Author: John Harch

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.

We could still use a few helpers at St. Barnabas (701 Lassen Lane, MS 96067) tomorrow morning, Tuesday, July 27 at 9 am to remove weeds that have totally obscured the trail. We have power tools and rakes. Hope to see you.

The St. Barnabas Trail has become totally overgrown and completely obliterated by weeds, so we’re having a work morning next Tuesday, July 27, starting at 9 am. We need 4 volunteers to run weed whackers (2 walk-behind and 2 portable) and 2 or 3 people to rake away the weeds so the weed whackers can proceed. This is not terribly hard work, and the reward is a nice, clear trail and some comraderie. If you can show up for even 30-60 minutes, it would be appreciated. With a dozen volunteers, we’ll be done in 60-90 minutes.

Please meet in the St. Barnabas Church parking lot on Lassen Lane just west of the freeway overpass and Doctors’ Park. I’ll be there between 8:30 and 9:00 preparing the power tools and rakes. Bring water, gloves, ear and eye protection (if you don’t have the gear, I’ll have some).

You might want to check out the Gateway Trail website that was recently finished and taken live. It features a lot of content, including the following sections: Location (explores local attractions with links), Expansion (reviews the Gateway project, including a video), Partners (all the folks and organizations who’ve joined us in this endeavor), Stewardship (how to be kind to nature), Frequently Asked Questions (hopefully helpful), and a Donate page. The website should help familiarize locals and out-of-towners with exactly what is being built.

Attached is a map of the three zones planned (Community, Big Mountain, and Learning).

Here’s the link: gatewaytrail.org

Given that several board members have spent this week helping direct the Deadwood Crew as they make progress through extremely dense brush on BMZ-4 of the new Gateway Trail, we’re cancelling any work this Saturday. It’s been hot and difficult up there, and Saturday is scheduled to be 97 degrees. Not wise to take volunteers into those conditions. Stay tuned for the next work day. Our sincerest thanks to the hard-working guys on Deadwood.

We were excited to have three new trail volunteers who just moved here from Texas and promptly jumped in to help on the Heart Lake Trail: Craig, Elizabeth, and Thomas. They can be seen in the photo below; Thomas in the red hat, Elizabeth and Craig to his right (our left). Great to have you. Welcome to Mt. Shasta!

Last Saturday, 14 MSTA trail volunteers were joined by two Trail Labs employees (Alyssa and Vinnie) and three USFS employees (Ryan, Haley, and Joe) to further polish the Heart Lake Trail. The first two photos show Alyssa, Vinnie, Ryan, Haley, and Joe digging in some large rocks to armor a gully to prevent further erosion. This was hard and dirty work, and we thank them for this effort (we need young backs and biceps for this stuff).

The rest of us hiked up to the top of the trail before it drops down to Heart Lake; at that spot, we dug in the rest of the trail and moved logs and rocks into the old trail to obliterate it. One photo shows a new trail worker (Jennifer) hauling a huge log with one of our regulars (John K.). The final photo shows the “alpine work group” at a beautiful vista spot. On the way back down, we tried to block off any side trails that could confuse hikers as to the real route.

There’s a bit more buff-up work to do up there, but the bulk of it is now done! Thanks to everyone who participated (special nod to USFS and Trail Labs). If you use the new trail, be aware that your GPS-based apps may take you off the actual trail until all maps are updated. Please follow the pink ribbons and avoid the many side trails.

We have some more work to do to finish the trail to Heart Lake and I think we can get it all done in one morning. So, let’s meet in the Castle Lake parking lot at 9 am. We’ll hike up, dig in the dirt a bit, move some logs and rocks around to obscure one or two remaining old trail segments, and greet the masses of hikers who will be thanking you profusely. Now doesn’t that sound better than fixing sprinklers at your house? We’ll provide the tools, snacks, and drinks. Plan to be done by noon (or whenever you want to stop). Don’t miss it!!

It was a gorgeous day on the trail to Heart Lake yesterday: clear, breezy, 65-75 degrees. Twelve MSTA volunteers were joined by USFS employees Paul, Haley, and Josh. Brian and Barb drove up from Redding. Five MSTA board members were in attendance. We did some further old trail decommissioning, cut new trail through a brush field to divert around some severely trampled and unsustainable routes, and clearly identified the trail we want all hikers to use by lining the path with rocks. While we worked, more than a hundred people walked by, thanking us as they passed. We’re thinking about finishing the project next Saturday; stay tuned for news.