Moments in Dirt and Ink

Paradise: Kelsey Creek

2026-04-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Klamath National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Green line for day 3. Click for interactive map Daniil decided to head up Kings Castle before heading down, but didn't get a very early start. I think he was expecting me to want to go up, but I didn't want to add the 1.5k feet of descent from it to the 4k feet already waiting for me. I got to watch the newts and read

Paradise: Big Ridge

2026-04-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

Paradise: Paradise Lake

2026-04-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

Shell Mountain: Blue Slide and Horsehead Mountain

2026-03-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

Shell Mountain: Buck Ridge and Shell Mountain and Dead Puppy Ridge

2026-03-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

Shell Mountain: North Fork Middle Eel and Yellowjacket Creek

2026-03-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Six Rivers National Forest Mendocino National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Blue line for day 1. Click for interactive map I've got a Caltopo map of fairly random maybe trips, including some along the more western side of the northern edge of Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness where I'd like to explore more and Daniil has never been. This is possibly the only part of

Shifting Sands Loop of Ma-le'l Dunes North

2026-01-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge Click for interactive map The fact that the National Wildlife Refuge doesn't allow dogs (or horses or bikes or even running) tends to create more possibilities for wildlife encounters. That this particular bit is closed Tuesday to Thursday and sits beside a bit that's closed to all except those who have obtained a permit makes it a little more wild. For

Swift Creek Snow Survey

2026-01-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

Hikes of 2025

2025-12-31T23:30:00.000-08:00

Smith to Summit: Smith River; Smith River National Recreation Area: Mar 22-23 Summit Valley Ossagon Creek, Fern Canyon, and Friendship Ridge; Prairie Creek State Park: Mar 29 Wooley: Deer Lick Creek; Klamath National Forest: Apr 4-6 Haypress Creek Salmon River Waterfalls and Snow in Canyon Creek;

Eddy: Pacific Crest Trail

2025-12-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

Eddy: Mount Eddy and Toad Lake

2025-12-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Warm color lines for day 2. Click for interactive map We got up a little bit early. The peak of Mount Eddy isn't so far from the upper Deadfall Lake, but we had a lot more planned. There's a loop of trails south of the mountain we were going to explore and, if there was time, might go out to see Toad Lake. The

Eddy: Deadfall Lakes

2025-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Blue line for day 1. Click for interactive map As the tallest mountain in all of the Coastal Ranges in not just California, but Oregon and Washington too, Mount Eddy boasts some impressive statistics. The summit sits at 9033 feet (2753 m) with 5153 feet (1571 m) of prominence! That makes it both high point and

'Twixt Red & Devils: Echo Lake

2025-11-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Klamath National Forest Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Purple line for day 3. Click for interactive map While the faint upper portion of West Fork Seiad Creek Trail wouldn't be so hard to follow now that we knew it a little and the lower part is apparently maintained by biologists interested in Baker cypress, the memory of the drenching

'Twixt Red & Devils: Rattlesnake Mountain

2025-11-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

'Twixt Red & Devils: West Seiad Creek

2025-11-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

Ilchester to Soapstone

2025-10-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link I returned to the Ilchester area, this time parking in a lot the park considers more acceptable, up the hill from where Ilchester once stood (and where I parked before). There was a small lot closer, but it had a locked gate. The small, unpaved lot is free and has some informative signage and was getting toward half full as I pulled in. Two

Shervettes Corner

2025-10-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

Henryton and the HoCo Thru Trail

2025-10-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link Just down the road from my parking for an excursion east of Marriottsville, I pulled into a gravel lot for an excursion west of Marriottsville. I wouldn't have thought this was a legal lot, tucked up next to the active train tracks, except that I found there was already one parked, another pulled in after me, and there's an information kiosk at

Great Falls of the Potomac River

2025-10-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

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,

Saint Mary's of Ilchester

2025-10-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link The multitude of ruins marked in the Ilcheter Area of Patapsco Valley State Park drew my attention, so I made a rough plan of wandering among them. My first choice for access was a public lot in Ellicott City. The whole area doesn't show much "heat" on the Strava map, but what there is shows this as one access point that is actually used, so it

McKeldin Falls and Old Quarry Lake

2025-10-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link On my own, I could go on a big hike, and Alltrails is no help in planning that. The McKeldin area caught my eye and I constructed a big loop around it, including a couple crossings of the North Branch Patapsco River that looked popular enough in the Strava heat map although there are no bridges here. I couldn't quite sort out where the parking

Cascade Falls

2025-10-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link I was charged with deciding on a hike that kids could do, except I have no experience in this or in evaluating what a particular kid can do. Plus, I would be without any parental supervision. Alltrails offered up Cascade Falls as a possible suitable suggestion, except that it would be done on the weekend and is a very popular location. I liked

Little Patuxent River

2025-10-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

Three Bears: Big Bear Lake

2025-09-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Brown line for day 3. Click for interactive map We had nothing to do on the final day but retrace our steps back down to the trailhead. We had plenty of time to do it, so I could record, on this final day of summer, the few flowers we had passed on the way up. It must be said that the canyon looked a bit better

Three Bears: Little Bear Lake

2025-09-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Shasta-Trinity National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 Yellow and orange lines for day 2. Click for interactive map After finding that we had selected a camp site with a view of Mount Shasta, we got ourselves fed for the morning explorations. Dawn light on the clouds around Mount Shasta. We got ourselves together for a little day hiking and headed out. Judging we