Jack London Ranch: the Beauty Ranch and nearby sites

Pig Palace at Jack London Ranch

In 1905 the America novelist Jack London (1876-1916) and his wife Charmian moved to Glen Ellen, located fifty miles north of San Francisco, nestled between Petaluma and Napa. In the early 1900's, Jack London had purchased a large ranch and buildings in the Glen Ellen neighborhood. 

Private vineyard next to Jack London Ranch with forested Sonoma Mountain hills in the back

The Jack London State Historic Park map shows the Jack London Ranch and its surroundings in detail [pdf map]. As an introduction to the park, I started with the House of Happy Walls Museum and the Wolf House ruins on my first visit in October this year. Then, I explored the Beauty Ranch. This is a wood-framed cottage, which served as the London's principal home.

The Beauty Ranch cottage

Below, I show nearby sites defining the ranch and highlighting Jack London's many interests. Descriptions and quotations taken from onsite interpretive boards supplement selected pictures. 

Old Winery ruins next to cottage, backdropped by Sonoma Mountain ridge

The Old Winery ruins are all that remains of the Kohler and Frohling winery building: “Damaged by the 1906 earthquake, the structure was later converted by the London's into living quarters for their many workers and guests.” 

Prickly Pear Cactus: spineless or not spineless?

Jack London saw fine, fat cattle in Hawaii living well on spined cactus and wanted to duplicate the success of Hawaiian ranchers. He planed this field with Spineless Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia avalon, developed by renowned horticulturalist Luther Burbank. Between 1907 and 1913, Burbank promoted it as cattle feed.

This experiment failed. Spineless cactus needed irrigation for rapid growth, and some plants grew back their spines.

Manure Pit

The Manure Pit was built between the stable for Shire mares (former Sherry Barn) and the Stallion barn: “The Manure Pit was constructed circa 1915. An overhead trolley was used to efficiently move manure in buckets.”

Eucalyptus crop rows

Walking from the winery ruins to the silos, Pig Palace and Smoke House, you will pass crop rows occupied by offspring trees Jack London had planted in the hope that “harvesting eucalyptus would pay for other experiments. In 1910, 15,000 seedlings cost him only $150. Eventually, heplanted 80,000 trees, of three species: E. viminalis, E. tereticornis, and E. globulus. Unfortunately, London's experiment failed. The trees were only useful as firewood.” 

Pig-pens on a circle around a central feed tower 

Bath House at London Lake

Getting there and beyond

After passing the Entrance Kiosk, turn right to the Upper Lot, which features an Equestrian Staging section. Short trails, including the 0.1 mile-short Horse Trail, connect the parking lot with ranch locations and a multitude of other trails. A dirt-road trail skirts the vineyard, leading to the old bath house at London Lake and, farther, to an amazing network of trails, which provide access to natural and recreational sites of interest—such as the Ancient Redwood—and the Sonoma Mountain Ridge Trail.

Ancient redwood tree

Today, many redwoods are preserved within California's state and national parks. They are regarded as “natural wonders not only for how long they have been on earth, but also for their height, mass, and hardiness. With trunks as straight as columns and taller than a 25-story building, redwoods have a splendor that attracts visitors from around the world.” Obviously, this one is not simply a straight giant, but branches out into strangely curved arms carrying their own straight columns and hanging branches.

   

Jack London State Historic Park: from the House of Happy Walls Museum to the Wolf House

Where Jack and Charmian London never came to live in: the burnt-out Wolf House (Fire: August 1913, photo 110 years later: October 2023)

The Jack London State Historic Park includes Jack London's Beauty Ranch, the Wolf House Ruins, the grave site knoll, a museum, historic orchards and many hiking trails varying in length, steepness and visitor traffic. 

House of Happy Walls Museum

Books by the Brain Merchant

On my first visit to the park, I started out along short wooded trails and the service road that connect the House of Happy Walls Museum with the Grave Site Knoll and the burnt-out Wolf House. The museum, a field-stone home named the House of Happy Walls, was built by Charmian London after her husband's death in 1916. Originally designed as both, her place to live and a memorial to Jack London, the building today features Jack's adventures around the San Francisco Bay Region and around the globe. Jack London saw himself as a “brain merchant,” embellished by his kaleidoscopic personality. His “insatiable drive to see, to live, to do”—the words in which a museum panel describes Jack's explorative way of life—resulted into the publication of over 50 books.

