Moments in Dirt and Ink

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (Map link.) I returned to a looping hike on the Rhododendron Trail not for the rhododendrons but for the promises of things to come that it held nearly three weeks prior . There must be something different, so this time I really did go clockwise and then took a little extra Rhododendron Trail all the way to South Fork Trail, then stayed on Prairie Creek Trail to finish. The fog was thick, so I did not start with the Prairie Creek segment, which was undoubtedly soggy and the encroaching vegetation would soak me through before I got very far. North trailhead of the Rhododendron Trail. This is the one trail with parking only on the southbound side. The initial climb is past some pretty impressive redwoods. The nearby valley of the little stream has a few big trees, too. I had low expectations for the rhododendrons, but they were quickly exceeding those and meeting the expectations I had prior. No dream hillsides full of flower covered bu...

Humboldt Redwoods State Park Click for map in new tab. I should probably visit Humboldt Redwoods more often. It's actually a little closer than Del Norte Coast Redwoods. It does suffer a little from being "inland", but it's a place the redwoods like, so the summer temperatures can't be all bad. It also has a minor $8 day use fee, but even that only applies to developed parking. I decided to believe the weather-machine somewhat that it would be cool in the park, but hedged a bit by bringing more water than would be reasonable. This hike that climbs the ridge is bound to be a bit hotter than down under big trees by the river. I think it was already topping the claimed high for the day as I pulled into the unimproved dirt turnout parking at the bottom of Look Prairie Road with a couple of mountain bikers. The sign for Look Prairie Multi Use Trail (MUT) is only visible heading east. The parking is just before a sign for Harper Creek that is visible heading ...

Arcata Community Forest (Map link.) I had resolved to hike the whole of the Arcata Ridge Trail "soon", perhaps even "while the rhododendrons are still in bloom", and this was the day. There is still the little concern that half a mile in the middle remains unconstructed. Getting around that requires a bit of road walking on a shoulderless stretch of well used black top and increases the length by at least half a mile, but so it goes. The overall length is advertised as 4 miles, but I think that is the length that had been constructed before the most recent addition. I started on the Sunny Brae side since that has a much better hiking to driving ratio for me. Up a set of narrow, steep concrete steps are the signs and trails one expects to see of a public open space. It should be a simple matter of following the crests, but there are spots that aren't so well marked. I followed the crests, as the trail is well marked through the Sunny Brae side, at ...

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park (Map link.) After hiking a bit of the DeMartin section of the California Coastal Trail for rhododendrons, I crossed the road and started along the Last Chance section for more. The plan was to do another 3 miles to the end of the redwoods, which is also the end of the rhododendrons along this section. The thing is, it is actually about 4.5 miles to that end. This part of the trail is even flatter than the other except for a very short climb of about 40 feet vertical to get up and over a tiny ridge at the start. That connects to an old road that connects US-101 about 100 feet later, so one could easily go around and make the trail even flatter. I didn't do that. I cleared some fallen branch debris off a switchback that was getting cut and went up and over. The little sign that marks the CCT has a crest on the back and is across from the available parking. Once the tiny bit of trail comes down to the old road, it is in an open area wit...

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park (Map link.) I made my way to the second dirt turnout after the daylight headlights sign (which also has a useable dirt turnout for this hike) next to a memorial grove sign with a tiny California Coastal Trail (CCT) sign on the far side. It is just north of the most recent slide event on the Last Chance Grade , so I decided to go on the weekend when they aren't working and the delays are expected to be less than half an hour. When they are working during the week, the road closes down from 9AM to 11AM (soon to be 8AM to 12PM), which would force a slightly early start for me. Not too bad, but I wasn't feeling the hike length warranted an early start. As it was, I got an easy start just short of 10:30AM. The goal: see the rhododendrons. I started off southbound on the part of the CCT actually advertised as having rhododendrons. Three miles toward Wilson Beach gets to the end of the redwoods in this section, which is a little past the end ...

Lacks Creek Management Area, BLM (Map link.) Lacks Creek seems to come in two sections. The east side has been developed for mountain bikes and the west side is oriented toward horses. Hikers are allowed on all but two of the mountain bike trails. The best map I found of the area is hosted by the local mountain bikers who continue to maintain (and develop) trails on the east side. My original plan was to day hike the mountain bike side, then two days backpacking on the horse side. As it turns out, Things got in the way of being sure I would be able to do the backpack, but at least I got to see if I would be driving the last 1.6 miles to the west side trailhead in a Scion. (The answer is "no" and I do wonder about the logistics of taking a horse trailer down a narrow single lane 4x4 road. It actually might be smooth enough, but unwise without knowing for sure and the prior two days of rain left some impressive puddles in the first 100 feet.) It was still quite cool as...

Humboldt Lagoons State Park (Map link.) The rhododendrons were infrequent and sparse and I was expecting a little more from them. It is possible that I have unrealistic expectations, but I decided to stop by the azaleas on the way back. It's just an extra mile or two of driving and a half mile walk. I had even greater expectations for the azaleas than I had for the rhododendrons. I started at the parking by the sign and passed quickly through the Sitka spruce, taking the right at the fork for the loop to get to the azaleas that much faster. Heading for the light. The late sun reflecting from the ocean below isn't quite enough to hide the pink domes of flower laden bushes. Those same flowers, a small part of the whole. The azaleas did not disappoint. Lots of buds and flowers and a few dangling. The western azaleas are in full swing. There are a few other flowers that are showy enough to grab a little bit of my attention.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (Map link.) Is it too late for the Eastside Rhododendrons? Or still too early? I don't think they like these dryer winters. Nothing has looked happy yet, unless it's on a forest edge and might be getting watered. It is getting late, though, so I thought I might go off to see them, then I thought I'd take a shorter drive to maybe be disappointed and went for the Rhododendron Trail instead. I decided on a route that would get me on a trail or two I hadn't hiked while hitting the north portion of the Rhododendron Trail, then got myself to a trailhead. There is a level of guesswork in finding trailheads in Prairie Creek. They have very nice signs, but the ones you can see while driving are generic warnings that there is a trailhead in 500 feet and there may be pedestrians crossing. I was aiming at the north part of the loop, but landed at the south side. I didn't feel strongly enough about it to move, but did flip my direction fr...