Western

Smith River National Recreation Area

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

The Smith River is very beautiful, and it’s my favorite of the ‘six rivers’ in Northern California. Jedediah Smith explored the region, and the northern section of Redwood National Park is also named after him. A couple of the most impressive groves are near the river, including Stout Grove and Grove of the Titans. In July & August when the river is low, there’s a footbridge to cross from the Jedediah Smith campground into the Stout Grove. The Trees of Mystery tour (outside the park) lets you take an elevated walkway among the redwoods. If you’ve ever seen the Star Wars movie with the Ewoks, the experience will seem familiar, as many scenes were filmed in this forest.

This Wild & Scenic River is likely the cleanest river and one of the largest un-dammed watersheds in the US, although there have been wildfires away from the coast. There are three forks with plenty of hiking and paddling to enjoy. Crescent City makes a good base for exploring the mouth, the park and heading upriver. The US Forest Service manages this recreation area including many magnificent coastal redwoods that rival the higher altitude giant sequoias in girth. There’s a rare Dawn Redwood from China on display outside the Hiouchi Visitor Center. I find it difficult to photograph redwoods and the river at the same time, but you can see the reflection of a coast redwood in the Smith River below.

Klamath

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

Until about a year ago, the valley above used to be called Iron Gate Lake. But the dam (far right) was removed to restore salmon to this stretch of the Klamath River in northern California. Four dams have been removed recently, and in May the local tribes began their traditional calls for the salmon to return. I believe the valley will now revert to its traditional name K’účasčas (or Fall Creek).

The Klamath is an important waterway, and there’s long been battles over its use. Above and below Klamath Falls in Oregon there are wildlife refuges for birds, but maybe 75% of the wetlands were lost when the water was diverted for agriculture. When traveling around Lava Beds and Tule Lake my car choked on clouds of locusts, and I saw few birds as the lower refuge was virtually dry.

Dams don’t increase the amount of water at all, but they do control when it is released and how it’s used. Besides the diversion of water into farms and factories, dams obviously block salmon, and the lowest remaining dam (near the CA-OR border) has a fish ladder that the salmon are unable to climb. Another problem the dams cause is warming the water in artificial lakes, which increases algae and disrupts the salmon’s cool water lifecycle.

Removing the dams is a step in the right direction, but the huge Klamath watershed still has a significant number of dams. The Klamath tributaries include the Salmon, Shasta and Trinity rivers and many creeks, with various artificial lakes. Logging and mining have also diminished the salmon, but I was able to find a delicious local steelhead fillet in Trinidad Head about an hour south of the mouth of the Klamath.

The even more serious and growing problem is wildfires. This year I drove along the Klamath through the forests to the sea. Much of the trip traveled through badly burned forests. The forests were noticeably healthier in tribal lands, where there is greater diversity of tree species due to less logging. In the middle of the trip, I saw the sign below in Happy Camp California on the banks of the Klamath, but surveying the damage, I was not a happy camper. The climate crisis is already devastating our public lands, despite all our efforts to protect them. We must stop burning so much carbon.

Sáttítla National Monument

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

While trying to find a plowed road through the highlands northeast of Mount Shasta in northern California, I asked a local what he knew about this Biden monument, but he hadn’t heard of the park we were both in. He referred to the area as the Medicine Lake ridge, and he suggested that nearby Glass Mountain was also worth visiting. Medicine Lake above is named for the large low profile or ‘shield’ volcano it sits below. The high point is almost 8,000 feet, but the whole area is high enough to have snow drifts blocking roads in May.

Sáttítla means ‘Obsidian’ in the local native language, and Glass Mountain is loaded with the black volcanic glass. To be clear, this is the Glass Mountain in Modoc National Forest near Lava Beds, not the 11,000+ foot Glass Mountain in the Inyo National Forest near Yosemite. The road and hiking are rough in this US Forest Service monument, and it’s illegal to gather obsidian. Fortunately the active volcano hasn’t erupted in 1000 years or so. But geologically, this is still a fascinating area.

The many volcanoes in Northern California, like Lassen and Shasta, are created by action deep below the surface. Until I got lost up here, I never knew that when one of the tectonic subduction plates slides under the continent, it can slice off a top surface layer, leaving contrasting features. Besides sharp peaks like Black Butte aside 101, there are faults that cause water falls like Middle Falls near McCloud below on its way to Shasta Lake.