Trail downhill from the museum

A 0.3-mile-long path leads downhill from the museum to a service road. Turning left onto this road, it just takes a few minutes to get to the point where the road bends south. On the left side, a short spur trail makes a half-circle up onto the knoll to the site of two graves: the grave of Jack and Charmian London and the grave of David and Lillie Greenlaw, the children of pioneer settlers.   

Earle Labor writes that Charmian London was faithful in honoring Jack's wish to be buried on the knoll near the graves of the two Greenlaw children [1].

Jack London's Grave: a fenced-in large rock from the Wolf House site

In a State Park edition of Jack's non-fiction The Cruise of the Snark [2], I found the following detail about the grave site: “On November 26, 1916, in a silent ceremony, Charmian London placed her husband's ashes on the chosen knoll under a large rock from the Wolf House. After she passed away in 1955, Charmian's ashes were laid under the same rock, next to Jack.”

David and Lillie Greenlaw graves, enclosed in a small square of ancient fence

According to a state park panel, Jack London was inspired by the graves of David and Lillie Greenlaw, the children of pioneer settlers, and requested that his ashes might someday lie next to little David and Lillie. 

Returning to the service road, it only takes a few minutes to continue the downhill stroll to the site of the Wolf House. Jack London was known under the nickname “The Wolf”, making a reference to wolves and dogs that he turns into “his readers best friends” in so many of his stories.  When the architect Albert Farr started in 1911 the design of Jack's dream home, people would call it the the Wolf House. 

Unfortunately (or luckily, considering a potential death by fire), Jack and Charmian never moved in. A panel at the site of the Wolf House ruins reports why: “A month before the Londons were to move in—August 22, 1913—a fire probably caused by spontaneous combustion destroyed the home.” This comes as a surprise, since Jack and Albert—influenced by the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake—developed a robust construction plan based on a rustic, fireproof design with local volcanic rock and unpeeled redwood mounted on a concrete foundation that could hold a 40-story building.

Wolf House Ruins

The panel also describes the future home, which the Londons lost: “The four-story, 15,000-square-foot house commanded a view of of the Sonoma Valley. Its 26 rooms and 9 fireplaces cost about $50,000, and included such modern conveniences as hot water, heating, electric lighting, and refrigerating and vacuum cleaning plants.”

Wolf House with most walls and chimneys still standing

Getting there

Driving north on Arnold Drive in Glen Ellen, turn left on London Ranch Road. Follow this road to its end, which is the Entrance Kiosk of the Jack London State Historic Park. Once you are inside, turn left for parking at the Museum Lot. 

References and more to read

[1] See page 383 in Earle Labor's biography:  Jack Lonodon - An American Life. First paperback edition published in 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.

[2] See page 332 in the following Jack London State Historic Park Museum Edition: Jack London. The Cruise of the Snark. SeaWolf Press, Orinda, CA 94562, 2017 (originally published in 1911 by The Macmillan Company). 

A scenic round trip at Point Reyes National Seashore: Bear Valley Trail, Coast Trail, Sky Trail, and Old Pine Trail

View of cliffs and Drakes Bay from Coast Trail

If you are planning a round trip from the Bear Valley Visitor Center that includes forest meadows, coastal landmarks as well as a mountain ridge, the Point Reyes trail network provides various options. 

Inverness Ridge, having Mount Wittenberg (elevation: 1407 ft, 428 m) as its highest point, stretches from the north-west of the Point Reyes peninsula to the south-east, such that the visitor center is located north of the ridge and the coast on its southwest side. Therefore, any round trip requires traveling a certain section along the ridge trail, named Sky Trail.  

Inverness Ridge: Sky Trail

At the end of October this year, I hiked south on Bear Valley Trail to Divide Meadow (1.6 miles from the visitor center).

