Moments in Dirt and Ink

Tonopah Field Office BLM Location: Fish Lake Valley Hot Well It's really quite nice camped near Emigrant Pass. It wasn't too far below freezing at night and a bit of early morning sun could bring the temperature up quickly. And this morning, I finished brushing my teeth and turned around to find this bunch looking uncertainly at me. A collection of pronghorn with different ideas on which way to run. They milled a bit, took off up the wash shortly, milled about some more, took off down the hill, stopped and milled again. They even vanished and came back. Good thing for them I wasn't really anything to worry about. There they go, up the wash. No, maybe the other way. Returned again from off over the hill. The pronghorn were my first visitors. My tire marks out on the road were only marred by my own footprints. As pleasant as it was, I was ready for the next thing. I pondered returning the way I came rather than brave the rest of this iffy road over the t...

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (map link) Even with a hike in, a well known hot spring is likely to have too many people around. Still, it looked like a good hike and I decided to go for it. There's more than just the hot spring. There's the arch, the view points, the adventure on the not-quite-trail parts, the petroglyphs, and the rest of the hike. Access is mostly easy on a piece of the old highway, but it is a left turn across the interstate when going south. There are no bathrooms (and no timed entry or fees) at the trailhead. There is also a "scenic bridge" that looks like typical depression era highway bridge work to me. I've been over many of them and stopped at a few. I even hiked miles to one of them . I was probably over this one once, shortly after going over the Hoover Dam. The trail starts at the edge of the wash the old US-93 bridge spanned. The trail drops down into the wash and under the modern I-11 bridge, which has some picturesqu...

Los Padres National Forest Click for map. I feel like I have been avoiding the front country since the Thomas Fire except some brief looks early on. I see it on regular evening hikes with folks during the Wednesday conditioning hike and the Friday social hike, but I tend not to write up those hikes. Before leaving easy access to it, I decided to hike up Montecito Peak one last time. The usual approach via Cold Spring Trail is still closed, so the easiest entry to climb the peak is now Hot Springs Trail instead. The exclusion zone signs at the bottom have now vanished, so things are getting better. The very start of the trail looks the same, but things change just a step past that. New fencing is everywhere replacing what was washed out to sea. The creek flows down a canyon deeper and rockier and more open to the sun than before. The creek actually flows, which has not been seen this late in the summer in recent years. For one familiar, it all feels different. For someone who...

Lassen Volcanic National Park Click for map. After waiting far too long for the Visitor Center to open (9 AM is hours after the sun comes up!) because someone absolutely has to have some coffee, but cannot think all the way to buying some to have on hand, we headed off to see at least one thing that makes the park unique. The regular route is still closed by snow, but the boardwalks are open, so we are starting from a less traditional location. It is hard to believe that the spotty bits of snow around could be causing grand trouble to the shorter route that could not be fixed with a shovel in less than an hour, but at just over 5 miles and 1200 feet gain, this does not seem very hard to hike either. Parking is getting a bit crowded, though. It is quickly left behind as we take off into the trees. There they are, the trees. This looks like a super easy path. The gentle and rolling path passes by a sign next to a trail so light that there must be very few to take it. Over o...

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Click for map. A sign pointing down a long dirt road had the word "cave" on it, so I turned down it. Another historical marker beside it elaborated that the cave up ahead was small, but would contain pictographs and was located "East of the summit, north of the highway," whatever exactly that might mean. FS-001 probably is not considered a highway by many, but the long, straight, flat section across the Big Smoky Valley does allow some pretty fast speeds on the dirt. The roads marked "hot springs" on the way were tempting, but I managed to keep to the road for the cave. There were no other indications of it, but when I got to the summit, there was a handy campground on the north side. That was certainly handy just when I needed one, so I turned in. A short way in is a little "trail" sign and a big information sign for Toquima Cave. The trail drifts off east and north from the summit, just as indicat...

Inyo National Forest Sequoia National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 (The night was too warm even for my light quilt until a breeze came up to mix the night air a little bit. Soaking in the hot spring under the bright Milky Way was great, but now it is morning and time to hike out on an often hot trail. The moon rose a thin crescent in the dawn light, but the sun is very slow to get up after it. Since I had no photos of the spring after getting in at sunset, some in shadow would just have to do. The meadow and my late night neighbors are not yet in sun either. The main pool at Jordan Hot Spring with the cold water channel to help regulate the water temperature. The main pool is bubbling everywhere. I do not remember it having that many "air jets" a couple years ago, but it is probably not something that changes much. Little hot creeks flow in in a couple places. As much as the tub was too hot to soak in for more tha...

Inyo National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Templeton, the original impetus for this trip plan, sits serenely across a short meadow and a random little hill. Should I get to a "better" position to start up it, or just clamber right up it and that little hill for good measure? Packed up, I go searching for that elusive trail, but there really is no certain sign of it. There is a funny looking post on the far side of the meadow that looks to have trail beside it. Maybe. And maybe that is a line there. As I hit the creek, there are a couple rocks set out to help hop it without getting my feet too wet, although the meadow plants are doing a good job of wetting my shoes already. The post turns out to be another location poster with an unfamiliar format, but this one is only about 7 years old. It is at the edge of dry land and points to something right by the creek only 51.6 meters away. I look, but nothing is obvious. Locatio...

