Starting July 2, guided hikes are available on the Salmon Pass Trail, just south of Fortuna in Humboldt County, every weekend through mid-November.
The trail sits at the southern end of the Headwaters Forest Reserve. The hike covers three miles over three to four hours, climbing 360 feet through a mix of old-growth and second-growth redwood – moderately strenuous, definitely not a stroll. The ground is unpaved. Rain turns it slick, and the forest holds its chill – even in July.
The Bureau of Land Management is selling firewood permits for a dollar a cord on public land near the Chester Airport, and the wood is already on the ground. It’s from the 2021 Dixie Fire – standing dead and downed trees that need to come out of the forest anyway, and now you can haul them home for next to nothing.
That’s the deal: a dollar per cord, and every cord you collect helps clear out fuel that’s been sitting there for five years. Fewer dead trees means healthier forest and better habitat behind the burn scar.
Drive up into the foothills east of Redding, past the last gas station with cell service, and you’ll see them – empty lots where houses used to stand, driveways that lead to nothing but a chimney and a mailbox. Some of those lots have been empty since 2018. Not because the owners gave up. Because nobody would insure what they wanted to rebuild.
For most of the last decade, that’s been the story of wildfire country in California. Homeowners with clean records and defensible space, dropped anyway. Whole zip codes redlined by carriers who decided the math no longer worked. And a question that’s followed every one of those empty lots: will the private insurance market ever come back, or is California stuck propping up its own backcountry forever?
Here’s How to Get Your PassIf you’ve been putting off a visit to one of California’s state historic parks because of the entry fee, here’s some good news: for a limited time, you don’t have to pay it.
California State Parks is giving away a special edition of its Historian Passport — normally a $50 annual pass — completely free. The catch? You’ve got to grab it before Monday, July 6. Once you’ve downloaded it, you’re set for the rest of 2026, with unlimited admission for up to four people per vehicle at more than 30 state historic parks scattered across the state.
Summer’s here, the hills are dry, and the Angeles National Forest just elevated fire danger to HIGH. Effective June 12, 2026, a new forest order is in place covering the entire Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, running through December 31, 2026.
If you’re heading out to the forest this summer – hiking, camping, off-roading, whatever brings you up there – this affects you directly.
