Totally Asking for It
Some winter break ... it almost makes the impending doom of fucking school tolerable. So much for rejuvenating myself before the home stretch.
I managed mustering minimal motivation to make the most of my measly Monday, and when Tuesday got off to a late start and held even less promise, I simply had to beat back inertia enough to get out of the apartment, but not enough to drive anywhere cool for a real hike. I ended up taking a long walk around the local golf course, which I hadn't seen before and have no need to see again. I walked by no fewer than a dozen no trespassing signs, "private" drives, gated homes, and snarling dogs; without leaving happy, hippie "smile on your brother" Arcata, my broke ass sure got kept in place. At least I'd made real plans for Wednesday, and got a good chuckle out of Arcata's
awesome sidewalks:
Yup, you guessed it - it starts at the "SCHOOL XING" sign and stops before the ubiquitous Volkswagen bus. What vision! What utility!
A buddy and I hopped in the Hyundai and hit up Humboldt Redwoods State Park for a hike and some photography (what else would Redwood National and State Park ranger types do with a day off?). On the way down, we reflected on why you never go off trail in southern Humboldt County (pot gardens guarded by shotguns rigged up with tripwires and the like), lamented that time and trail maintenance restricted us to a path crammed between a creek and a road, but appreciated at least that we couldn't get lost on such a trail, as neither of us had brought a map or first aid kit. In short, we had totally set ourselves up for an adrenaline-pumping bushwhack from hell.
The "out" portion of our out-and-back along Bull Creek proved pleasant enough, as the trail meandered along the floodplain of the swollen creek and low terraces studded with soaring, skyscraping redwoods. While "my" park to the north can once again claim the world's tallest trees at 115.5 meters (379.1 feet), Humboldt Redwoods can still claim the greatest concentration of tall trees along Bull Creek's alluvial flats; may we never stop outdoing each other. Even after years living among the redwoods, we still can't resist
photographing them:
We reversed course at three o' clock to ensure we'd have enough daylight to return to the trailhead, seeing the sights again for the first time, and after awhile, seeing also that the trail abruptly ended at a fallen giant of a tree - not recently fallen, which meant we'd lost the trail (" ... at least we couldn't get lost on such a trail ... "). We retraced our steps. After retracing many steps, not finding a fork in the trail, and quickly losing daylight, we wisely decided to bushwhack in the general direction of the trailhead (" ... never go off trail in southern Humboldt County ... "), which we could easily determine given our orientation to Bull Creek and the Mattole Road (" ... lamenting that time and trail maintenance restricted us to a path crammed between a creek and a road ... "). We stumbled upon numerous "trails" which invariably screwed us into surmounting massive rotting redwood logs, further retracing our steps, and other risky behaviors,
such as stumbling upon tripwires:
(The flash from my camera belied what amounted to effective camouflage, especially to those in search of a trail rather than an untimely demise [ ... pot gardens, guarded by shotguns rigged up to tripwires and the like ... "].)
We stopped dead in our tracks, then - you guessed it - retraced our steps.
As you can tell by my living to tell the tale, we eventually rediscovered our trail and made damn sure not to lose it again. At least we had fun - way more than we'd (barely) planned. Rest assured, we will never ask for trouble like that again!
I managed mustering minimal motivation to make the most of my measly Monday, and when Tuesday got off to a late start and held even less promise, I simply had to beat back inertia enough to get out of the apartment, but not enough to drive anywhere cool for a real hike. I ended up taking a long walk around the local golf course, which I hadn't seen before and have no need to see again. I walked by no fewer than a dozen no trespassing signs, "private" drives, gated homes, and snarling dogs; without leaving happy, hippie "smile on your brother" Arcata, my broke ass sure got kept in place. At least I'd made real plans for Wednesday, and got a good chuckle out of Arcata's
awesome sidewalks:
Yup, you guessed it - it starts at the "SCHOOL XING" sign and stops before the ubiquitous Volkswagen bus. What vision! What utility!
A buddy and I hopped in the Hyundai and hit up Humboldt Redwoods State Park for a hike and some photography (what else would Redwood National and State Park ranger types do with a day off?). On the way down, we reflected on why you never go off trail in southern Humboldt County (pot gardens guarded by shotguns rigged up with tripwires and the like), lamented that time and trail maintenance restricted us to a path crammed between a creek and a road, but appreciated at least that we couldn't get lost on such a trail, as neither of us had brought a map or first aid kit. In short, we had totally set ourselves up for an adrenaline-pumping bushwhack from hell.
The "out" portion of our out-and-back along Bull Creek proved pleasant enough, as the trail meandered along the floodplain of the swollen creek and low terraces studded with soaring, skyscraping redwoods. While "my" park to the north can once again claim the world's tallest trees at 115.5 meters (379.1 feet), Humboldt Redwoods can still claim the greatest concentration of tall trees along Bull Creek's alluvial flats; may we never stop outdoing each other. Even after years living among the redwoods, we still can't resist
photographing them:
We reversed course at three o' clock to ensure we'd have enough daylight to return to the trailhead, seeing the sights again for the first time, and after awhile, seeing also that the trail abruptly ended at a fallen giant of a tree - not recently fallen, which meant we'd lost the trail (" ... at least we couldn't get lost on such a trail ... "). We retraced our steps. After retracing many steps, not finding a fork in the trail, and quickly losing daylight, we wisely decided to bushwhack in the general direction of the trailhead (" ... never go off trail in southern Humboldt County ... "), which we could easily determine given our orientation to Bull Creek and the Mattole Road (" ... lamenting that time and trail maintenance restricted us to a path crammed between a creek and a road ... "). We stumbled upon numerous "trails" which invariably screwed us into surmounting massive rotting redwood logs, further retracing our steps, and other risky behaviors,
such as stumbling upon tripwires:
(The flash from my camera belied what amounted to effective camouflage, especially to those in search of a trail rather than an untimely demise [ ... pot gardens, guarded by shotguns rigged up to tripwires and the like ... "].)
We stopped dead in our tracks, then - you guessed it - retraced our steps.
As you can tell by my living to tell the tale, we eventually rediscovered our trail and made damn sure not to lose it again. At least we had fun - way more than we'd (barely) planned. Rest assured, we will never ask for trouble like that again!