the road side caves on the way back. The spring is supposed to be on this close ridge of Wild Horse Mesa. It is around a couple corners from here. Setting off, there is very quickly a cow path going my way. I follow it across the desert edging around the side of the ridge, until it gets lost in an area of cow sitting about. I just go on for I am not quite ready for sitting about. Cow paths develop under me again as I climb over a l...

Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve El Escorpion Park Click for map. I expected it to be a little warm today, but there is a thick, grey blanket overhead keeping things cool. Victory Trailhead is not the closest to the cave and is the only one with a parking fee, but it comes with some signs and picnic tables and a truly disgusting bathroom. It claims to be open sunrise to sunset and has sufficient gating to make it difficult to pass should those get closed. I was able to save the $3 by parking along the nearby street which probably added a quarter mile to the start. Most seem to do this while some go ahead and pay the minor fee. The very well used Victory Trailhead. Starting off, there are a lot of trails to choose from, but only one heading north toward the cave. I turn right to follow it up a short way and then down a long and gentle path. There are many small use trails off to the side going up canyons or ridges. The cave comes into view quickly as the larg...

Pinnacles National Park We visited Pinnacles once long before it became the newest National Park just over 4 years ago. It was hot and I suspected it would be a most amazing place to be under the full moon when the heat would be much easier to take. Since gates were locked tight in the evening, it might have been difficult to do a night hike. Now the east side is open 24 hours a day, but the west side is still a sleepy place controlled by an automatic gate that opens at 7:30 AM and closes again at 8 PM, although it will let cars out after that. I was only pushing the opening time for the visitor center at 9 AM when I drove up and today does not look like it will have a problem with heat. The cold storm pushing through still hangs low overhead making me wonder if today really will be the good day to visit I was hoping it would be. The Chaparral Trailhead on the west side of the park. Soggy ground and soggy air have me questioning coming up here on this particular day. ...

Malibu Creek State Park Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area After hiking around the lower canyon, it is a good time to head up to the end of the road to hike around the upper canyon. Really, I only want to do a little loop in the canyon itself, then take off along the one trail here that I have not really hiked on, the Backbone to the east. The parking lot is nearly empty today, but there are a couple young women looking for "Jim Morrison's cave" with instructions from Yelp, of all things. My prejudices show as my mind instantly suspects it is a place covered in graffiti and trash. The only help I can offer is that they are on the only trail going southwest from here, so that is probably where they want to start their search. I turn up the motorway instead and climb to the saddle at the top to look out over the valley. Poking up to the view at the top. Catalina Island in the mist.

Gaviota State Park Map link. The local chapter of the Sierra Club was offering a hike to the Gaviota Wind Caves, but with a twist. They were planning to hit some extra caves on a cross country route. I decided to go. We total five hikers as we arrive in Gaviota to find it cooler than expected. A light breeze makes the day even more comfortable for a little walking. We start off heading up the Beach to Backcountry trail to the wind caves along it. Robert, who is leading, says this is the opposite direction from how he usually does it. Most of the rest of us agree that it will be doubly new to us this way, since we have not done it. Dark spots in the rock mark the wind caves that will be seeing at least a hundred visitors today. We stop at the viewpoint at the top of the hill to look over the ridge on the far side. It is pock marked with the caves we will be visiting later. I cannot see much trail around them, but there is a spot below them with a well established ...

Painted Cave State Historic Park Locate the place. There are many Chumash art sites in the area, although it is getting fewer as our rocks are generally sandstone and erode quickly. Paint has to have been applied to a sheltered spot with an overhang to remain today and vandalism has been quite enthusiastic at the sites at times. One particularly well sheltered site under an extremely large overhang is simply called Painted Cave and is only a few feet from the often single lane road named for it. A heavy fence protects the opening from the casual passer-by and the vibrant panels, especially where there is a large area of a single color, shows why it is needed to protect the site. The largest painted area in the cave. Old paintings are covered with new ones in these three colors. The scratched in names of more recent visitors can also be easily seen.

Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, Santa Monica Mountains NRA Boney Mountain State Wilderness, Point Mugu SP Locate the trail head. The predicted temperatures inland range right up to 100°F, but on the coast there are still areas expecting a nice 70°F. Being somewhat suspicious of the predictions, I pack enough water for hiking in over 80°F temperatures and decided to climb Boney Mountain from the Thousand Oaks side. The area has been recently burned and the weatherman isn't predicting for the mountain top, so I wasn't going to take any chances with the precious liquid. Normally, a recent burn would put an area off limits, but the relevant agencies have decided that all may continue to use the land as long as they stay on established trails and keep to the hours of sunrise to sunset. There is danger from fire smoldering inside trees, but this can be carefully checked for along the trails and there are a few reasons to invite the public back onto the land. Setting off ...