Divide Meadow

At Divide Meadow, I started the round trip by continuing south on Bear Valley Trail (for 2.4 miles)—a riparian trail with tree tunnel sections.

Lots of shade along Bear Valley Trail

Where the Bear Valley Trail meets the Coast Trail, I was going north on a short section of the Coast Trail (for 0.5 miles)—arguable the most picturesque section of the loop hike with its views of endless coastal cliffs and sea rocks.

Coastal features around Drakes Bay

Fire recovery on Inverness Ridge

To complete the round trip from the Sky Trail/Coast Trail junction, you want to cintinue north on the Sky Trail (for 2.8 miles) and then returning to Divide Meadow via the Pine Trail (1.9 miles). With the loop total of  7.6 miles and forth-and-back to Divide Meadow adding 3.2 miles, the overall hike takes 10.8 miles. 

Old Pine Trail

View of Bolinas Ridge from Old Pine Trail

In case you are including a side trip to Kelham Beach (0.5 miles one-way, start at Sky Trail/Coast Trail junction), your grand total will almost be 12 miles. A wonderful day hike with plenty of time to relax at and explore sites of interest and inhale at ease while resting at selected vista points. 

“Busy” Kelham Beach and Drakes Bay 

Kelham Beach Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore

Kelham Beach with Drakes Bay and whale bone explorers

Kelham Beach Trail is a short trail that connects the Point Reyes Coast Trail with a scenic beach on the east side of Drakes Bay in California. On your way north from the Sky Trail/Coast Trail junction, you can't miss the “lonely” eucalyptus tree. That is from where a short path and steps lead down to Kelhalm Beach.

Kelham Beach is a 0.9-mile-long strip of sand between cliffs and ocean water. Looking around, you will find evidence of cliff crumbling, sliding, and falling rocks. Water is seeping or dripping down at wall sites. A short walk from the trail access point (apparently the only point of refuge when high tide water or giant waves are coming in) to the south brings you to a small waterfall. 

When I was visiting Kelham Beach on a beautiful day at the end of October in 2023, I found a gray whale skull and various bones on the beach. Not being a biologist, I only assumed those to be whale bones. Asking a ranger at the Bear Valley Visitor Center, I was told they are gray whale bones. The exhibit area in the visitor center actually features a gray whale skull und bones, which looked similar to what I had seen at Kelham Beach.   

Kelham Beach with gray whale skull and sea birds

Close-up look at gray whale skull

Gray whale bones as seen when coming down the trail

Gray whale bones neatly arranged

Point Reyes is roughly located mid-way on the migration route of the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale between the Bering Sea and Cabo San Lucas at the “entrance” to the Gulf of California.

Gray whale migration map at the Bear Valley Visitor Center in the Point Reyes National Seashore preserve

Further reading and exploring

[1] Kelham Beach. National Park Service. URL: https://www.nps.gov/places/point-reyes-kelham-beach.htm.

[2] Kelham Beach Trail. Point Reyes Nature. URL: https://www.pointreyesnature.com/kelham-beach.

Berlin Townsite Trail, Nevada

The largest structure in the townsite: the Berlin Mill with the ore chute pointing uphill into the direction of the mine entrance

Berlin is a ghost town at the western edge of the Shoshone Mountains in central Nevada. This area is known as the Berlin Historic District. Historic buildings in the Berlin State Park are maintained in a state of  “arrested decay.” The name “Berlin” refers to the Berlin Mine, which was named for the city of Berlin in Germany, the country from which some of the local prospectors came from.

The temporary existence of Berlin as a gold and silver boom town reflects the short time of the briefly prospering mining business: Berlin was established in 1897 and largely abandoned by 1911. 

Visiting Berlin today and walking along the Berlin Townsite Trail — a 0.9-mile-long loop trail — is a great start to travel back in time and explore how life might have been back then between mountain ranges and desert valleys around 1900. 

Here, I show snapshots I made in September 2023, showing buildings and sites. The tour starts at the Visitor Center and ends at the collapsed Clubhouse. 

Alongside the trail you will find many interpretive posts and plaques — some where not much is left from the past and others in front or right at building walls. The text of the latter has been included here to put the pictures into context. Thrown in are also some interesting facts I found in the Berlin Tour Guide (onsite handout) — herein simply referred to as the Guide. 

