Muir’s Ascension from McBride to Moon Doggie now open

Given the recent rain and snow, conditions on Muir’s Ascension from the McBride Trailhead down to Moon Doggie allow us to open the trail. Thanks to those who respected the closure while the tread settled. Entry to the trail is about 50 yards above the McBride Trailhead parking lot where I left some orange tape on either side of the trail, which enters the forest to the left of the thirty-foot dead tree. This now allows a continuous trail route from Ten Gallon to the Gateway Trailhead without traveling on Everitt Memorial Hwy.

Timberworks Completes Gateway Trailhead Parking Lots

Just want to make everyone aware that Dave Mauro of Timberworks donated his heavy equipment operator time to grade, gravel, and finish the trailhead parking lots at Ten Gallon, McBride Springs, and the Nordic Center, thus saving MSTA a load of money. He also leveled out the big piles of gravel at Nordic, thus significantly increasing the size of the lot there. This will make it easier to clear snow and park for the ski season, and also creates a huge lot for summer parking to use the Learning Zone bike paths.

Thank you, Dave (and Timberworks) for jumping in big time to help build Gateway II, which has become a community effort!

Signs Placed on Everitt Memorial Hwy Yesterday

Kudos to our steadfast trail crew for braving the cold and snow to install signs on EMH! The morning started out crisp and clear but slowly became stormy. A determined group stood in the road for several hours to divert traffic while the rest of us focused on driving posts and attaching signs.

Many thanks to Chris Marrone, who purchased and retrieved a post driver, fabricated an extension (many hours of work), and spent the whole day loading and unloading equipment and driving steel posts, all to save MSTA money. And thanks to Emma Wilcox, Barbara Paulson, Steve Eddy, Neil Posson, Mark Derby, Steve Larson, Mark Telegin, Jim Wrona, Tony Mills, John Thomson, Rick Cory, and Mike Hupp for dividing up the work.

You can see what happens when you try to drive steel signposts into rocks!

Sign Installation on Thur, Nov. 30

Even though the weather looks a little iffy, our volunteer contractor apparently has the equipment we need and is ready to work.

We’re going to try driving in the posts, not digging them, so we don’t need quite so many people. What we do need is the traffic control crew of about 6 or7 (at least for the morning work on Everitt Mem Hwy), a small crew to handle the signs themselves, and a small crew to handle the posts. If we dig any holes with an augur, then perhaps we’ll need someone with a pickup to go get some gravel.

Let me know if you can help and I’ll divide up the work. Final announcement will go out tomorrow evening with times and locations. Thank you.

Help the Mount Shasta Trail Association Win Prize Money!

Black Bear Diner is teaming up with North State Giving Tuesday to award prizes to nonprofits. We won $5000 two years ago this way (although I’m not sure of the amount this time).

Go to North State Giving Tuesday and scroll down to “Shout Outs & A’Paws Contest,” and select “This Voting Link.” Then scroll down to Mount Shasta Trail Association (Sisk County nonprofits are listed second and MSTA is about ¾ of the way to the bottom of the list). Select MSTA as your favorite nonprofit. That’s all you have to do.

Thanks.

Lynda Hardy retires from MSTA Board

Farewell to MSTA board member Lynda Hardy

Lynda is taking a new trail and retiring from the MSTA board.  She has been an active member of our board for several years. As our creative director, Lynda was the mastermind of our “community based” Trail Challenge. Her vision was to inspire trail users to challenge themselves and others to participate in healthy outdoor activities by hiking and biking the trails that surrounds us. 

Giving Tuesday was a passion for “Team Captain” Lynda. She developed a variety of promotional materials to get the word out to donate to MSTA. Over the last 5 years many supporters have viewed members of the board participating in humorous Giving Tuesday videos. Those videos were Lynda’s inspiration.

At the urging of Lynda, MSTA now has a beautiful logo that represents both hikers and bikers. This eye-catching logo has had countless compliments from many of our supporters.

Although, the board won’t be seeing Lynda at our meetings, we will see her having fun on the trails biking, hiking and skiing. We send her good wishes on her new adventures.

Posts Placed for Trailhead Markers at McBride and Ten Gallon

Thirteen volunteers got together to put posts in concrete for the trailhead signs at McBride and Ten Gallon yesterday. We didn’t leave the big plastic signs in place because I didn’t have the exact right hardware. Thanks to Gail Domanski, Neil Posson, Steve Diaz, Bryson Adams, Mark Derby, Linda Cabitto, Dave Pfurr, Jim Wrona, Steve Eddy, Stace Jankowski, and our USFS colleagues, Colleen Greene and Taylor Forte.

We’ll reschedule the big sign install day when we have the post driver, so stay tuned.

CLARIFICATION ON WORK TOMORROW, MONDAY NOV. 13

I was somewhat unclear with my last post. We will be doing limited work tomorrow; installing 2 wooden posts at McBride with cement, and possibly 2 wooden posts at Ten Gallon if time allows. No heavy equipment, so no need for a traffic control crew. We’ll just need a handful of volunteers. If you show, please bring a few gallons of water for cement cleanup. Meet about 8:45-9:00 at the McBride Trailhead. You’ll see my truck parked there. Thanks.

Let’s at least get one sign installed on Monday!

This afternoon, I went up to the McBride Springs Trailhead and was able to dig two holes in a little over an hour. They will be adequate to install the sign you see below. Let’s at least get one big sign in on Monday.

Meet me between 8:30 and 9:00 at the McBride Trailhead (just below McBride Springs Campground) on Monday, Nov. 13. I’ll have concrete, posts, and the signs. If all goes quickly (which I expect), we’ll try to dig a couple holes up the road at Ten Gallon. I need to be done before noon, so this won’t be a long day. Thanks.