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Let’s meet at 9 am this Saturday, June 17, at the Gateway Trailhead (Everitt Memorial Hwy ½ mile north of MS High School) to install the first of the signs to identify existing and new trails! This will not be hard work. In fact, it will mainly be an opportunity to get everyone trained on how to label and install these signs. We will ultimately have about a hundred of these to place before the project is complete, but we’ll only put in about a dozen on Saturday. Below is a photo of the fiberglass signposts with a sample of the identifying stickers.

So, if you don’t like to work really hard, and want to use your brain a little, come and have some fun with us for about an hour or so.

Fourteen volunteers and 3 USFS personnel teamed up to unload several tons of signs and steel posts today. It didn’t take very long. Thanks to Shannamar, Steve D, Barbara, John, Kyle, Dave, Steve M, Rick, Marilyn, Tony, Sooz, Neil, Mark, Alan, Taylor, and Brian.

We will plan to begin sign installation as soon as we can unpack the stuff (maybe this Saturday morning). Stay tuned.

Fifteen people have already contacted me about helping unload the signs on Monday!

A POINT OF CLARIFICATION: The signs are currently in Redding, but will be shipped to the USFS Office in MS on Monday (204 W. Alma). That’s where we’ll need the help unloading, not in Redding.

Thanks to all who are planning to assist.

JH

Dear Volunteers:

$35,000 worth of signs for the Gateway II Project are sitting in Redding on six pallets. They were supposed to arrive today to be stored in a shed at the USFS Office on Alma St., but the shipper called me to say that we need to rent a forklift to offload the stuff! We don’t have a forklift available, so I postponed the shipment until Monday at about 1 pm.

Some USFS personnel are going to help us unload the stuff off the pallets in the truck, but I need about a half dozen willing volunteers to help. I think it will take us about an hour (I’m always optimistic).

CAN ANYONE HELP?

If so, please respond and give me your phone number so I can call you if the time of delivery changes.

This is a critical piece of getting all our trails completed and signed.

My phone number is 530-859-2454. Email john@harchms.com

Thanks!

JH

A couple reports came in that there was a stump below the second table jump on Lemurian Delirium (the “Jump Trail”) that was a big problem for those choosing to fly through the air with the greatest of ease on their bikes. Today, that stump became history, although I left a very small kicker on the down side in case the crazies now want to use it for a landing or launch pad. Photos show before and after from above and below.

No doubt you’re tired of hearing this, but eight of us went back up the access road on Gateway I today to remove more downed trees and brush. We think all the trees are gone. We finished most of the brushwork, with one short segment remaining for another day. Thanks to Bill, Kathleen, Mark, Chris, Todd, John, and Jim. Jim behaved today.

Chris Marrone, who never has enough hard work to do, wants to finish brush work on the Gateway access road that we started last Monday (when we took out the downed trees). Getting this finished will make maintenance of the trails much easier, including after Grinduro. We probably got 2/3 of it done already, so there’s not a mammoth job in front of us. We will carpool from the trailhead, so there will not be much hiking.

Let’s meet at 10 am on Wed, May 10 (I have a meeting with the USFS before that and it will warm up a little if we go at 10) at the Gateway Trailhead on Everitt Memorial Hwy (same place as last time). I plan to be finished by noon, especially if we get 8 or 10 people.

Sawyers: this is a good opportunity to practice your brushing skills (maybe some of the hardest of the saw skills). Also, there are a few trees left on the upper parts of Gateway I, as well as 2 small trees just below the second segment of Gateway.

Booyah!

I’d been receiving texts and phone calls about a big tree down on the “back nine” of Gateway I for several days. Couldn’t get up there right away, but Todd Whitney (one of our best sawyers) offered to handle it right after our first day in the chainsaw class. Check out the size of that hanging tree and Todd’s big-ass saw!

On Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, the USFS gave a certification/recertification course for our volunteer chainsaw group. Eleven of us spent a day and a half in the classroom, then headed out to the forest for the fun stuff–cutting trees, limbing, and bucking. We got to try out some big saws and hone skills with our little, homeowner saws. Very big thanks to instructors Josh and Josiah for their patience, knowledge, and easy-going style. And thank you to our volunteers who donated their time to be ready to clear trails: Michael, Terry, Jeff, Devin, Jessica, Scott, Renee, Bryson, Davis, and Todd.

It was raining when I left with the tool trailer this morning, thinking we might have to cancel. As volunteers gathered, the rain stopped. By the time I gave my usual boring safety talk and hiked to the trail (about 20 minutes) it started to clear. When all the late stragglers wandered in, we had a total of 17 workers and the sun came out!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

The conditions were ideal for trail work and we buffed out the trail to perfection. It was a spectacular morning.

I must confess that I erroneously indicted Ray U as the troublemaker from previous work days, confusing him with Jim W, who showed up today but actually behaved for about 5 or 10 minutes before stirring things up (he appears in the second photo below). Thanks a lot, Jim.

Our trail contractor, Andrew Pellkofer, was out and about scouting the next trail for construction. When he finishes the next segments, we’ll be scheduling similar finish work. Don’t miss out.

I highly recommend you see the new Foundation Link. Just go up the original Gateway Trail from the trailhead about 3/8 mile, and when you see a banked turn curving sharply to the left, the new trail takes off straight ahead and takes you to the start of the Foundation Trail. Try to see it before they start the controlled burn in the area.

Thanks to everyone who helped today!