Berlin Historic Park Visitor Center

Mrs. Phillips Home

Mrs. Kate Phillips lived here until 1907. She then moved to Ione and opened a boarding and lodging house.

Later, Bill and Mack Foster resided in this building for about twenty years. During that time they prospected a wide area and also leased on company property. Later they gardened and raised goats. Bill got sick and was taken to Tonopah where he died in 1953. In 1954, Mark died here of a heart attack.

In his book “Odyssey of a Desert Prospector”, Hermann W. Albert's description of the house in which he lived, fits the appearance of his building at the time. Mrs. Phillips moved to Ione previously and it was very likely that Albert lived here when he was working for the company.

Mrs. Phillips House

The Berlin Mill

This building was a beehive of activity while Berlin was in its heyday.

One man tended to the primary crusher and did other odd jobs, another tended the 30 stamps and the concentration tables, and a third man fired the five boilers and looked after the four steam engines. One engine powered the primary crusher and the stamps, another powered the concentrating tables, the third drove the direct current dynamos that supplied electricity for lights, and the fourth engine was combined with a compressor that furnished air to run the drilling rigs and pumps in the mine.

The area between the mill, machine shop and boarding house was piled high with cord wood used to fuel the boilers. Mine rail tracks were laid between the long piles of wood and flat rack trucks rolled on the tracks to bring wood close to the boilers.

Berlin Mill

A look inside the mill

The forest you see around Berlin is mostly second growth. The Guide explains that during the activity at the Berlin Mine, nearly every large pinyon and juniper between Grantsville and Ione was felled to feed the boilers and steam engines at the mine and mill. In the Berlin Mill picture you can spot some trees up the hills in the background. 

Ore processing in the mill always left mill tailings behind, which still contained gold. The tailing values were recovered in 1910 by using a cyanide plant .  

Machine Shop

This building contained the blacksmith shop, and was equipped with power driven drill presses, and lathes, etc. Therefore, it was called the machine shop. The crew of mechanics that worked here kept all the mine and mill machinery running smoothly.

Occasionally a passing automobile that had broken down was towed to its door to be put into running condition again.

Machine Shop

Obviously, some mining tools and machinery is displayed around. But the Guide says that all of the major equipment and machinery was sold and hauled away during the scrap metal drives during Worl War II.

Stage Station

The stage driver and his horses were housed under one roof in this building. A partition made of lumber separated the dwelling section from the barn. A small corral was attached to the south section and the door leading into the barn could be closed in cold weather.

The men who drove stage from 1904 until 1924 were John Mullin. Ed Dieringer and Alex Dyer.. Alex used horses until 1915. On his first trip by Model T, the car quit him at the Dieringer Ranch. He caught a ride into Ione for help, and Albert Mayette and Firmin Bruner drove him back to his car and got it started.

Stage Station

Assay Office

Samples of rock and ore from the mine and samples of concentrates from the mill were processed (assayed) here to determine the amount of values they contained. The furnace in this assay laboratory used charcoal because it was the only clean burning fuel produced locally.

The night watchman used this office to warm himself and to rest in after each trip through town on lookout for thieves and fires. He also ate his midnight lunch here. The watchman's name was Mr. Doolan.

Assay Office

The Clubhouse

The two-story building that stood here was called the “Clubhouse”. It might have been erected to house the mine and mill office. But during the years from 1906 to 1908, it was used as quarters for visiting company officials and local supervisors that did not have families. The bedrooms were upstairs and the lower floor was a lounge.

In the years following 1945, someone removed lumber from the partition walls, thus weakening the building, and it finally collapsed.

[Text by Firmin Bruner, a resident of Berlin - 1904]

What has been left of the “Clubhouse”

According to the Guide, alcohol and drinking was not permitted in Berlin. I wonder what visitors and supervisors did in their free time (if there was any) in the lounge? Did they frequent the four saloons located nearby, outside town? 

