Granite Peak - Trinity Alps

I joined Matthew and Karen Kidwell, Jaclyn Gomez, and Siena Dante for a hike in the Trinity Alps during late June. We took on Granite Peak, which turned out to be a little more than Jaclyn could handle. Siena and myself stayed back with Jaclyn for a while as she slowly ascended, while Matthew and Karen continued on at a faster pace. Siena and I eventually separated from Jaclyn and finished off the 4500 feet to the top, all done in less than 4 miles...needless to say this hike is an unrelenting ascent. However, the views at the summit were incredible--Shasta was massive on the northern horizon, the craggy alps were a valley away to the west, and Lassen was brilliantly white off to the east. After about thirty minutes sitting on the rocky summit, Siena and I descended back down and joined the rest of the group, at which point we drove into Weaverville and had an excellent dinner at the Red Dragon.

Trinidad, California

Just a couple of pictures of beautiful Trinidad, California.

Chevron Fuel Spill Exercise

I had the opportunity to observe an incredible group of professionals conduct a fuel spill containment exercise during late June. The Chevron Corporation has a fuel unloading facility in Eureka, CA where barges dock and pump gasoline into land based storage tanks, at which point semis transport the fuel to merchants around the region. Although unlikely, a fuel spill remains a remote possibility--therefore Chevron must conduct training exercises in which they will deploy a boom down current in order to collect the spilt fuel, which is then skimmed off the surface of the water. Matthew Kidwell and myself represented NWS Eureka, and observed ICS activities associated with the containment exercise, and also conveyed weather support our office could provide during an actual spill. Pictures from the drill are posted below.

Damnation Trail - Del Norte County

I joined up with Ed Swafford and Siena Dante for the Damnation Trail located off the 101 in Del Norte County. It was a pretty easy hike, consisting of about 1000-1500 down to the coast through tall redwood trees; then another 1000-1500 feet back up to the trailhead...all-in-all around 4 miles round trip. The string of consecutive clear sunny days continued and you couldn't ask for better weather hiking along the coast. We hung out next to waves crashing into the rocky shore, which were pretty steep due to gale force northerlies. Siena and I also braved a narrow rocky cat walk out to a mini sea stack, which added a bit of excitement to what was otherwise a pretty tame stroll through the woods. I'd definitely recommend this quick little hike for anyone passing through southern Del Norte County.

Besides the hike...on the way back home through northern Humboldt County we encountered an elk induced traffic jam (see the last picture below).

Long Canyon - Trinity Alps

I had an adventurous hike through Long Canyon with Tamara Lopez on June 13th. The trail ascends somewhat steeply through woodlands interspersed with swift running streams and creeks. Views of the granite spires typical of the Trinity Alps came into view after an hour or so of hiking. Finally we broke out of the woods and found ourselves adjacent to snowy mountain slopes that transitioned to green meadows in the valley floor and a raging torrent of water slicing through and beneath deep snow pack. We eventually reached the base of a saddle that separates two prominent mountain peaks...we had to traverse a steep snow slope in order to reach dry, albeit steeper ground that we ascended by scrambling over rock outcrops and pulling ourselves upwards by grabbing onto manzanita brush. We finally got to the top of the saddle and looked farther down trail...it was full of deep snow that would lead down to Deer Lake, our final destination. We decided that reaching the high mountain saddle was a worthy end point given the snow and climbing conditions we already tackled. So we descended back down into Long Canyon and hiked 4-5 miles back to the trailhead.

King Peak - Southwestern Humboldt County, California

I hiked King Peak during early June for the second time in the last three years...this time with my coworker William Iwasko. As usual, the drive to and from the trailhead was the most adventurous part of the day...King Peak Road may possibly be the worst road in America...I highly recommend you drive it and see for yourself. Otherwise, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and the views of the Pacific Ocean, Shelter Cove, the Yolla Bolly Mountains, the surrounding King Range, and even the very top of Mount Shasta were all on clear display...definitely one of the better hiking experiences I've had in northwest California so far.