Hiker's hip pocket Guide to Humboldt County
UPDATES & CORRECTIONS THROUGH APRIL 2001
BY TRAIL NUMBER (#) & PAGE (P)
Please note the following changes, not reflected in the trail reports, which have occurred since Second Edition 1993 printing.
#6. DeMartin Trail rerouted in January 1998. Total distance now one mile longer. Rerouted to east through virgin redwood groves from 1-1/8 miles to near camp.
#12, 15 & 19. Butler Creek Camp moved ½ mile north to Ossagon Creek.
#12-17. Elk Prairie Parkway renamed N.B. Drury Parkway.
#17. P79 & 80. Clintonia Trail rerouted, now leaves Irvine Trail 300 feet east of old junction. Clintonia Trail now ½ mile longer but less steep.
#29, 30, 31, 32 & 33. Trinidad Chamber of Commerce new phone #: 677-1610.
#32. Pages 126-127 describe new Indian Beach Trail from Memorial Lighthouse.
#35. Arcata's Redwood Park now has handicapped-accessible trail.
#38. South Jetty Road now closed at top of Table Bluff, adding ¼ mile to hike. Eel River mouth migrated north 1-½ miles! Now west of mouth of McNulty Slough.
Trails #39. Page 145, paragraph 2: Centerville Beach is no longer open to vehicles driving on the beach.
#40. P150. 1998 winter surf washed away "the immense slide of mucky mud."
#43. P159. Founder's Grove Nature Trail now fully wheelchair accessible.
#44. P163. The Flatiron Tree fell in a January 1995 storm. Old bridge destroyed, now a seasonal bridge from May to October only. From Connick Creek to lower Bull Creek Flats area, trail rerouted to hillside above flood plain.
#46. P168. Baxter Camp Trail rerouted, now 1-½ miles, starting and ending in same places. Lower Preacher, South Prairie and Gould roads removed, replaced by new 3-½ mile South Prairie Trail from Grieg Road to Bull Creek Road. Bull Creek Road from Kemp Road to Mattole Road removed.
#47-53. Bureau of Land Management has new phone numbers. Arcata BLM: (707)825-2300. Ukiah BLM: (707)468-4000. Permits now required for overnight trips for groups over 10 and groups with pack animals. Call for info.
Bear cannisters now required for overnight hikes in the King Range. You can rent cannisters at Petrolia Store, Shelter Cove Campground Store, or from the BLM.
New Lost Coast Hiker's Shuttle: (707) 986-9905
A major fire burned the steep slopes of the King Range in October, 2003. Some upland trails may be closed
#47. New Cooskie Creek Trail starts south of mouth of Fourmile Creek, runs 10 miles to Telegraph Ridge Road, hard to find in spots. Spanish Flat never had a sawmill. New Rattlesnake Ridge Trail, 4-5/8 steep miles, connects Big Flat with Kings Crest Trail west of Kings Peak. BLM banned all vehicle access to beach.
Big new landslide ¼-mile north of Buck Creek is impassable at high tide.
#52. P189-190. New trailhead parking lot just before end of road has restrooms and water. New wheelchair-accessible platform overlooking beach.
#53. Starting from Wailaki or Nadelos Campground shortens the trail by 2-¼ mile, not 1-¼ miles.
P196. Sinkyone's Needle Rock Visitor Center no longer rents sleeping space, but you can rent a roof overnight at Barn Camp across the road.
#56. P205. Hartsook Inn acquired by Save-the-Redwoods League.
P208. Ca. Coastal Trail now has 960 miles complete, described in new books, Hiking the California Coastal Trail, Volumes One and Two.
Pages 126-127: Replace all text of Trail #32 with text below. Symbols & illustration stay the same.
32. INDIAN BEACH
NEW TRAIL TO SECLUDED BEACH
The trail, marked "INDIAN BEACH TRAILS," descends by steps or wheelchair-accessible concrete ramp to the memorial lighthouse, a replica of the still working 1871 lighthouse that hides from view on the west face of Trinidad Head beyond the small harbor on your right.
Hikers want to take the gravel track signed "PRIMARY TRAIL TO INDIAN BEACH." It descends with views of the sea-stack-studded Trinidad Bay. Descend 65 steps through a jungle of coastal scrub with coyote brush, blackberry, thimbleberry, alder, coffeeberry, cow parsnip, bee plant and coastal manroot, coming to a bench with a view of Trinidad Head.
Descend steeply by 144 more steps, passing an immense bay laurel on your right, then another bench on your left, coming to a view of Indian Beach just ahead. The trail winds past one more bench, then descends 26 more steps to reach Indian Beach just beside a tiny creek before 1/8 mile. Use caution on the final steep, sometimes loose steps.
From the stairway, you can walk west about J mile, passing twinberry and willow on the bluffs above the beach. At its west end the beach meets a promontory of jumbled rocks.
From the stairway, you can also walk Indian Beach east for almost K mile. You cross a creek about 1/8 mile from the stairs. In a site above the beach densely overgrown today, the Yurok village of Tsurai (pronounced Cher-ai') saw at least 1000 years of continuous use until 1916. A sea stack called Split Rock lies in the surf zone. Continue east along the beach, crossing another creek. After passing beneath a cliff where sticky monkeyflower grows, you meet a beached sea stack with a grassy top around ¼ mile. Large Sitka spruce grow on the bluffs above.
Around 300 feet beyond the grassy rock outcrop, Indian Beach ends. Unless it's high tide, you can scramble over rocks to a rocky tidepool area, ideal at low tide. Stretching east is the pebbly beach of He'Woli-Wroi Cove which you can walk to the cliff at its east end. As you do, the many offshore rocks provide spectacularly changing vistas of the rugged coast.
Return to the trail and climb the steps back to the lighthouse. If you walked to both ends of the beach and back, you hiked 1-1/8 miles.
INDIAN BEACH:
DISTANCE: ¼ mile round trip to beach. Total hike is 1-1/8 miles.
TIME: One hour.
TERRAIN: Descends to secluded beach right below town for beach walk and tidepooling.
ELEVATION GAIN/LOSS: 160 feet+/ 160 feet-.
BEST TIME: Medium to low tide.
WARNINGS: Use caution on the steep stairs.
DIRECTIONS TO TRAILHEAD:Exit Highway 101 at Trinidad, M.100.9 from north, M.100.6 from south. Go west on Main Street, then left on Trinity Street to its end. Turn right on Edwards Street and immediately turn left into the small parking area near the lighthouse.
FURTHER INFO: Trinidad Chamber of Commerce (707) 677-1610.
33.
OTHER TRINIDAD TRAILS
SHORT HIKES TO RUGGED COAST
The other Trinidad area trails leave from Scenic Drive, the picturesque old portion of Highway 101 which follows the coast south from the main Trinidad exit. They are listed from north to south.
The BAKER BEACH TRAIL leaves the road about .2 mile south of Baker Beach Road. The trail leaves from the north end of the parking area, descending steeply through alder and spruce forest to reach the beach in 350 feet. The beach stretches north for 3/8 mile. After you come to a rocky point, good rocky tidepools lie offshore from the pebbly beach.
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