Mount Shasta Trail Association
Inspire • Create • Conserve
Need a break from the heat? Try the Lake Siskiyou Loop Trail on the Mount Shasta Trail Challenge! The seasonal bridges have just gone up after a wonderfully wet winter and it is now possible to hike or bike all the way around. The trail is fairly well shaded but still gives great views of the lake and Mt Shasta. The best part is you are never more than a minute from the waters edge. Click here for more information.
One of the most strenuous, and most beautiful, trails on the 2023 Trail Challenge is Mount Eddy via Deadfall Lakes. The last snow blocking the trail is gone and the road is clear. Around 10 miles and 2200’+ of climbing so maybe work your way up to this one. Incredible 360 degree views from a great summit are worth the hard work.
This trail allows dogs as does every trail on this years challenge!! Even Mt Shasta and Castle Crags have trails featured this year that allow dogs so if you hike with your dog, this is your year! Feel free to post your dog hiking pictures here.
Note on some seasonal items. The Deadfall Meadows trailhead is temporarily closed for some rehab so use the Parks Creek/PCT Trailhead. It’s a little longer but less climbing! Beware of bees on the summit and avoid them by staying away from clumps of flowers.
This summer the Trail Association is again hosting a Trail Challenge to promote the beauty of the Mount Shasta area, encourage healthy exercise, and be environmentally sound stewards. This is our sixth year!
As an incentive to get you on the trail with feet, bike wheels, horse hooves or snowshoes (we recommend you wait for winter), the first 100 participants that complete at least 6 of the 12 featured trails are eligible for some of the swag pictured below, such as a stainless steel pint glass. For more information on the challenge, click here.
Once again the Trail Association is sponsoring a trail challenge on our local trails.
For the passport and details on the 12 trails included in this year’s challenge, click here
Our goal is to provide inspiring outdoor experiences, advance appreciation of the beauty of the Mount Shasta area, and be environmentally sound stewards.
Be one of the first 100 participants to complete at least 6 of the trails and earn a 2023 Trail Challenge stainless steel pint glass or choose from other cool swag.
Whether a hiker, mountain biker, snowshoer, dog walker, trail runner, xc skier, or equestrian there is a truly special experience waiting for you in Siskiyou County.
Mount Shasta Trail Association Board Member Glenn Harvey and his wife Kathy Morter are moving to Pocatello, Idaho, to be closer to family. We will miss them both greatly!
In 2012, Glenn Harvey and his wife Kathy Morter moved to Mt. Shasta from Pocatello, Idaho, where Glenn worked as a chemical engineer for a semiconductor company. They transferred their Rotary membership to the Mt. Shasta Club, and after a year of remodeling their townhouse on Kingston Road near City Park, Glenn became active with the Mount Shasta Trail Association (MSTA) and Siskiyou Land Trust (SLT). Joe Wirth invited Glenn to join the Greenway Consortium in 2016, a group created to extend a trail system from Spring Hill/City Park to downtown and eventually to Lake Siskiyou. Rotary helped purchase and transfer land near their townhouse to the SLT, allowing additional trails to be built connecting City Park to Kingston Road. Rotary also helped fund the raised boardwalks in the trail system. In addition to working on the City Park trail system, Glenn and Mark Telegin volunteered at Castle Crags State Park maintaining trails and campgrounds as part of MSTA’s partnership with the State Park. All of this volunteer work made Glenn a natural choice for addition to the MSTA Board of Directors in 2017.
While doing trail maintenance for MSTA, volunteers constantly encountered abandoned campsites, prompting creation of “Clean and Safe Mt. Shasta”, an effort involving the Forest Service, the Gateway Neighborhood Association, MSTA, and local law enforcement. The Clean and Safe team continues today and has removed tons of trash every year form the Mt. Shasta area. In 2018, Rotary obtained a $9K grant to build a community garden for the SLT, which was installed by volunteers under Glenn’s coordination. As a Board member, Glenn also represented MSTA with the City’s 2021-22 Walk Bike Ride Mt. Shasta Mobility Plan, a transportation study that is part of the 2045 General Plan project.
