PLANTATION TRAIL - SALT POINT STATE PARK

photo credit: Jane Seck

photo credit: Jane Seck

photo credit: Bob Rutemoeller

photo credit: Bob Rutemoeller

photo credit: Bob Rutemoeller

photo credit: Bob Rutemoeller

Meet at 9:30 at pullout for Gualala business directory north of bridge to carpool and at The Sea Ranch Lodge parking lot at 9:45. Drive up Kruse Rhododendron Rd to Plantation and park at Plantation Farm Camp. Weather (muddiness) will dictate our route but we will walk up from Plantation and either enter Salt Point from the top Kruse Road connection or walk on the up the road turning right on Seaview and walking along it until we come the the trail access. We will either make a loop or do a down and back. We will be on the look out for mushrooms but without our mushroom guide we will not be picking any. We will drive to Kruse Rhododendron State Reserve for lunch after returning to our cars. Boots and hiking sticks are recommended. Light rain does not cancel this hike. Dogs are not allowed on the Salt Point trails.
Leader: Harmony Susalla

PLANTATION TRAIL MUSHROOM HIKE

Meet at 9:15 at pullout for Gualala business directory north of bridge to carpool and at The Sea Ranch Lodge parking lot at 9:30. Drive to the eastern entrance to Salt Point Park on Sea View Road. We will be joining our guest leader, Nhu Nguyen, mushroom expert from Berkeley. Nhu recommends that people who have it bring along Dave Arora's pocket mushroom guide, All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms. Enter the park on the trail, turning right on the Plantation Trail when you come to it. This will be an unusual hike as we'll be stopping to look at mushrooms along the way so we will not cover as much ground as usual. Depending on the condition of the trail we will either retrace our steps or walk to Kruse Ranch Road, turn right and walk back to cars along Sea View Road. We will drive to Kruse Ranch Road and descend to Kruse Rhododendron State Reserve for lunch. This trail can be a bit muddy if we have a lot of rain beforehand. Boots and hiking sticks are recommended.
Leaders: Mary Sue Ittner and Nhu Nguyen

FISK MILL BLUFFS

Nhu, who is getting his PhD in mushrooms, helped identify the ones we saw.

This one is use for dyeing according to Nhu.

Meet at 9:30 at pullout for Gualala business directory north of bridge to carpool and at The Sea Ranch Lodge parking lot at 9:45.  We will park at Salt Point State Park at large pull out on the right past MM 43.20. Starting time is about 10:00. We will take the trail through the grass and then turn south. We'll cross over on the rocks by the first gulch and find the trail that passes Sentinel Rock. From there we'll  take the bluff trail south and hike this unbelievably beautiful bluff  for about an hour. Before we get to Stump Beach we will turn around and hike back. Walking sticks are advisable and good boots since there isn't much maintenance these days on the trails and there are some uneven areas and potential crossings.

Today we had special guest and friend of Mary Sue, Nhu join us from Berkeley.  We ate at the top at Sentinel Rock.  It was a diamond day -- sunny with very little wind!

SHROOMS

The perfect mushroom hike. I have never seen so many varieties in one hike. This is just a small sampling.