It has been an extraordinary year for the Trail Association as we expand the Gateway Trail system. We still need your help to get all 46 miles of new trail and 5 trailheads across the finish line!
Please consider donating to MSTA on Giving Tuesday this November 28th. As an all-volunteer organization, 98% of donations are invested in on-the-ground projects.
The Community Foundation of the North State will be awarding different non-profits monetary prizes throughout the day on Tuesday, so donations made between 6:00 AM and 8:00 PM increase MSTA’s chances of getting an additional $1,000 or more!
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.
Giving Tuesday – the Trail Association’s only fund raising effort – is Tuesday November 28th. However, to beat the rush you can make your donation any time from now up through the 28th.
For more information on all the great work MSTA is doing and to make a donation, click here.
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.
The Mount Shasta Trail Association is pleased to announce that Rick Cory has joined its Board of Directors.
Rick grew up in Burlingame in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from San Jose State in 1989 with a degree in Fire Protection Engineering. He was backpacking across Europe when the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred and brought him home.
He worked for 30 years for the Fremont Fire Department, retiring in 2021 as a Division Chief. He worked extensively on wildland mutual aid as a Strike Team Leader and Safety Officer and responded several times to the Mount Shasta area. Rick is very proud of his work with FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 4 and especially their 3-week response to Hurricane Katrina with nearly 1000 rescues.
His first introduction to this incredible area was in 1998 when (girlfriend at the time) Luce and Rick took one of their first trips together visiting Mossbrae Falls. In 2010 they purchased a home across the street from his cousin in Dunsmuir. They taught all of their 4 children to ski at the Mt Shasta Ski Park and how to fish in the Sacramento River. One of his very favorite things to do is a long bike ride ending at the Dunsmuir brewpub.
Rick has watched with anticipation since 2015 as the new Gateway II trail network developed and has loved every minute working with the volunteer crews building trail. Rick is also proud to have completed every Mount Shasta Trail Challenge since its inception in 2018 and is excited to now help continue this great program.
Luce and Rick look forward to many years mountain biking, snow shoeing, skiing, and hiking with their dogs in this beautiful area.
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.
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.
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.
Most of the puzzle pieces for our work day on Monday have come together, but the heavy equipment (hydraulic post driver and hydraulic augur) are not available due to snafus with delivery vehicles. Therefore, we’ll have to postpone sign installation and hope that the weather won’t blow us out before Jan. 1.
I plan to go up to the McBride Springs and Ten Gallon Trailheads tomorrow or Sunday to test the soil for rocks. If favorable, maybe we can dig two holes at each site and at least get the monument signs installed on Monday (they go on wooden 4X4s).
Stay tuned for further information, but for now, we’re on hold. Thanks to all who’ve agreed to help.
As part of our $1.1 million grant from the state for Gateway II, we are obligated to install a bunch of signs along Everitt Memorial Hwy and Road 31 (upper Old McCloud Ave). These include the trailhead monument signs, warning signs to drivers that the trailheads are coming up ahead, and signage to demarcate anywhere the trails cross a roadway. This is not sexy work like trail construction, but has to be done before Dec. 31 and before the snow flies.
We have a volunteer heavy-equipment operator who will dig the holes (the hardest part of the job) for free. Now we need a traffic-control crew (approximately 7), a crew to attach signs to posts and drop them into the holes, and a crew to pour gravel into the holes and tamp it down. I estimate we will need about 20 or more volunteers. Some of the work will merely be standing in the road with signs making sure drivers go around the heavy equipment.
This will be one of the last big work days before winter sets in, but WE NEED EVERYONE who’s available on this Monday (had to do it on a weekday to avoid interaction with traffic).
If you can help, please email me via this website (click contact on the home page) so I can place you in the appropriate crew. Exact time and meeting place will follow, but I suspect it will be 9 am at the GW Trailhead on Everitt Mem Hwy on Nov. 13, 2023.
