Snow Mountain Wilderness, Mendocino National Forest, CA

Back in the beginning of August, we decided we wanted to go somewhere in the Mendocino National Forest, and the Snow Mountain Wilderness sounded like a great location.  We had picked this destination a bit hastily from “100 Classic Hikes in Northern California” by John R. Soares and Marc H. Soares.  We at least thought to call the ranger station ahead of time to make sure it was open and there was no immediate threat of wildfires.  The Forest Service employee I spoke with had to ask around the office and confirm with her supervisor before saying it was going to be ok; the Mill Creek Fire had just been contained... So with some hesitancy we went.  For those interested, the recommended route from Stonyford is rather long and challenging (narrow roads, large potholes, thick gravel and along cliffs).  There is another way, which we took on the way back; from the town of Upper Lake, CA (on the North Shore of Clear Lake) taking Elk Mountain Road to Forest Service Road M10, but this does involve driving through small creek (and officially for four-wheel drive only…). 

(view from campsite at trail head)

              We got to the trailhead just before sundown and met a couple of college interns with the Forest Service.  Being a recent graduate of the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences I always enjoy the opportunity to talk shop.  However, when we tried asking about the trail we learned their job was to go map it!  Well in the morning we set out anyway, noting the Jeffery Pine, White Fir and the fine sedimentary rocks.  We got to a point that finally seemed like the “toppish” of the mountain, where we had lunch.  When our new friends met us we asked if it was the top of the mountain, to which they replied they were going to ask us…  So we all continued on what we though was the path.  We dropped down into a beautiful area that appeared to be at least a couple years post fire.  My best guess is this was the area burned in the 2009 fire.  

On our way out we passed by a beautiful spring, incredibly refreshing to dip hands and head into on a hot day (of course not to drink without treatment, who knows where the spring actually comes from). 

            We finally found ourselves at a fork with the East Peak of Snow Mountain to the right and a trail back to the car to the left.  We decided to make our way towards the next adventure in Arcata, CA, rather than accompany our Forest Service companions on their way to map the rest of the trail.  I’d love to go back to this wilderness.  The forested areas all smelled sweet, faintly like cinnamon and sugar, we think due to the Sugar Pine and Incense Cedar.  Clearly a return is in order to verify these speculations.  I look forward to the improved maps from our Forest Service friends; they would be incredibly helpful for future adventures.  

"Clear Lake", CA

We thought we’d step out of the car for a breath of fresh air and a nice view as we passed by Clear Lake on Highway 20 on our way up to the Mendocino National Forest in Northern California.  Little did we know the air was not so fresh!  A putrid mass of dead rotting algae clogged the entire shoreline.  I unfortunately made the assumption that this must be an invasive species of algae out of control in the lake, but a little research proved otherwise. 

Over one hundred years ago Clear Lake was described “…covered with a deep, dense moss, which sometimes rises to the surface, and often to such an extent in summer as to seriously obstruct the passage of boats through the water” and “the plants and moss from the bottom float in great quantities in the water, and it becomes unfit to drink” (Stone 1873).  It has been presumed that the “dense moss… that rises to the surface” is in fact noxious scum forming blue-green algae, also referred to as cyanobacteria.  While present in the lake for thousands of years, these species of noxious algae have increased sense the late 1920’s and especially sense the 1940’s, primarily due to increased erosion and nutrient loading from mining and land-use change around the lake (Richerson et al. 1994). 

These species of algae form “scums” because they form colonies of individual algae cells and some cells fill with gas and become buoyant to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere (Mioni et al. 2012).  (This is a really cool ecological trick utilizing bacteria, do web search on “nitrogen fixing bacteria” for more info).  Anyway, because these algal scums are gross they bother the residence of the lake and reduce tourism at a cost of millions of dollars a year (Richerson et al. 1994).   For more information a report was released earlier this year investigating cyanobacteria blooms in Clear Lake and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River (Mioni et al. 2012).  This whole exercise has really highlighted for me the danger in making assumptions with little data and how “naturally occurring” components of an ecosystem can become disruptive through the unconscious consequences of modern development. 

References

Mioni, Cecile, Raphail Kudela, Dolores Baxa, and Meghan Sullivan. 2012. Harmful Cyanobacteria Blooms and Their Toxins in Clear Lake and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ( California ).

Richerson, Peter J, Thomas H Suchanek, Stephen J. Why, and Thomas Smythe. 1994. THE CAUSES AND CONTROL OF. http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Richerson/CleanLakesReport1994.pdf.

Stone, Livingston. 1873. XX. -Report of Operations in California in 1873. http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/WaterResources/Algae/Livingston+Stone.pdf.

Starting again...

Well, it has obviously been a while since I updated this blog.  I've spent the last three years earning my degree in environmental science and resource management and just didn't feel like dealing with this.  I have recently relocated to the Berkeley, California.  I've already started exploring my new environment and am excited to keep track of it here and hopefully provide some interesting reports.  I also have a lot of archived material from earning my degree I hope to dig up and post here too.