Debbie Derby is retiring from the Mount Shasta Trail Association Board after 13 years of service, and boy will we miss her! Debbie was part of the formation of MSTA. In 1989, founder and then-president Tom Hesseldenz asked Debbie to attend meetings as a Forest Service representative because she was interested in the around-the-mountain trail. In 2010 District Ranger Priscila Franco asked Debbie to become involved as a board member. Debbie gladly became part of the MSTA team.
During her tenure on the board, she wore many hats, her favorite being the trucker hat! Debbie became secretary of the board in 2011 with coaching from lawyer and board member Barry Price. She turned out to be the best and most exacting secretary ever.
Over the years, she established a framework to chronicle MSTA’s many directions, ideas and projects. In addition, she helped in many other ways: she completed environmental studies for several trails, was a team captain for the Giving Tuesday fundraiser, contributed creative ideas and– probably many peoples’ favorite– brought treats to the trail crews. Debbie will be greatly missed, but her influence will continue to live on.
The Mount Shasta Trail Association is pleased to announce that Gaylin Rezek has joined its Board of Directors.
Gaylin has a master’s degree in Arts Administration from UCLA. She started her own business in Los Angeles and then later in Sacramento doing accounting for several arts organizations and non-profits including the Sacramento Theater Company, the Zoo, the B Street Theater, La Raza Galería, the Sacramento Ballet and many more. It was interesting and varied work and she scored a lot of free tickets.
When she and her husband decided they were ready to retire in 2001, they found a beautiful parcel of land in Hammond Ranch and built their dream home. In the early years, they hiked all over the county with the Siskiyou Wanderers.
Since coming to Mt. Shasta, Gaylin has done lots of volunteer accounting: her first group was the Siskiyou Humane Society, followed by Mountain Runners (sponsors of the 4th of July run/walk) and then the Mount Shasta Trail Association as bookeeper/accountant. With some overlap, she spent about 10 years with each of these organizations.
Early in 2022 she passed along the duties of accountant/bookkeeper for MSTA to the very able and gifted Jackie Shelby. Since Gaylin had sat in on board meetings for many years it made sense to invite her on as a board member (knowing where the “financial bodies” are buried). After reporting to dozens of boards over the course of her career, she is very pleased to finally serve on one.
Gaylin loves walking her golden retriever, Sammy, reading, dabbling in various art projects and relaxing in her hot tub. Her passion though is travel; to date she has been to 60 countries.
A HUGE “thank you” to all the donors who gave generously to the Mt. Shasta Trail Association on Giving Tuesday.
The total amount raised from 133 donors this year was $19,319. We also were awarded two prizes totaling $2,000*. In addition, we have received at least $3,600 in “off-line” donations.
Your support will help us to continue our work on the Gateway Trail network expansion and maintenance of all the other trails we’ve built.
*Prizes were sponsored by the law offices of Campbell, Clark & Vienneau; and the Knodel Family Endowment Fund. Thank You!
For those of you that shop online at the Amazon website, here’s a way to make a portion of your purchase a donation to the Mount Shasta Trail Association. What a deal!
Instead of logging on the the regular Amazon website, log on to the smile.amazon.com site and register the Mount Shasta Trail Association as your chosen charity and bookmark the smile page. Then as you shop, 0.5% of your purchases will go towards trails in the Mount Shasta area.
Fine print: this is not an endorsement of Amazon by MSTA, but simply an opportunity worth sharing.
Giving Tuesday is TODAY November 29th 6:00 am to 8:00 pm
northstategives.org/mountshastatrailassociation
Click here for more information on the Gateway Trail. And in case you missed it, here’s this years’ promotional video: “The Trail Crew gets a Call”
