Category Archives: Northern California

September 15, 2023 Revival

February 25, 2023 All In A Day

Starfish Galore. February 2023

Lush. February 2023

“You look like you’re on a mission.”

North Coast. February 2023

January 22, 2023

Magical. January 2023

May 23, 2022 Make It Happen

July 26, 2021

After tossing and turning all night long from not showering after a long sweaty hike, I woke up to mostly cloudy skies. The sky looked bleak, thick clouds accompanying the already hazy atmosphere. As I left the campsite, I saw a large thunderhead to the north, which was where I was headed. I contemplated again, should I head home early or keep going? No cell service so I couldn’t check any forecasts. Well, I’ve driven this far, might as well try.

As I drove north into the storm, the sun hid behind the clouds and it started to downpour. By some miracle when I got to Burney Falls, it mostly sunny skies with just a few high clouds. I waited for the sun to be at a higher angle to illuminate the bright blue water. My eyes lit up looking at the blue glow on my dome port with plentiful trout at the base of the falls. That glow, just wow.

Life is all about taking risks. If you don’t take risks, you can’t have fun. Maybe 1 out of 100 trips for me was a waste of time but I would only consider it a waste of time if I didn’t learn anything. It’s always better to go and potentially get skunked than to not go and regret it later. You won’t know unless you go. Sometimes you’ll score and the opportunity may never return again.

600 miles
1 wet wetsuit
No expectations.

July 25, 2021 Risk It

Last year, I had to cancel my trip to Butte Lake due to wildfires. I re-booked it again for this September but the outlook for wildfires is not looking good this year either unfortunately, with several large fires already happening. A campsite opened up last week so I thought I would go this weekend in case I had to call off my September trip, again.

Well, even the early bird may not get the worm. The AQI on airnow.gov showed ‘unhealthy’ for today. The forecast looked to improve but judging by the webcams, it was going to be smoky. Was it going to be completely smoked out? Should I cancel? I was still debating at 10am.

Forfeit and stay home
Stop contemplating and just go

I hit the road. Ah, the open highway takes away some of my anxiety from the work week. It was hazy skies up north but still plentiful sunlight. It wasn’t until I headed east on 44 it started to get dense.

After about 5 hours of driving, I arrived late afternoon. As expected, super smoky skies, but hey could be worse. Despite the questionable air quality, I started the Cinder Cone hike from my campsite which was luckily adjacent to the trail. After hiking through the forest, I saw the cinder cone, an ash volcano. It immediately brought me back memories to Cerro Negro in Nicaragua; I imagined myself sand boarding down the steep slope.

It didn’t take me long to hike up, despite the infamous two steps forward, one step back. I was the lone soul at the top. For the next 3 hours, there was nothing but the sound of the wind and static on my radio from the Inspiration Point repeater. I was running around the cone looking for the best compositions as the sun turned into an orange sphere. Even through the haze, I still got some decent shots of the Painted Dunes. I managed to finish the 4 mile loop and make it back to the campsite just before it got completely dark.

July 18, 2021 The Universe

I made it to Old Ski Bowl at 11pm, the end of Everitt Memorial Highway that climbs Mt Shasta. It was much more devoid of campers compared to last year as I was the lone car on the side of the road. No company for tonight but I’ll take it. Again, I had to process that I was here almost exactly one year ago, chasing the moon light.

The moon was still glaring but I could see the galactic dust of the Milky Way. I knew my window of opportunity was going to be moonset to the crack of dawn, about 1am to 4:50am. I decided to try and nap just to pass some time and avoid the pesky mosquitoes, but also so I wouldn’t feel languid on the drive back home.

My alarm sounded at 12:45am. I noticed the moon about to set and the Milky Way core getting brighter; I jumped out of my car in excitement and started setting up the camera. I stood in the dark and cold for the next several hours, treated to a spectacular display of the celestial sky: the moon, the planets and stars. The waxing moon turned deep orange as it set over the horizon, reminiscent of a sunset due to wildfire smoke. I witnessed airglow and several meteors, one with a fiery tail that left me breathless. It felt serene to gaze up at the stars above and the flickering lights from human activity below.

Looking down on the world makes me realize how small and insignificant humanity’s problems have become in comparison. Even I find myself sucked into the affairs of society and caught up in degenerate matters from time to time; I’m still human. Why should we spend so much of our limited attention involving ourselves in things that do not matter in the grand scheme of the universe? After all, I’m only on this planet for several decades at most compared to the celestial bodies that are billions of years old.

I’m reminded by the infinite amount of stars that there is always something greater than us.

600 miles
3 hours of sleep
I belong here.

