Part 1 - The Lost Coast Trail - Petrolia Calling

Sometime during the fall of 2010 I announced that I was going to California to do some backpacking. I said it to my crony’s at the Old Brogue in Great Falls, VA over probably my third imperial pint of Guinness.  To be honest, I really had no idea what I was talking about. I didn’t have a backpack nor did I really have a clue as to what was involved.  I heard they have internal frame packs now - what the heck is that?  The last time I had backpacked was the summer before the 7th grade with my sister in Montana – where we lived at the time.  My dad did all the expedition provisioning so I was sheltered from the hard core decision making – my only input was that I liked the yellow backpack.  Little did I know it would ultimately weigh 35lbs for an overnight trip and I at the time maybe weighed 90 pounds.  This time it was my chance to do something life changing - plan and provision the trip myself.  Also - to make it more memorable, I was actually hell bent on doing the trip alone into the wilds of Northern California – maybe getting in touch with my chi. It had to be the beer talking, but I was going no matter what. 

Petrolia is at the very top - where the fault heads out to sea

I had recently read a book that was the genesis of my new found wanderlust.  Like any well written book, this book had the ability to transport me from the soft furnishings of my home to the hard won life of Northern California.  And like all good expeditions, or fires if you will,  they start from a single spark.   This book, and I highly recommend it, was written by Simon Winchester – a seemingly very high brow Brit who uses lots of complex multi-syllable words I call – SAT words – due to the words actually never being spoken in a real conversation over coffee, they just exist on the college entrance tests.  Anyhow – the book was called “A Crack in the Edge of the World – America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906." 

What I found so interesting about the story was to think that all these people, the dreamers, the forty-niners looking for gold, or people just looking for a new start in life, were essentially doomed because the location they decided to setup shop was on perhaps the most notorious earthquake fault in the world – the San Andreas. Of course nobody had heard of this fault yet.  But it was there - hiding in plain view.  The formation of the San Francisco Bay, and the idyllic landscape around the Bay area, can be attributed to this colossal tear in the Earth’s crust.  The Pacific tectonic plate was moving North and the North American plate was moving south.  Kind of like a couple arguing with no end.  All this is interesting to be sure, but what really stoked my interest was the mention of a small tumble down town 250 miles North of San Francisco called Petrolia. This little town, situated five miles from the Pacific ocean had two distinct items of notoriety - the first being where California discovered oil (soon dried up), the second being that it has the most earthquakes of any town in the United States.  I just had to go there.

With the advent of Wikipedia I easily found an entry for Petrolia, CA and took great interest in all that had to do with this little town.  It really was just a pony stop of a place. It was located on the edge of the Mattole river that flowed most of the year quietly into the Pacific. It had a Post Office, general store, gas station and not much else. Like a celebrity stalker following someone on Twitter, I looked up the Northern California Earthquake map on USGS and had fun watching the tremors shake the little town nearly every day. I would announce to my wife at breakfast that there had been two earthquakes in Petrolia the day before. Quite naturally the lovely Mrs. Corrigall would elicit some form of enthusiastic response and I would go on saying how cool it must be to have your house shake each day. 

 
You see from the picture on the left, each dot representing an earthquake, I don't suspect the people in Petrolia keep much fine china in high places where it could fall and break.  And urns filled with your great uncle's ashes are best kept low with the lids taped shut.  Even the name for Petrolia, CA on the map is not visible under the onslaught of tremors.  This is all caused by the coming together of three large faults - or plates in the earth near this quaint little town.  This is the Mendicino Triple Junction. - Pacific Plate sliding North on the left, the Gorda Plate coming South and the North American plate moving South too.  What a hot mess.  But it makes for interesting conversation when the dinner table moves and you think it is your Great Dane shifting to lick something; only you see your Dane looking forlornly in the front window as the table moves across the floor.  How cool would that be?

Naturally you did not come to this blog to read about earthquakes and plates or the safety of Great uncle Willard's ashes stored on the high shelf above the door.  If you wanted to learn about quakes and tectonics you would have stayed in Mr. David's Earth Science class instead of skipping out and heading to McDonalds before they changed over for lunch - I love Egg McMuffins.  You came to read about my adventures in the wilds of Northern California.  In the land known as the Lost Coast.  I assure you the journey is ahead.  With all the tears and discovery that I was hoping to pull from my fragile body and mind.
This is an incredible landscape we are stewards of, and the escape it brings is one you will enjoy.

See Part 2 - The Lost Coast of California - What is Lost is Found