Moments in Dirt and Ink

California Coastal National Monument Click for interactive map After poking around Ocean Ranch , I headed up the hill to Lighthouse Ranch, one of the 6 pieces of California Coastal National Monument that can be visited along the mainland. There's a loop trail, interpretive signs, picnic tables, and a toilet. If you are trying to get a stamp for your National Parks passport, you probably have to go to the Arcata BLM Field Office. Other nearby pieces of the National Monument are the Trinidad Head Lighthouse to the north, which is only open during certain hours on certain days; Lost Coast Headlands to the south, which has a little more trail but the road in can suffer winter damage; and of course most the rocks and islands you can still see at high tide. This is the easiest to visit. The pathway entry from the unpaved parking at Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch. The path is well established and the edges get mowed. Taking the right side of the loop, the trail comes quickly to t...

Eel River Wildlife Area Click for interactive map A little after I first (and last) visited Ocean Ranch , the California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched a restoration project in this bit of the Eel River Wildlife Area that I keep meaning to check out. It gets a mention sometimes on the twice monthly DERT days by Friends of the Dunes because they decided to test the best removal system for the invasive beach grass we pull by hand. The winner for efficiency includes fire. I pulled into the now paved parking lot at the top because that's all I was expecting, only to find there is now a paved road where there was a gated, uneven track down to another parking area with picnicking that is open sunrise to sunset. The wooden sign got an upgrade. There was very obviously a billowing plume of smoke originating from somewhere over by the mouth of the Eel River. A blackberry hunter suspected that folks who came to Crab County Park for the 4th to light up massive mounds of ...

Liberty Reservoir Cooperative Wildlife Management Area interactive map link The Liberty Reservoir Cooperative Wildlife Management Area sits just north of Patapsco Valley State Park. Instead of surrounding a river, it surrounds a lake, or rather a reservoir. The land and lake belong to the City of Baltimore to keep the people hydrated. It is managed by Maryland Department of Natural Resources as more green space. There's also some Environmental Police, but I saw no evidence they're very active. Those who enjoy the green space don't have enough respect for those who provide the green space to keep their dogs, which are required to be leashed but rarely are here, out of the drinking water as requested. On Old Liberty Road after the gate, a few of the area rules and a second block. Access to this section of Liberty Reservoir seems to be fairly restricted by the small amount of legal street parking along Old Liberty Road. One side of the road was still empty as I par...

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park interactive map link I guess I am in search of waterfalls, because I decided to go off and see the Great ones. One may go to see them from the Virginia side by visiting Great Falls Park or the Maryland side by visiting Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Both are National Park Service units and with the government shutdown, all pay areas were closed. This meant the whole of Great Falls Park was closed, but only the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center was closed on the canal side. When they are open, these pay areas have a $20 entrance fee. The parking area I chose beside Macarthur Boulevard is both official and free. I chose to visit the Maryland side because the trail system has more obvious looping excursions, but it looks like there's plenty of good hiking on the Virginia side too. I hoped that with so many people inside the Beltway shirking their work, traveling the Beltway to just outside the Beltway would...

Dorsey Hall Open Space interactive map link It was declared that I should "meet the nibbling" with the suggestion that "at 1 year old doesn't count" (which I must admit is true, but there were claims otherwise at the time) and that perhaps during the fall when the leaves were turning (probably late October) and when the temperatures were attractive to hiking. It was admitted that the area is not really known for its leaf peeping opportunities. Most of my leaf peeping aspirations revolve around larches at the moment, but that opportunity had already passed again, so I might try some eastern trees. All this is how I came to be on a plane for the second time since 2012 in the middle of a government shutdown when many in the control towers were rightfully calling in sick instead of working without pay. Somehow my flights weren't even delayed as I traveled, never in anything bigger than a 737. Do you know there is now a thing called "Basic Economy...

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge and more interactive map link The Humboldt Bay Trail is meant to be one continuous trail connecting the local communities with a multiuse path. For years there has been the "Bay Trail North" and "Bay Trail South", but now, finally, it is all one trail! This connection was meant to be completed last November, but the contractor (who is of the area and knows the weather) miscalculated and didn't get the paving in before the rains softened everything too much for the heavy equipment. So we waited very impatiently for this last four mile stretch between Arcata and Eureka to finally be completed. It's more than a decade in planning and haggling and work. As of the last Saturday of June, it is officially open. I joined the Volunteer Trail Stewards cleaning up the "north" section from Arcata Marsh to No Longer Two Rocks on that day, but decided to hold off actually walking it until it was a little less busy. It...

Samoa Dunes and Wetlands Conservation Area Manila Dunes Recreation Area Click for map The OpenStreetMap version of Mendocino National Forest looks a lot closer to reality after more work than anyone might care to know. There's also mapping for a chunk of forest north to Hayfork where the Bigfoot Trail goes that is vastly improved. However, it might be a bit more fun to generate some content rather than stare at the computer, particularly if I can find a little something new to show off. Well, there's this mildly mysterious little picnic area next to the old tracks for something new. I checked (every two months after the Saturday DERT day) on the "mysterious leaves" I found in March and now there's some orchids to show off. In between, I could wander some less new areas among dunes and beach. Picnic tables painted by the nearby school children for a public rest stop. In this section of the North Spit, the old tracks edge along the side of Humboldt Ba...

Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Click for map I headed out to the marsh with the tide on its way out and a small hope of maybe recording a few local birds in a non-bird feeder scenario. The low tide may not be the best time for seeing the wading birds as they tend to be out finding food, but I think the land is more interesting when the water recedes. Besides, those aren't the ones that have been hanging out at the feeder. I started off at one of the larger lots near the Interpretive Center and headed for the edge of Humboldt Bay. (It was called Wigi once, if one gets tired of calling everything after Humboldt.) Tidal Jolly Giant Creek as it flows past the Interpretive Center. The first bird along was, happily, not one that has been frequenting the bird feeder although, from a certain point of view, it's a perfectly good feeding place. The operator of the feeder gets upset when such feeding happens. A red shouldered hawk gets in a solid glare after the fir...

McKay Community Forest (Click for map.) I wanted to have a hike in the McKay Community Forest focusing on those pieces that are actually within it at the north end. There would be no crossing over the creek to the easements on the McKay Tract. There would be an attempt to follow routes all the way to Park Street along the far north sliver of forest north of Myrtle Avenue. Most enjoyably, there would be wanderings of the trail system that's marked and somewhat rocked under the trees wrapping around the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. There might be a jaunt off along the other edge to a geocache that had given me troubles before. Trail or road? At the north entry to McKay Community Forest. Left is the forest, right is private property. Parking for north end of the forest is simply parallel along the side of Harris Street. There's thoughts of a lot at the fairgrounds, but that has not been secured yet. My plan was to start along the old roads, following the R-line to R-2,...