Sol Duc to Bogachiel Day 3

This was by far the most exciting day of the trip. Little did we know when we awoke we would penetrate the thickest vegetation, have our closest encounter with wildlife and traverse the largest trail obstruction… for a moment all at the same time.

As we left Twenty-One Mile camp the trail gradually descended through pristine old growth forests and crossing streams. As we reached lower elevations the trees became bigger and bigger as did the rest of the vegetation. Eventually we realized we were swimming through a sea of green leaves. The trail was a barely recognizable brownish hair on the forest floor. Despite the fact that it wasn’t raining the water clinging to everything clung to us, soaking our clothes and shoes. Fortunately nature graced us with a treat, wild blueberries everywhere! For a couple of hours the conversation consisted of “Oh my feet are so wet! Hmmm blueberry…”

Suddenly the wall of green dissipated to reveal a gaping ravine at least 12 ft deep and 150 ft wide. This was not on the map. It looked like an explosion had been directed down the hill towards the river, obviously a mudslide. Massive trees and boulders lay strewn like toys up and down the path of destruction. With no other option readily available we found a part we could climb/slide down and wiggled our way through the maze of broken branches and fallen logs to the other side. Now in the bottom of the ravine the opposite side was much steeper, 20-30 ft. and comprised of mostly sand making it very hard to get up. Along with that we had no idea where the trail actually was. While we were standing there trying to figure out what to do I looked down the trench to a log maybe 100ft away and saw this


My first thought was I should have spent the money on the bear mace. My second thought was that we were trapped with our backs against a sand cliff. The third was that the bear was heading in the opposite direction (phew). With some effort, cursing and singing “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey we did get up the embankment and back on the trail.

We were very relived that evening when we pitched camp. I built a momentous fire to dry all of our clothes, boots, insoles, etc… We ate a ton of lentils and chocolate and went to bed.

Sol Duc to Bogachiel Day 2

We woke with the sun, munched on some breakfast and broke camp. The whole process was made easier by a piece of equipment I think is essential to an enjoyable backpacking trip, the French press travel mug. We had to back track a little down to Deer Lake again so we could make our way to the Bogachiel River Valley. We took a slight detour through the bog that feeds into Deer Lake. It was a pretty amazing sight. Due to its sub alpine location on a North facing slope the snow pack around Deer Lake persists much longer then other parts of the surrounding area. This leads to a decrease in the growing season and other biological processes. The result is that it must have taken centuries to grow this bog that was thick and deep with organic matter.

We got on the right trail, which steadily began to incline complimented with sightings of wildlife and cool lichens Pilophorus acicularis or “Devil’s Matchstick”.

(Though they look fragile they are actually quite rigid.) This was the most arduous day of hiking with a lot of up and down stretches. There was a brief yet spectacular view of Mt. Olympus, though none of the photographs could capture its splendor. At one point we descended about 1200 ft in a mile crossing the tiny percolating streams that fed into the emerging Bogachiel River. We made it to Twenty-One Mile camp (counting the miles from the end of the trail we were heading towards if that makes sense) fairly early, but tired and gross. The camp had a shelter, the operative word being HAD…

Well at least we didn’t need it, we were happy to be at a low enough elevation we could build a fire. We were in need of a refreshing bath and found quite a lovely spot to clean up.

Monika did get the joy of listening to me shriek when I plopped down in this snow fed stream to clean myself. Did I mention we could build a fire? We enjoyed another nice pot of organic mac n cheese, this time with salami, and tucked ourselves in for some much needed sleep.

Sol Duc to Bogachiel Day 1 (July 4th 2009)

Monika and I left early in the morning after splitting a stack of pancakes and a pound of bacon. As usual the drive to the trail head took longer then we’d like, but we still started off by noon. The first half mile was littered with day hikers and tourists out to take photographs of the easily accessible Sol Duc waterfall. Just after the falls the trail became suddenly narrow, less maintained and empty… Success! There was a constant sound of running water and sights of mushrooms as we steadily gained elevation. After about three miles and a 1000’ ft. we stopped for lunch at Deer Lake. This is where we discovered the amazement of Skagit River Valley ham nuggets!

From there we headed towards our camp for the night. With plenty of light left we pitched our tent, ditched some of our load and continued on to the Seven Lakes Basin via the Little Divide Trail. Towards the top we had the splendid opportunity to hike in 80 degree weather in the snow, it was awesome! The alpine trees had that wonderful Dr. Seuss quality to them, contorting and bending into dreamlike corkscrew shapes. As we crossed the ridge we noted the change in North vs. South facing slopes. From snow and stunted trees we entered a world of warmth and wild flowers. Pictures don’t do the meadows justice.
When we got to the edge of the Seven Lakes Basin we were breath taken.


The trail down was long winding snow covered steps cut into the rock. It seemed fairly possible that one wrong step and I could easily slide/fall the few hundred feet to the half frozen lake below… but I didn’t. At the bottom we met a ranger, not chisel jawed with a badge but covered in tattoos with facial piercings (oh how I love the North West). We had our second lunch at the edge of the frozen lake seen in the photo and pumped water streaming from the lake (it was delicious!). We made it back to camp just in time for sunset, made some organic man n cheese and passed out.