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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.

This is your chance to contribute to the beautiful, less steep, more scenic, better-identified trail from Castle Lake to Heart Lake. Quite a bit of work has already been done, including that of nine Wanderers this morning, but more remains. You can choose from obliterating the old trail segments that were problematic, finishing some rock work on the switchbacks, improving the tread, cutting a brush field, or doing some fine rock work to clearly identify a single path in the Alpine zone (upper segment). Or just come to see all the volunteers and marvel at the trail. It will be a fun morning.

Hope to see you there!

A big thank you to Mark Telegin and Paul Schwartz for installing yet another kiosk along the Lake Siskiyou Trail in the Spini Meadow area. The kiosk was fabricated by Mark in his garage, disassembled, then reassembled on site. The deep holes for the support posts and concrete were dug by a County work crew (thank you Jason Ledbetter and workers), which saved us the hardest part of the job. The new, three-foot lake maps are being manufactured and will be placed on the kiosks soon.

Last Wed., May 26, about 8 MSTA volunteers joined a dozen Boy Scouts and their scoutmasters to cut the weeds at an overgrown Spring Hill Trailhead. We had a bunch of weed whackers of various sizes and shapes, and the cut weeds were hauled by wheelbarrow to Bubba’s huge dump trailer and removed. We had some really young helpers alongside the scouts and MSTA regulars. Thanks to all!!

We’ll be doing another work day on the Gateway Reroute this Saturday at 9 am. Meet at the Gateway Trailhead for a short drive and then a 15 minute walk to the work site. Alyssa Winkleman will be directing the work.

The next opportunity will be a big effort up at Castle Lake on June 5 (National Trails Day) to make further progress on the new trail to Heart Lake.

We’ll be cutting weeds and cleaning up the Spring Hill Trailhead with the Boy Scouts on Wed., May 26 at 6 pm. This is an annual event that is a lot of fun. If you commit one hour, we’ll power through the job (the Boy Scouts and their dads did most of the work the last few years!). Bring weed whackers and rakes. See you there.

Yesterday, Sunday the 16^th, we had 12 volunteers rake and remove roots from the Gateway Reroute Trail. The views were spectacular. We got nearly the whole thing done, but there remains a lower section of about 400 feet that will need to be brushed out and finished later. There are also three rocky sections that will require some careful jigsaw puzzling of rocks to create flat, solid trail. The rock work is fun and creative, so if you want to help with this, contact Alyssa Winkleman, who will be leading this effort in the next 2 weeks.