Category: Mount Shasta Area Trails

The hike to Castle Crags on Sunday being hosted by the Siskiyou Science Fair & Mount Shasta Trail Association has been cancelled due to the wintry weather. Apologies for any inconvenience this is causing.

 

On Thursday and Friday of this week, the Forest Service sponsored a free chainsaw certification class for trail volunteers. We learned an amazing number of important things (many of which we should have known before using chainsaws for years). Many thanks to Carolyn Napper and Becky Cooper for the administrative decision, and to Josh, Josiah, Mark, and Jennifer for helping with the dirty details and hands-on training.

On Monday morning at 9 am, there will be a cleanup at the South Weed I-5 exit (Vista Dr.). See the email below.

Hello Clean and Safe Mount Shasta friends, we have been invited to come do a cleanup in Weed by our neighbor and friend Jessica Zern.  Scheduled for this coming Monday, May 6^th at 9am, let’s go give Jessica and our neighbor city a hand and help cleanup the Weed Truck Stop area near the taco truck parked near the Grocery Outlet.  I’ll bring bags and pickers, and you bring a hat, water, and work gloves.  I hope to see you Monday!  Thanks, Glenn Harvey 530-925-9287 or glennharvey54@gmail.com.

Hope you can come and help for an hour or two.

Hello Mt. Shasta Trail Friends,

 

Here are a few additional details about the work day this Saturday, April 20^th:

 

1. Breakfast begins at 8:30am at the main Castle Crags State Park entrance station kiosk, where it has been several times in the past.
2. Volunteers fill out a sandwich order for lunch; Christie and Nick Corzine will drive the sandwich order back to Mt. Shasta Supermarket.
3. Ranger Todd Barto will give a safety orientation just before 9am.
4. We will hand out the attached maps, we have to drive to the work site.  Parking is very limited, please help car pool to the site if possible.  Parking is on Riverside, a narrow one-lane road.
5. John Harch will bring the tools.  Todd Barto needs to bring a backpack leaf blower for the Boy Scouts to practice with (Mark and Glenn will also have leaf blowers).
6. Christie and Nick will return with sandwiches.  Sparkling flavored water is provided by Crystal Geyser.
7. There is no piped water to Lippincott e-camp.  There is a pit toilet.
8. Volunteers should clothing appropriate for the weather, which may include some showers in the morning.  Wear boots, a hat, sunglasses, gloves, and long pants and a long sleeved shirt to protect against poison oak.

 

Work Plan:   Volunteers are welcome to join Mark and me at Lippincott e-camp on Thursday and Friday to prepare for the work day on Saturday.  We will thin trees and cut brush, and leave it to be dragged into piles and burned by the Boy Scouts and volunteers on Saturday.  There is poison oak in the area.  This is moderate to heavy work this year, there are not a lot of light duty jobs.

 

Help Needed:  Please welcome our neighbors and friends, thank them for coming, and PLEASE TAKE PICTURES!  We will start with a group picture at breakfast.

 

Thanks,

 

Glenn Harvey

530-925-9287

Last Saturday, all the downed trees we could find were removed from the Gateway Trail in preparation for great weather and all the hikers and bikers who’ve been cooped up inside for weeks.

Our partners at BikeShasta are hosting a work day on the Gateway Trail system on Saturday April 27th.  Meeting place and time are Shastice Park at 9:00 AM.  Please come in appropriate work clothing with sturdy gloves; and bring water, snacks and sun protection.  Hand tools will be made available and work assignments and groups will be made.  Lunch is being sponsored by The Fifth Season at 1:00 PM at Shastice Park, while a group ride will happen at 2:00 PM.

It Takes A Village

On Saturday, March 30, 2019, about 15 volunteers ascended Spring Hill Trail toting chainsaws, loppers, shovels, McCleods, and Pulaskis. The Rocky Point loop trail was widened in areas where the passage was getting narrow, and similar trimming was done on the main trail. Several of the Americorps fellows did the hard work of grubbing roots out of the trail (stuff us oldsters hate to do).

If you haven’t hiked the Rocky Point loop, you should. The views on the eastern aspect of the trail (go under the tree and over a few large rocks to gaze out over the valley below, facing Mt. Shasta) are spectacular right now. Go about ¾ of the way up Spring Hill Trail and take a right at the post marked as Rocky Point.

Thanks to those who showed up to maintain this highly utilized trail.

Consider attending this important meeting on Thursday concerning the Pacific Crest Trail Town project.

Several years ago, a grant from the Mt. Shasta Trail Association enabled Castle Crags State Park to purchase top quality redwood for reconstruction of decaying structures. Some bridges have already been repaired or replaced, but recently Mark Telegin engineered and built the latest bridge that was needed. Late last month, his crew of helpers/builders (Neil Jacobs, David Tucker, Steve Russell, Jack Moore, Todd Barto—CC Park Ranger, and John Harch) assisted him in hauling the timbers, prepping the site, and installing the bridge. Note the crumbling old bridge, and the armoring of the footings with rocks, which was no small task.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is not known whether this bridge on the Flume Creek trail was built by the Civil Conservation Corps, or whether it came along later, but the same concern for conservation and preservation fueled the motivation for all the restoration projects Mark and his team have undertaken.  It looks like the new bridge will be around for many years to come!