Michael Kauffmann

Bumpass Hell Trail

August 26, 2019 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

Geology of the Lassen Country

The Bumpass Hell Trail is one of the most popular destinations in the Lassen Country. The trailhead is at the large parking area 0.25 mile (0.4 km) east of Lake Helen. The trail traverses the dacite of Bumpass Mountain for the majority of the hike. Also, note the well-preserved glacial polish and striae in the dacite alongside the first few hundred yards of the trail. They were created by the glacier that started from the Lake Helen cirque. At the viewpoint where the trail turns east, about 0.5 mile (0.8 km) from the trailhead, it crosses briefly into andesite of Mount Diller. Here a National Park Service trailside interpretive display shows a model of Brokeoff Volcano before erosion.

Trailhead: Bumpass Hell trailhead parking lot
Distance: 3.0 miles (4.8 km) round trip
Key Geologic Features: Hot springs, clay-altered bedrock

Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park

May 20, 2019 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

Hiking and wildflower adventures

Description: Located on a bend in the Van Duzen River, Owen R. Cheatham Grove is a majestic patch of old growth redwoods spared by the founder of what would become the Georgia-Pacific Plywood and Lumber Company. The short hike loops through the grove. From the west side of the parking area two trails lead across the riverbed to the Van Duzen River. Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park offers a small network of trails on the north and south side of the Van Duzen River. A summer bridge crosses the Van Duzen to 1.5 miles of additional trails on the south side. The north side trails include a nature trail with interpretive signs, a meandering walk up and down the hillside east of Grizzly Creek, and a stretch of trail west of Grizzly Creek.

Lassen Geology

April 28, 2019 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

The Earth is not always quiet. An isolated region of northeast California offers a land of boiling springs, steaming sulfur vents, mud pots, and volcanoes. The boisterous geology of the southern Cascades is defined by Lassen Volcanic National Park. A complex and compelling geologic story is told in The Geology of the Lassen Country, a new book by R. Forrest Hopson and Michael A. Clynne.

June 14, 1914 phreatic eruption of Lassen Peak from near Manzanita Lake. Photograph by B.F. Loomis, courtesy of National Park Service.

Mad About Manzanitas

March 26, 2019 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

The In Defense of Plants podcast took deeper look at the most diverse woody plant lineage in western North America (Arctostaphylos spp.) with San Francisco State Professor Dr. Tom Parker who has devoted much of his career to uncovering the ecology and evolution of the manzanita lineage. From mutualistic relationships with rodents and fungi to their dependence on fire, you will soon find that manzanitas play an important role in the ecology of California’s natural ecosystems. It is time we start paying these plants the respect they deserve and I hope this episode is a good start to doing just that.

Tom Parker is also the co-author of Field Guide to Manzanitas!

Bipartisan Conservation

March 6, 2019 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act

Ryan Henson called in to KHUM’s Happy Trails Program to discuss a new public lands bill that is being celebrated as an act of bipartisan conservation. It is a project Ryan has been working on for 11 years and he shares his excitement for the work and what it means for California.

bipartisan conservation explained — Ryan Henson describes his love for wild places on a flight to pursue land conservation in the Klamath Mountain Region. Photo by Michael Kauffmann, October 2018.

Guatemala bearberry

February 16, 2019 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi subsp. cratericola)

Jeff Bisbee

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a variable taxa because of the wide range of latitudes it explores across the northern hemisphere. Guatemala bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi subsp. cratericola) is a subspecies because of its disjunction distribution in Guatemala. It is also the only taxon not included in Field Guide to Manzanitas. Fernando Tobar recently took a trip to the Sierra Cuchumatanes, in Guatemala and observed these plants in their native habitat. That trip inspired this post.

Drury – Chaney Groves Trail

December 14, 2018 by Backcountry Press 1 Comment

From Hiking Humboldt V2 by Rees Hughes

In the massive flood of 1964, the once bustling community of Pepperwood was inundated by 30 feet of water. What remains on this floodplain of the Eel River are a few homes and farms, some vegetable stands, and a robust redwood forest. The Drury-Chaney Groves trail bisects the flat alluvial bench populated with redwoods that lie between the Avenue of the Giants and US 101. It is a flat walk and an accessible trail through several extensive groves of towering redwoods.

It was Berkeley paleontologist Ralph Chaney who first brought back ‘dawn redwood’ seedlings with him from China in the late 1940s. This deciduous sequoia joins the coast redwood and the giant sequoia as the three conifers known as redwoods.

Peaceful trail along the Eel River floodplain.

Getting there: Drive south on US 101 for 32.5 miles taking Exit 674 (Avenue of the Giants/Pepperwood). Turn left onto the Avenue of the Giants for 2.7 miles. The road passes through what remains of the community of Pepperwood taking a bend to the south, quickly reaching the parking area for the Drury-Chaney Groves trailhead. Parking is available on both sides of the Avenue of the Giants. Approximate driving time, 40 minutes.

Evergreen [Sword Fern (*Polystichum munitum*)] and deciduous ferns [Lady Fern (*Athyrium filix-femina)*] abound.

The route: From the parking area, the trail crosses a small open space and enters the redwood forest for the remainder of the walk. The level trail crosses the old Barkdull Road (0.6) — a right turn here will take you to another access point from the Avenue of the Giants in half a mile; a left turn leads to the general location of the old Barkdull Ranch (0.1). After crossing the Barkdull Road, the trail reaches the loop trail (0.7). The loop is 0.9 mile long (1.6). The return to the parking area necessitates retracing your steps (2.4).

Extras. Once located between Pepperwood and Stafford, the town of Elinor had a railroad stop, hotel, post office, and logging camp on the east side of the Eel River and a collection of homes, store, and school on the west side. A ferry plied the river connecting the two sides of the town. However, when the 1964 floodwaters receded there was little of Elinor left. Just after you turn left onto the Avenue of the Giants from Exit 674, turn left again on Elinor Road and drive 150 yards to the concrete barriers that block old US 101. You can follow the old road for a short distance to the bridge (dated 1938) crossing Jordan Creek. During periods of low water, it is possible to wander east to the Eel River.

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