Trinity

/ bigdiff / 1 Comment

The Trinity River is misunderstood, although it is one of the largest recreational, scenic & wild river systems in the country. The river is in the middle of the scenic Six Rivers region of northern California, above the Eel, Van Dusen & Mad but below the Klamath & Smith. It was misnamed by someone who mistakenly thought it popped out near Trinidad Head. The river begins in the Trinity Alps Wilderness (above background) which is full of challenging hiking opportunities, and it was dammed to create Trinity Lake (foreground). There are campgrounds for rafting on the Trinity River below the dam, and the farther away from the dam you are, the prettier the river becomes. The Trinity drains into the Klamath, after passing through tribal lands along the Bigfoot Highway (below).

Unfortunately, Trinity Forest was merged with Shasta Forest, leading to an alphabet soup of public lands and government agencies. The US Forest Service manages the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, the Trinity Alps Wilderness, and the 14,000+ foot volcanic Mount Shasta. Snowmelt from Mount Shasta flows both north into the Shasta River, another Klamath tributary, and south into Shasta Lake, a dammed section of the Sacramento River. And the USFS runs both Shasta and Trinity Lakes as National Recreation Areas, while the Bureau of Land Management manages the Trinity River where it flows through its lands. The NPS runs the third unit of the joint Shasta-Trinity-Whiskeytown NRA. So, this is a BLM WSR & USFS NRA visit, not to be confused with the NPS NRA. Clear as mud, right?

During the Gold Rush, the area was flooded with miners, and the town of Minersville is now under Trinity Lake. A fascinating stop in the 19th century Joss House in Weaverville, the oldest Taoist temple in California, built when the Dowager Empress was controlling a child Emperor to rule as regent. Well over 1000 Chinese miners lived and worked in the area, although the community was dispersed after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

The river has suffered a lot at the hands of men. Besides mining pollution and extensive logging, dams were built and much water was diverted to agriculture. Once plentiful fish and wildlife diminished. Today, our carbon pollution has altered the climate dramatically, with less snowpack, more severe droughts and more wildfires. We need to be better stewards of our public lands to preserve nature for future generations to enjoy.

Avenue of the Giants

/ bigdiff / 1 Comment

There’s a 32 mile scenic drive through the Coastal Redwoods parallel to 101 in California along the Eel River, and it’s some kind of wonderful. The Eel River is one of the longest recreational, scenic & wild river systems in the US, and this is one of the prettiest places in the USA. When the kids were little, we paid a bit extra to drive through a tree—just like my grandfather did with his kids in Yosemite in 1952—, and I have happy memories of dining at the old Benbow Inn on the Eel. Over 100 years ago, conservationists who came this way were dismayed by the rapid logging, prompting them to found Save the Redwoods, which got the community to do just that. Today, there are still a dozen or so old growth groves where you can get out, walk, look up and feel very small.

The Eel River empties into the Pacific south of Humboldt Bay, and the Mad River empties north of the bay. The shallow bay has clean water due to tides, and this gives it fine oysters. Try one of the oyster restaurants in Eureka. Many long billed birds—Avocets, Curlews and Willets—rely on this flyway stop. The mouth of the Eel River has been restored, and the eels (Pacific Lamprey) are recovering. This is one of the famed six rivers in this part of Northern California, and it’s exceptional. I’m glad I returned.

Mom, Uncle Nim, Grampy & Grammy in Yellowstone in 1952

Fort Ord National Monument

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

The military fort near Monterey California closed in 1994, in 2009 part of the dunes became a state park, and in 2012 President Obama made the rest a national monument. The 15k acre site is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management with just a few bits of unexploded ordinance in one section, but the rest of the large coastal park on rolling hills is open for hiking, biking and horseback riding. It’s a lovely spot where locals walk their dogs and get some exercise in the fresh air. Much of the site is behind gates that block cars from the roads, but there’s parking in neighboring communities like East Garrison from where folks bike in.

Fort Ord was perhaps best known for being an equestrian military base, supporting the 76th field artillery during WWI and early WWII, complete with an equine hospital. Horse soldiers or cavalry, have a long history predating the USA, although with modern drone warfare even heavy armored ‘cavalry’ like tanks must adapt or become obsolete. Here, I was most interested in the Comanche Horse memorial, and the closest trailhead to that is Jerry Smith. Comanche was the last and most famous parade horse on base, and its rider’s grandfather was a horse soldier during the Native American wars. The ‘original’ Comanche was a survivor of Little Big Horn, and the Comanche buried on a hill in Fort Ord is named for that veteran horse’s bravery.

Sand to Snow National Monument

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

As the name suggests, this California preserve includes diverse ecosystems from the Colorado and Mojave Deserts to San Gorgonio Mountain. The passes have long been used by Native Americans, and the monument sits just north of the Morongo Reservation. So the area protects both diverse species and cultural heritage.

