2025-02-23 40 -124

Location

The redwoods near Kneeland, CA

Participants

Plans

Up, fret, down.

Expedition

I was in Eureka for a few days, and found myself extremely bored after the business was over. So, of course, I checked the points, and this one showed to be the closest to Eureka. Checking terrain, Street View, and parcel data, I concluded this one wasn't accessible for both its hiking difficulty and its ownership.

Nonetheless, I wanted to go anyway. I was due to start driving back home the next day, so highly unlikely I'll ever get a nab of hashing in Eureka again for a while. Unlike the time I tried in Wesley Chapel, I felt no shame in failing this one; it would be an interesting drive up to a part of Humboldt that I won't see otherwise, and I've actually felt really good despite my boredom. And I forgot to register the point in the eTrex.

So I left and went as straight as possible. Leaving the city, "a part of Humboldt that I won't see otherwise" immediately appeared; my best comparison is driving through Mississippi with redwoods. Residences every hundred meters, trees more numerous and stronger in posture, small town nature, countryside really. A few pedestrians and bikers, with cars being the same amount.

The last thing that assured me well was a public park. Then the road wasn't so calm. A hairpin straight after the park, and the road went up. And up. And up. And still up. It was pretty much a mountain pass road, with narrow asphalt, tight curves, no guardrails, and my side dropping to hell with the other side scaling to heaven, warranting me driving no faster than 25 mph. But I can still say it was beautiful; the sun was really there or the light almost wasn't, the landscape did actually change, the road was decently maintained and the lane divider was still marked, and I was still smiling, usually reserved for the easy part. Of course, nothing to distract me from the fact that the gas pedal was depressed practically the whole way up.

And the question of accessibility never really changed, too. Starting from that first hairpin, every two hundred meters was a "no trespassing" sign. I was a bit surprised because you'd actually be insane if you wanted to trek these extremely steep hills. I did try reading the signs, but managed only one, partially: "access is strictly prohibited". Yes, I figured. After quite a few curves, I reached the turnoff where I intended to view the hash.

This turnoff was victim to the signs, as well. I never caught it on Street View, and that's because it's posted on a tree where the hills dropped. And they dropped hard; even steeper than the cliffs I witnessed in Yountville, guaranteeing an unpleasant summary of the day. In short, please don't go down. At least I could read the signs now: no trespassing, access prohibited without consent of landowner, punishable under three different law codes, with contacts for access.^[1] Plus, another piece of paper with text in Arial, which I couldn't read since the text was quite small. It wasn't strictly an overlook or a vista, neither a triumph. Of course, it was nice making the trip here anyway. Besides, the recent rain makes it virtually impossible to navigate grassy overgrown steep hills, so if I was insane enough to trek extremely steep hills... I'd have an unpleasant summary of the day, perhaps.

I used geohashing.info right then and there on my phone, as I still had connectivity, then registered the 5 digits on the eTrex. It turns out the stupidity distance from the turnoff was about 700 meters, too darn much for my liking. I could've shortened it going further up the road... but maybe I'd only cut it about 60 meters. I did, however, go down the road, over to where there was actually an overlook... and a gate on a road which would bring one closer to the point. As expected, signs galore: the same two signs from earlier, plus a "NOTICE OF INTENT TO HARVEST TIMBER". Now I knew the reality of this hash: it was in an area designated for cutting trees. Parcel data in California doesn't show landowner names, but this notice did show the landowner, or rather the timberland owner: Humboldt Redwood Company and Humboldt Sawmill Company. These two, from the aforementioned signs, have the same contact address in Scotia; it turns out that, passing Scotia on US 101, you find a large area containing thousands of stacked logs and processed wood planks, a notable sight when coming into Eureka (which I only realized a couple hours after getting home). Also, I figure this is the reason Google Maps showed the road as being labelled "HRC Rd 15", the abbreviation for the former. More signs: video surveillance. Now I could read the "Area Closed" sign: it's due to vandalism, so turns out I'm not the only one enterprising in stupid adventures. Up on another tree were three different signs. This place is among the most imposing when it comes to signage, at least what I've seen.

And so, getting the kick, I went down, riding the brakes, and the Mazda reported 88.7 mpg. I'm sure it was more than that.

Jump up ↑ I never intended to bother anyone should there somehow have been a phone number, and it was Sunday anyway.

Photos

I didn't have time to rename the point
but you're not asking me to do this
Can you see the sign?
There it is
and they do a good job at making sure you don't
Once again, the photos don't tell you how steep it is
HRC Rd 15 faintly visible
Going down
Going up
The gate to hell... maybe
Aha
Sharper than Street View
Better hope they don't come knocking
They have other visions for the hash ("forester" field blurred for the person's privacy)
Well, thank you