Moments in Dirt and Ink

Arcata Community Forest The Ridge Trail starts at the extreme north end of the forest in a newer, tiny piece of the forest sandwiched between the freeway and a lumber yard. Parking is just along the side of the road a few feet east of the overpass and the marking for it is an unassuming sign on a fence set back from road. The sign is a larger version of the crest used to mark the route along the trails further up. Making my way through the mud and around a corner onto the graveled trail, a much more informative sign showing a map and the rules of the area comes into view. The trail continues on a raised bit of land between a swampy area and a creek. The mass of mosquitoes in the area in spring is reportedly enough to turn some back, but for today there are only a few of the creatures. Starting down the Arcata Ridge Trail as if follows a narrow neck of land. The lumber yard is quiet on this Sunday. It is also quite flooded, but they have dammed the outflow of the y...

Seems to have been a particularly good month for playing with the brush pen, although it does seem that the Noodlers ink I put into it last is not entirely coming through the bristle "nib". Some trees on either side of a narrow bit of canyon of Pinnacles National Park. A rather over-filled Lake Sonoma . Big stumps turn into planters in the thick forest . A sandy section of sand dunes that are generally held by invasive beach grass. Sitting up on top of Ceremonial Rock on an enjoyable day for a favorite sketch of trees and ocean. Back to see Pewetole Island again. Some mushrooms among the sand dunes .

Bureau of Land Management There is one more section of dunes to visit along this long spit of sand. I figured it would be quite interesting to visit the very end of it where jetties keep the channel open for entry to Humboldt Bay. This area is actually an open area for off road vehicle travel but also sees a lot of hikers. Signs have recommendations for how to reduce friction between these two user groups. Today, there is plenty of off road travel, but it is almost all directed at getting surfers as close to the end of the jetty as possible. A nice picnic area on the bay side of the dunes. The big, apparently old trees are in lines boxing in each site. They were planted. A clear trail leads up and down over the last row of dunes beside what would be a flat, sandy beach except that it ends in a wall rather than water. Water is splashing over one spot even though the tide is currently not very high. Looking across the bay as the wall gets another little splash.

Bureau of Land Management I headed a little further down the sand that cuts off the bay from the ocean for more sand dune adventures. For Ma-le'l Dunes, parking is on either side of the gun club with a bit of fenced off area in between. Lots are locked a half hour after sunset to sunrise and the north side is only open to the public Friday through Monday. The map shows established trails, but keeping to these can be difficult. Plenty of other trails exist and this time of year, the established ones have a tendency to be under a bit of water. There is a bit of sandy hills topped in brush. The low spots often have no drain so there are plenty of pools in this wet winter. A good place for tracks, but most of them are dog or human. After a little false starting finding myself with pools to cross that were difficult to deal with because anyone going that way started at a different spot in the parking lot, I find myself wandering southerly on a main trail that ...

Arcata BLM Tend to the right at the end of Main and keep on to the end of the road to park in the tsunami zone in Trinidad to hike around the large headland that looks a bit like a large island in the mist when viewed from down by the Mad River. The gated road continues on up the rock. There are also some steps up to the road on the other end of the parking area, which is what I head up. The tide is a little higher and the waves a little more pounding so the island spout is going. A short way up, a trail splits off from the road and a sign describes the loop. Of course, I head for the trail. It is carved out of some very thick growth that leaves little chance to actually see the views. To combat this, viewing spots are carved out at frequent benches along the way. I am surprised to see a couple rabbits along the way as I go. A little bit of view carved out of the generally view blocking brush.

Trinidad State Beach I continued down the coast for another stop at a place rumored to have good tide pools that I would probably not actually visit. Trinidad State Beach is free to visit and is open sunrise to sunset. I missed the sign for the central parking I was aiming at, so parked in the south lot to get started. There do not seem to be trail signs to get started from, but around behind the bathroom is a very official looking trail dropping down toward Mill Creek below. An initial false start down a rather unofficial trail gets a good view of Pewetole Island.

Patricks Point State Park According to Yelp, Patricks Point State Park has some of the best tide pools in the county. It is not a good day for it since the lowest tide is after sunset when the park closes, but I am out to check it out anyway. There is an entry fee for the park, or one can sneak in with the surfers. I grabbed some parking along the edge of the road and start down the surfer trail. It is easy to find by the guy with a board practically sprinting down it. It does have a couple extra trails to get a little lost down, but they are short, on the way to a proper trail. It takes me a couple tries to get on the right one, but soon I am on the Agate Beach Trail and may as well wander all the way down to the beach. Most of the park is trees on high cliffs above a roaring ocean. There is a bit of beach out here. The trail is nice until shortly above the beach where storm waves have taken it partly out. It is built with wired pieces of wood so it will not ...

Arcata Community Forest The newer Sunny Brae section of the Arcata Community Forest can be accessed at a turn of the road where a few steps lead into the forest. The houses are left behind quickly as it dives into the trees and starts to climb. It splits immediately into a bike route and a hiker route, but does not stay like this for long. I head up the steps and stop to study the sign briefly before continuing to climb up into the trees. Entering the Arcata Community Forest. A map to the right and the marked split for bikers or hikers to the left. This section of the forest is smaller and there is less possibility of getting lost among the interconnected trails. Mostly what I took in from the provided map is that I can go up and down via different routes, but had not quite got a plan. The biker and hiker routes join together into a road that twists upward. The sign for a loop trail to the side is too tempting even if it does not appear to be traveling upward at the ...