Jointly managed by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, this land connects Joshua Tree with the San Bernardino National Forest and helps close the gap with the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto National Monument. While I-10 cuts between the two monuments, it’s not difficult to imagine a wildlife corridor being built over or under I-10 here someday, similar to the new 101 wildlife crossing near Santa Monica. There are existing I-10 underpasses in Arizona and New Mexico with plans for more.

I was curious about the nearby town on I-10 called Whitewater. Turns out the Whitewater River runs through the monument and picks up white silt in the sandy canyon. So, there’s no whitewater rafting on the river, although recent flash flooding closed a couple trails. The headwaters and upper reach is designated a wild & scenic river, then it turns into a recreational river in the wilderness, then flows through the monument and ends up in the Salton Sea.

While the national monument is fairly new, much of the land has been protected by environmental groups who negotiated donations to protect the area forever. The cabin above is a ranger station in a pretty campground in the canyon. It’s nice to know that there are such lovely places just off the interstate.

Carrizo Plain National Monument

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

This month I’m posting my spring visits to national monuments and recreation areas in California, slowly working my way north.

Soda Lake above dries out each summer, leaving alkaline deposits that look like baking soda. The plain is best known for occasional super blooms in April attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. But the roads are poor, so some folks get stuck in the soft mud in this remote area of coastal California ($1,200 bucks to retrieve your vehicle). The Bureau of Land Management runs a seasonal visitor center from December through May, with exhibits and very helpful staff who can tell you if the petroglyph area is open or not. If you plan to see the wildflowers, definitely call ahead to get the latest info on both the blooms and the roads.

I came early this year after a nice dry stretch while the lake was full and the land was still green and drove all over the place without seeing another person. I saw several golden eagles and watched a small flock of curlew land beside me to peck around with their long thin curved beaks. Geology students often come out to drive along the Dragon’s Back and take photos where Wallace Creek is sharply diverted by the San Andreas Fault, which runs between the seasonal lake and the Temblor Range in the photo above left.

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument

/ bigdiff / Leave a comment

Palm Canyon is part of Indian Canyons, managed by the Agua Caliente Band of Coahuila Indians near Palm Springs, California. Despite some recent fire damage, the trail is still quite beautiful especially in the morning. Palm Canyon Creek is a Wild and Scenic River further upstream, although the upper trail was closed when I visited. The canyon is definitely worth paying for parking and visiting the fine trading post too, although even in winter, the area is quite hot by midday.

Some years ago, I took my family up on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which has a good view of the north part of this Bureau of Land Management monument. But this trip I enjoyed hiking into the canyon to see the largest oasis grove of shaggy California fan palms. It’s a magical spot with birds zipping between the trees, butterflies and even a coyote seeking water.

Bagdad Cafe

/ bigdiff / 1 Comment

The 1987 cult classic film Bagdad Cafe was filmed in the California desert on Route 66. If you’ve seen it, you likely remember the lonely song “Calling You”, the quirky characters and the dusty location. I’m going to write about the movie, rather than describe the tens of millions of acres of the National Conservation Lands of the California Desert including the Mojave Trails and many large wilderness areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management, because the movie captures the weird, lonesome feeling of the desert and its ghost towns better than I can.

Carson McCullers wrote a novella called The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, which, along with the landscape, inspired a German director, Percy Adlon, to create this movie. He wrote a completely new script and renamed the cafe after a nearby ghost town in order to introduce a bit of magic into the story.

Here’s a hint for folks who may have missed the Aladdin connection. Instead of a magic lamp, a thief from Bagdad steals a gold colored coffee thermos from a German tourist named Jasmin. Trapped in the cafe (after being abandoned by her husband), Jasmin works her magic like a genie on three sad cafe folk: a piano player, an artist and the owner.

The film was a hit in the director’s home country of Germany and elsewhere in Europe, and bus loads of French tourists still frequently stop here to buy souvenirs. The movie was made into a TV show starring Whoopi Goldberg and Jean Stapleton, which didn’t do very well, because the adaptation removed both the magic and the whole ‘lonesome desert’ angle, by making the cafe busy and turning the characters into excellent communicators. Miscommunication among misfits is central to the film, as is the sparsely populated desert backdrop.

Sadly, the owner of the Bagdad Cafe just died, and I don’t know how long they’ll stay open, with I-10 no longer following the historic Route 66 past here and with the cafe known for a 40 year old movie. I’ve driven through many of these ghost towns and isolated places headed that way, and I often wonder what kind of dreams—broken or crazy—drove people to try to build lives out here in the middle of nowhere. Still, you never know about places like this; they may last another 40 years. I think the emptiness of the desert gives people a chance to live a different life than the routines and social norms in which most people are stuck. Anyway, watch the film, which conveys more than I can.