Getting there

From Reno, take I-80 to Fernley. Take exit 46 and continue east on Highway 50. Pass through Fallon and continue to the Middlegate Junction. Turn right onto Route 361 and go south for about 30 miles toward Gabbs. Take a left onto Nevada Route 844 and drive about 16 miles to the park entrance. 

Expect your travel time to be 4 hours. Maybe, a little less. Or more, if you take stops along your route — for example, at the Grimes Point Archaeological Site southeast of Fallon.

References and further reading

Berlin State Park. Berlin Town Guide, funded by the Wilhelm Hoppe Family Trust. Available for free at the Berlin Visitor Center (Mine Superintendent's House).

Berlin. Forgotten Nevada. URL: https://forgottennevada.org/sites/berlin.html.

Berlin, Nye Country. Nevada Expeditions. URL: https://www.nvexpeditions.com/nye/berlin.php.

Deborah Wall: Berlin-Ichthyosaur park offers a stunning look at history. Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 15, 2017. URL: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-columns/deborah-wall/berlin-ichthyosaur-park-offers-a-stunning-look-at-history/.

Eric Cachinero: Mine Mechanics. Nevada Magazine, January - February 2019.URL: https://nevadamagazine.com/issue/january-february-2019/8260/.

Note: all listed websites were accessed on September 30, 2023.

 

Keywords

Berlin Mine, turn-of-the-century mining town, mining history, central Nevada.

Sugar Pine Reservoir loop trail: hiking & more northeast of Foresthill in the Sierra Nevada, California

Flooded Forbes Creek at Sugar Pine Reservoir

The Sugar Pine Dam, constructed between 1979 and 1982, is an earthfill embankment dam, located about seven miles northeast of Foresthill in Placer County, California [1]. The Sugar Pine Reservoir—let's just call it a lake from here on—supplies municipal water for the Foresthill community. It is a serene recreational site with swimming, fishing, watercrafting, hiking, bicycling, horseback riding and camping options. 

A four-mile-long hiking and bicycling trail “circles” the lake. Its perimeter is not circle-shaped: the loop trail winds around the lake by taking you out-and back around lake arms—flooded sections of former creeks. Forbes Creek and Shirttail Creek are tributaries to the lake. Past the dam, overflow water follows Shirttail Creek downstream into the North Fork American River.  

In June of this year I hiked around the lake—an easy walk. I started out counterclockwise from the boat ramp. About half-way around, I found various interpretive Tahoe National Forest panels next to the lake shore informing about the local history, geology and wildlife. In the following, I am sharing some of the pictures I took on my round trip by framing them with quotes and notes based on interesting panel text.   

The first panel I encountered had the title Under the Water. It takes us back to the days before the reservoir was built, inspiring us to ponder what being at this place may have been like at different times in the past:

When Shirttail Canyon and Forbes Creek were dammed to form Sugar Pine Reservoir, many Native American and historic sites were flooded. Local Native Americans used the area for hunting and gathering. Acorns were gathered and various seeds were processed by grinding bedrock milling stations. 

Historic use included mining and grazing. Shirttail Canyon was named by early miners. Two miners, Tuttle and Van Zandt, discovered a lone miner in the canyon wearing only a short shirt. They asked the miner, “what in the devil's name do you call this place” The lone miner laughingly answered, “Don't know any name for it yet, but we might as well call it Shirt-tail as anything else.”

Old fence lines associated with grazing can still be seen. Historic maps indicate that a road and an unidentified building were flooded.

 

View from the Under the Water panel: reservoir water now covering Native American and historic mining and grazing sites

Continuing on, you will see panels that describe how ospreys live and fish, and how fallen trees sustain the forest around the lake and beyond. Then, there comes the panel with the title Contribution to the Great War:

Chromite, a mineral found in the Sugar Pine area, was a critical resource during World War I. Ferrochrome, which is made from chromite and steel, was used as armor plating for tanks and equipment.

Chromite mining in this area began in 1876, but was most active, and most important, from 1917 to 1919 to support the war effort.

Shirttail creek bridge

Near the Shirttail creek bridge you may notice an area of thinned forest, where a panel explains that in 2010 small trees and shrubs were removed to leave the remaining forest healthier and better able to survive drought and wildfire. In 1936, the McKenzie Mill fire swept through the area and burnt most of the trees.

