Scouting and Pouting
Weather has finally returned to northern California this week! Rain clouds built and started spitting rain on me out here near the Yuba River a couple nights ago. The mid-winter summer weather has finally come to a close and we are back to building the snow pack and filling the aquifers with much needed water. I can finally sit in a coffee shop for a whole day and not be tempted to go run in the sun! Yay for the Gray!
This week I have been scouting the potential path of the Japhy Ryder Route where it crosses from the Sierras to the coast. I have had a few successes, like discovering the Stonyford Store and what looks like a good route from Snow Mountain Wilderness out to the Sacramento River. Unfortunately, I have had a ton of not so successful moments too. Some defeats have been discovering I can’t access the Sutter Buttes & that half the trails on my map of Mendocino National Forest don’t actually exist. Many of the trails I was hoping to use have been burned in the 08 fires or are heavily populated by large marjana farms complete with armed and paranoid pot growers. It is becoming clear that establishing this route will be harder than I hoped. This summer’s route will not be the streamlined dream hike I envisioned, but at least it will be a beginning. Getting from the western most point of California, Cape Mendocino, to the northern foothills of the Sierras will include quite a bit of road walking. I am seriously considering getting a bike for a few of the sections.
This summer should be filled with the temptation to trespass. Trespassing might fly in some places, […]
