Moments in Dirt and Ink

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Red and orange lines for day 2. Click for interactive map I had a selection of possible day hikes for our middle day. We could go south to tag Box Camp Mountain that I have become fixated on (probably because its smack in the middle of everything) and maybe tag Black Marble Mountain once more. We could try hiking a loop with the old trail that passed on the west side of Kings Castle and down to Bear Lake, probably tagging the peak on the way. It's an easy up from that trail. Morning comes to the bumps near Kings Castle. Remembering the terrain to the south and seeing how covered with snow that sort of terrain was, anything going that way wasn't very attractive. There's similar terrain to the north, but then it opens up to a ridge, or so the map says. North to Big Ridge (or even Buckhorn Mountain, which sounds more like a "real name" but is a lower point) looked like the most pleasant use of the day....

Klamath National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Purple line for day 1. Click for interactive map In the continuing saga of going to high places because "it's like June out there", Daniil and I headed to the upper trailhead of the Kelsey Creek Trail. For this episode, however, there was a spring storm through on Wednesday, so we weren't quite sure what travel would be like in the high elevations. Copernicus sailed by after, but took pictures of clouds. Just a little mystery to keep us on our toes. Regulations and map on the left, a little history in the middle, at the trailhead. This is the easternmost portion of the Kelsey National Recreation Trail, which will take you at least as far as the west side of Siskiyou Wilderness, admittedly with a big chunk of road walking and a name change in between. The historic Kelsey Trail was a major supply route from Crescent City to Fort Jones in the 1850s. This day's travel would complete my travel along the ...

Mendocino National Forest Shasta-Trinity National Forest Six Rivers National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Purple line for day 3. Click for interactive map Being up on the ridge, we did get something like a sunrise. There were no clouds for the coming sunlight to decorate, so it was quite plain for a sunrise. As soon as I was vertical, I headed down the hill to see if the water I expected really was there. At the bottom of the very slanted meadow, it started running. A few more feet and it was easy to gather. It was maybe 100 feet vertical down, certainly not more than 200 feet. It didn't feel like too much at all. A little orange tint to the sky as the sun rises. The view of Shell Mountain from the top of our meadow, now with a lot more light. We packed up and got moving along the ridge. We saw some spots that looked a bit like a length of trail tread, but it was hard to claim there was a trail in the area where Chicago Camp Trail travels tha...

Mendocino National Forest Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Brown line for day 2. Click for interactive map It was dark, but easy to get up, from our forest camp. We packed and made sure to have water and started up the trail, soon losing it. I think we got upset that it turned into a very very minor wash and started looking for something else. I wandered up the ridge while the others stayed lower. The ridge presented a little piece of history in the form of a telephone line before giving a really good view of beautiful tread wrapping over from the far side of the wide valley the others were walking up. The trail was right there the whole time! Meanwhile, I pondered where the telephone line was going. Black Rock Lookout and the North Yolla Bolly Guard Station were off to the east and there were once settlements in the little bit of wilderness to the west . There were probably some more guard stations, too. It used to be a lot easie...

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...

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Purple lines for day 3. Click for interactive map We didn't have much to do for the third day except head on out. Daniil decided he wanted to go up the mountain for the early morning rays on Mount Shasta. Shasta was a no-show, but he stayed up there a while. He was bundled up well. I decided to take a larger tour around the upper lake to visit all the little ponds of the area. No new ice on the lake this morning. There's a nice rock ramp heading up the hill from our camp, so I took that to start the big loop. It takes energy quickly, but the rocky slope is pretty stable. The curlleaf mountain mahogany 's view. Once up on the shelf I had seen above the camp, I found an unexpected bonus pond, frozen solid. A tidy little depression.

Klamath National Forest Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Yellow lines for day 2. Click for interactive map Neither of us had quite got our boots open wide enough the night before and the frozen shapes were hard to put on in the morning in spite of preparing for it. I had elected not to bring along my waterproof socks and I was sorry for it as soon as my boots thawed out. The cold also left my camera battery devoid of sufficient energy to take sunrise pictures. The extra battery, which admittedly only registered 2 of 3 bars when I grabbed it, was also dead. I decided to leave the camera and be stuck with substandard photography equipment for the day. I was also sorry for being lazy about battery maintenance. Leaving Kangaroo Springs, just one pool visible from here. Shasta almost hides in the low clouds in the nearby valleys. Upper and Middle Devils Peaks where the Pacific Crest Trail goes. Our goal for the day was ...

Klamath National Forest Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Red line for day 1. Click for interactive map Daniil had the idea that exploring the Pacific Crest Trail and Boundary Trail, one a National Scenic Trail and the other a National Recreation Trail, up by Red Buttes Wilderness looked like a grand idea and noted that it offers three entry options: head north on the PCT from the lot near Seiad, head south on the PCT from the parking at Cook and Green Pass, or the middle route along West Fork Seiad Creek. The pass might not be accessible with it being winter. The route from Seiad looks a bit too long but with some peak bagging opportunities along the way. I thought, by far, the creek side route looked the most interesting and obtainable, assuming the ford isn't too scary. There is definitely a point of view that makes it the most interesting and the ford wasn't too scary. So there's that. There is a large parking area at the ...

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...