Los Padres National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2 Bernard and I are heading into the Sespe to reclaim a garden gnome called Jeff from the wilderness. It is halfway to the hot spring, so we are dropping by there too because it seems like a good time to do so. Also, it is hard to justify the trip just for the garden gnome. Bernard has never been to the hot spring and I have only been this last summer, it should be a completely different experience. I was hoping to do such a trip with a day hike to Hines Peak in between coming and going, but Bernard's schedule does not allow that. There are only a few parking spots in the lot as we pull up at a fairly lazy hour. A few early risers are already finishing their hike out. We go this way. Looking east over the gentle land the river cuts through. Piedra Blanca pokes out from the chaparral to the north with Pine Mountain behind it. Some will be going to or past it instead.

Inyo National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Today is a very easy day. The morning is to be looking for monuments around Casa Vieja Meadows and wandering three miles or so down the trail. The afternoon is to be sitting in the hot springs and exploring old cabins from when it was a commercial concern. The morning sun on the meadow is stunning, and after some battling with the camera in need of a new battery, I can capture a slightly lesser moment of the light. Then, with breakfast put away, I turn my attention to climbing the small peak just north of my campsite. Manzanita makes a feeble attempt to block my way sometimes and I am quickly into a cold wind, but soon find myself on Doc Peak, as it is labeled in the OpenStreetMap. It is another labeled with a benchmark on the 1905 Olancha 30' map and on the more recent 1987 Casa...

Gaviota State Park Los Padres National Forest Locate the trailhead. In looking at the benchmarks in Gaviota in the NGS database, I noticed quite a few of them are referenced to "weather vane". Curiously, this point is up high on the ridge south of Gaviota Peak. There is no information on this point except the name, location, and identification number. It seems likely that this was not a monument, but an actual weather vane, an item that usually sits on top of something else. What might it have been sitting on, if it was? Is there anything left of it? One way to find out would be to go and look. It also gives me an excuse to explore east along the ridge a bit further. It might be tempting to do it via a much lesser known route just on the ridge, but I go for Trespass Trail. There is some construction in the lot and along the road, but there is still parking for state park users. The trek up to the saddle is the usual hot and exposed route with a single repriev...

Santa Barbara front country Map link. Humboldt lilies are the big, showy flowers dangling from five foot and taller stems, sometimes referred to as tiger lilies. They are hard to miss when they are blooming. I have sometimes come across stems with 6 or 8 flowers bigger than my fist between buds and wilted. I spotted a couple single blooms along San Ysidro on the Friday hike, just short of the falls. It seems it might be time to visit the spots I know to have a good number of stems that might be blooming. I saw plenty of stems along Murietta Canyon and Valley View along Pratt Trail is a reliable local for blooms. Locally, I have seen quite a few stems along the Cold Spring middle fork above Tangerine Falls and in the little canyon down the trail on the other side, so that is where I will start looking for a good show. Since the middle fork is unmaintained, there are no signs for it. I start at the main trailhead at the bottom and turn up the west fork by the sign and the ...

Los Padres National Forest Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Grabbing a little water to warm up my unfinished supper (it was so late my appetite had vanished), I cannot help but notice that while it is not warm, it is warmer than I expect. The leftovers go quickly now and we pack up to have breakfast at Sespe Camp where there is a table and even a toilet with walls. It is close enough to the trail that we may have found it in the moonlight, but it is hard to be sure and the Harrison map incorrectly places it is after the stream crossing. The water seems just a little warmer here as I get enough for cooking and the morning hiking. Just after camp, the trail does cross the stream and become elusive. There is lots of clear space to walk heading upstream, but little indication of anyone doing so. There is a small path through some vegetation, but it is a bit low for such a well used trail. From the perspective of the other side of ...

Los Padres National Forest Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 I have been wanting to see what the fuss is about concerning Willett and Sespe Hot Springs and the Fishbowls. The hot springs seem to need at least an overnight while the cold water feature can be done in what appears to be a nice loop day hike when the road is open. It is currently closed due to storm damage. A recent article in the local Sierra Club chapter's newsletter, the Condor Call, points out these two desires can be combined into what is one of the authors' (local guide book author Craig Carey and local cartographer Bryan Conant) favorite backpacking circuits. It is billed as a 40 mile loop that is excellent for five days out. I figure I like my days a little over 10 miles, so if it is cut a little differently, it should be a nice four day. The summer heat is starting to take hold, so actually staying at hot springs is seeming less interesting than just seeing...

Los Padres National Forest Map link. It is surprising how few people have heard of Hildreth Peak considering its name graces the 7.5' quad directly north of the Carpinteria quad. It is also one of the shorter peaks on the Hundred Peaks List that the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club maintains. I decided to try to do it in a big loop, or really a dropped lollipop of a route using the Sierra Club's route 1 and the old jeepway. When the road was closed to Big Caliente last month, doing this loop did not add many miles to the climb, but I was feeling suspicious that I would meet a mountain lion on the route then. It can be easy to yield to unfounded suspicions when there are so many other hikes to try. With the suspicion fading and the temperatures threatening to go high soon, I decided it was time. I am not really feeling it is the day for a very long hike, but having gotten fixated on trying the old road, that is what I will try. The valley is a lake of cloud that i...