July 17, 2021 Rituals

March 7, 2021 There it is!

Parrot Waxcap (Gliophorus psittacinus)

With what may be the last rain for the winter, I thought I wouldn’t be able to find the parrot waxcap this season. When I first started taking photos of mushrooms this year, I was immediately jealous of this shot by WildMacro. He mentioned it took 3 years to find it. It’s elusive nature definitely did not get my hopes up of finding it especially for an amateur like me. Despite persistent searching up and down the coast the past two months, I didn’t find it, until today.

Like I tell myself every weekend, I had a choice, stay comfortably at home, or go somewhere. Again, the uncertainty was killing me. Were there going to be mushrooms 24 hours after a decent rain? Did it rain enough? Oh great, a frost advisory. That’s not good. How far should I drive? Being an optimizer, I always have a hard time committing to a location; the paradox of choice. I narrowed my choices down to two, shut down the computer and used my intuition.

The ground was definitely wet with damp moss redwood duff. It felt very “mushroomy”, just like how a beach would feel “fishy”. I found a few wax caps early on, one had almost a greenish cap. Could this be a parrot? How am I supposed to find a green mushroom in a forest of green? It was a needle in a haystack, only the needle is the same color as the hay. The others around were more yellow and brown, keep looking. A feeling of excitement came to me as that was the closest I’ve been to finding the mushroom. Two hours in, I didn’t find much other than some nice golden waxcaps and purple Mycena that was past its prime. As I approached a bridge to the waterfall connector trail, I spotted in the corner of my eye, a round, slimy, green colored mushroom. There it is! With mushrooms, you find one and suddenly you discover a whole cluster. I lost track of time as I spent the next hour cleaning and photographing the parrots, at times I simply just stared at it. It was really that green, nothing like I’ve seen before.

With fishing, you never know if one more cast will be the one. With mushrooming, you never know if 10 more steps will uncover something. That’s what keeps me excited, the unknown, the suspense, the chance you may discover something totally unexpectedly.

Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura)

Alpine Jelly Cone (Guepiniopsis alpina)

Boulder Fall. March 2021

January 30, 2021

Slimy Webcap (Cortinarius vanduzerensis)

Redwood Grove. January 2021

January 12, 2021

Cobalt Understory. January 2021

January 10, 2021

Redwood Cascade. January 2021

January 9, 2021 Rainbow Palette #1

Bleeding Oak Crust (Stereum gausapatum)

Under the Redwoods. January 2021

Blue-green Wood Stain Mushrooms (Chlorociboria aeruginascens)

Lavender Layer Cake (Trichaptum biforme)

January 3, 2021 Cloudy with a chance of mushrooms

Gills. January 2021

I’m always fascinated by the intricacies of nature. I’m not sure why but lately I have an urge to do some macro photography. Perhaps the first rains sparked a new interest in finding something to do when it’s overcast and gray outside. On Friday, I hiked one trail with low expectations; if I found one mushroom I would be happy. While I did find a few, and certainly had fun shooting, my intuition was pointing me to a spot where I had a feeling it was going to be good.

I was the second car in this morning and surprisingly it stayed pretty quiet the entire day. The moment I pulled in the parking area, I noticed a large collapsed log with an abundance of mushrooms sprouting from it. Jackpot! I spent the next 8 hours kneeling, crouching, bent over in awkward positions. I had a camera in one hand and flash light in other, running on just a banana and some beef jerky. Bringing the kneeling pad was a lifesaver. Most hikers passing by didn’t notice the mushrooms, let alone the tiniest of fungi that was no more than half an inch tall. As I peered through my lens, I noticed tinier bugs that were moving erratically around the mushroom caps.

For those interested, I am shooting with a $20 Canon 35-80mm with the front element taken off and a high power flashlight as a strobe. I think I figured it out, low ISO, reasonable shutter speed to stop any motion blur, F16 or smaller. I learned that I need lots, I mean lots, of light in order to get decent results at more than life size magnification. I also learned that the 3 D’s: dark, damp & decay is a recipe for mushroom heaven. I never had so much fun without any fancy gear or spending loads of money, or even traveling far. I was considering buying a dedicated macro lens, maybe some macro flashes and all sorts of other accessories that a professional macro photographer would have. After seeing my shots, the decision has been duly justified that it was completely unnecessary. Most of the fun is finding new visions and discovering something new. Just keep your eyes peeled, your mind open, and expose yourself to new places.

As I sat next to a large cluster of brown-spored mushrooms, I imagined myself shrunken down and looking up a mighty tall stalk with the cap overhanging, and just being one of those little critters for a day.