Walk across the bridge, enter the cedar grove and find the cedar tree with burn marks (fire scars). This tree survived the fire thanks to its thick insulating bark. Fire intensity is key to the outcome of a forest fire:

When wildfires burn too hot and out of control, they can devastate a forest. However, fire plays an important role in the forest ecosystem. Low-intensity fire helps “clean house” by burning up dead material and making more nutrients and water available for trees and plants to grow stronger and healthier. Some trees and plants actually need fire to release their seeds.

A nearby panel about the local Nisenan People says that “in the fall, the Nisenan would often set the ground litter and vegetation on fire. Since these fires were low intensity, large trees were unharmed. The burning improved the growth of grasses which supported and attracted the animals they hunted..”

Sprays of cedar branchlets at Shirttail Creek near the Manzanita Day Use Area 

After scanning the old cedar canopy and enjoying the fresh green of many young cedar trees, I left the cedar grove and came to the forest edge, an almost treeless area of pale green serpentine rock. Serpentine minerals are hydrous magnesium iron phyllosilicates. Serpentine is the California State Rock. Geology Created this Forest Edge is the panel title here, reading:

Serpentine rock creates soil that is toxic to most plants. This is especially noticeable at a forest edge like this one.

On serpentine soil, trees are sparse and there are large areas of bare rock. Where the composition of the soil changes to andesitic (volcanic) based soil, plants and trees are more abundant.

The change from bare ground to tree cover is often so abrupt that foresters and soil scientists can map general soil types using aerial photos [like the one shown on the panel].

A serpentine rock at the forest edge

Evergreen manzanita shrubs are not only drought-resistant, obviously they tolerate serpentine soil. You will find them here: the area is even called Manzanita Day Use Area.

Northeast corner with the Manzanita Day Use Area where fresh Shirttail Creek water is filling the reservoir 

Okay, the last panel (it could be your first if you are on a clockwise round trip) summarizes The Sugar Pine Story:

In 1982 Sugar Pine Reservoir was built to provide the town of Foresthill with a dependable water source. The reservoir is not only valuable to residents of Foresthill, but also to wildlife, fish, and recreationists.

The reservoir is named for the sugar pine tree, easily recognized by its gigantic cone. The sugar pine is not as common here today as it once was due to a combination of historic logging, a 1936 wildfire, and the spread of a disease that kills sugar pines called White Pine Blister Rust.

Continuing the round trip on the paved trail across the Giant Gap Campground, you will arrive at the point, where a sign indicated you have one mile to travel to the dam. That section is a panel-free, red-dirt single track. Expect some fallen rocks on the path.

Unpaved trail section between dam and Giant Gap Campground

The dam area is the western most tip of the reservoir. A short unpaved trail towards the boat ramp concludes the loop.

Note on name of the reservoir loop trail

The trail is frequently referred to as Joshua M. Hard Memorial Trail to honor Army Sgt. Joshua M. Hardt of Applegate, California. Joshua died at age 24 on October 3, 2009, while serving during “Operation Enduring Freedom” [2,3].

Getting to the boat ramp

Sugar Pine Reservoir is located northeast of the city of Auburn in the Sierra Nevada. From the historic mining town of Foresthill, continue northeast on Foresthill Road for about 10 miles. Turn left at the sign for the reservoir and drive downhill for 4 miles to get to the boat ramp parking and picnic areas. 

Address: Sugar Pine Reservoir, California 95631.

Boat ramp area of Sugar Pine Reservoir with dam in the back

On my visit in mid-June the reservoir was relatively quiet. But I was told larger crowds should be expected on hot summer weekends.

References and more

[1] Sugar Pine Dam. Wikipedia. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Pine_Dam.

[2] Army Sgt. Joshua M. Hardt  URL: https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/army-sgt-joshua-m-hardt/4316304.

[3] Joshua M. Hardt Memorial Trail at Sugar Pine. Singletracks. URL: https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/joshua-m-hardt-memorial-trail-at-sugar-pine/.

[4] Sugar Pine Reservoir. Recreation.gov. URL: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/gateways/2284.