Let’s try again! If it’s not raining much, we’ll go work on the newest segments of Gateway. As before:
We’ll be meeting on Old McCloud Rd. at 9 am. From south Mt. Shasta Blvd., go east on Old McCloud about 2.5 miles, cross the RR tracks, and a short distance further you’ll see my brown pickup with the MSTA tool trailer. We’ll be lopping roots, raking tread, and doing other finish work on the recently cut-in trails. It doesn’t require much hiking. We plan to work from 9 to 12, but you can leave anytime you wish.
Once again, Tom Ravizza has occupied his Covid downtime building detailed, themed birdhouses. And once again, Kendra Bainbridge has graciously offered to display them and sell them at her store, Raven Tree, with the profits going to the Mount Shasta Trail Association and the Siskiyou Land Trust. These birdhouses make great holiday gifts and Raven Tree has lots of other bird-related items to grab. I get my birdseed there (much of which goes to our very fat squirrels). Drop by Raven Tree soon.
I’ve been watching it rain for the last half hour. Forecast calls for steady rain for the next 6-8 hours. I think it’s best to cancel and look for a better day. Stay tuned and thanks.
This is your chance to work on one of the new Gateway Trail segments. We’ll be meeting on Old McCloud Rd. at 9 am. From south Mt. Shasta Blvd., go east on Old McCloud about 2 miles, cross the RR tracks, and a short distance further you’ll see my brown pickup with the MSTA tool trailer. We’ll be lopping roots, raking tread, and doing other finish work on the recently cut-in trails. It doesn’t require much hiking. We plan to work from 9 to 12, but you can leave anytime you wish.
A group of 13 hardy and intrepid volunteers braved cold, blustery conditions to cover slash piles on the new Gateway Trails yesterday, assisted by a USFS employee. Thanks to all who showed up. The piles will be burned later this season. Others not pictured were sent to different trails on bikes.
This past year, MSTA partnered with the USFS, the Wilderness Land Trust, Trail Labs, the Deadwood crew, and a bunch of super-eager volunteers to create a better route to Heart Lake. Numerous hikers have emphatically stated that the new trail is a huge improvement over the preexisting, confusing maze of trails. The new switchbacks have also provided fantastic views of Castle Lake.
This Saturday, Oct. 16, at 9 am, we’re going to install some directional signs on the new trail. One will be at the parking lot and others will be placed higher on the trail. We do have three USFS employees scheduled to help carry water, cement, posts, and tools, but we need others to help with the schlepping, digging, and shouting of orders. You can also lean on a shovel, heckle people mercilessly as they work, and eat donuts.
If you don’t want to climb up the trail, we’ll put you on the team working next to the parking lot. We’ll have all tools and supplies. The weather should be fantastic, so don’t stay on the couch. Meet us there, get some exercise, and have some fun.
Many thanks to the 21 volunteers (!!!!!!!!) who showed up to prep the walkway from the library to Sisson Meadow for pavement resealing. It required digging, hacking, scraping, weed whacking, and blowing to expose all of the pavement. There were no casualties and we finished the job before 11:30. The turnout was amazing, including the entire Etkin clan and many of the usual suspects. Stay tuned for the next work day.
We’ll be clearing weeds and brush behind the Mt. Shasta Library tomorrow morning at 9 (Saturday, August 28) so that Rotary can reseal the pavement leading to Sisson Meadow. Bring water, gloves, weed whackers, rakes, wheelbarrows. If you don’t have tools, we’ll have quite a few. Come help for an hour!
The Siskiyou Outdoor Recreation Alliance is one of MSTA’s “sister organizations” because they promote many of the same activities and events that we do and are focused, obviously, on outdoor recreation. They have a massive event coming up from Sept. 15-19 when more than a thousand people will arrive for a nationally recognized gravel road race called Grinduro. They need volunteer help to pull this off, so if you are interested, check it out at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c44abab22aafcce9-volunteer
A dozen volunteers showed up on a cool, cloudy (and sometimes sprinkly) morning to remove the 5-foot high weeds covering the St. Barnabas Trail. Armed with power tools and rakes, the big, eager group made short work of the overgrowth. We even had 4 new appearances on this crew. Thanks so much for all the effort.
