Mount Shasta Trail Association
Inspire • Create • Conserve
For all you impatient trail workers, we’re getting our plans in order for some great trail work this spring and summer. In conjunction with the USFS, the first outing will be to work on the Faery Falls Trail to make it safer and easier. More details will be coming in the next few days, but I suspect we’ll meet in front of the USFS Office on Alma St. next Saturday, April 26 at about 8:30, then carpool near to Faery Falls (about a 10-15 minute drive).
The 2025 Mount Shasta Trail Challenge sticker sheets are here and once again our local partners and sponsors at Dragon Graphics have hit it out of the park!
These custom stickers are chock full of local specificity but the only way you can get them are by completing 6 of the 12 trails on this year’s challenge. Show your accomplishment and local pride by displaying these on your water bottle, laptop, or wherever. As always, the Trail Challenge and these stickers are totally FREE!!
Which sticker is your favorite? Is it the historic Gerard Lookout or the Ranger on Sisson’s Trail? Maybe you like one of the bike themed stickers? Castle Crags Vista Point has a great shape but so does Miners Humbug. They are even several for our younger trail challengers! Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Get your Trail Challenge passport and more information here.
FYI- Everitt Memorial Highway has just reopened to Bunny Flat if you want to check out Strawberry Valley and Lemurian Delirium.
Choose your own adventure! The 2025 Mount Shasta Trail Challenge lets you choose between biking the Upper McCloud River or hiking the 3 McCloud waterfalls. The recent rainfall and snowmelt are making for an incredible show!!
You may have to park closer to the highway until the campground opens but that extra bit of hiking just means less crowds. The waterfall trail still has patches of snow on it and a few trees down but it’s passable for hiking. Dog on leash friendly and trail closer to parking paved for wheelchair and baby strollers.
We know you are anxious to see the 2025 Trail Challenge sticker sheet and the reveal is almost here. In the meantime…THANK YOU to the trail challenge mega fan who donated a dozen custom water bottles at the Mount Shasta Visitor Center. The first twelve trail challengers completing 6 of the 12 featured trails get dibs.
Download your always free Mount Shasta Trail Challenge passport here.
The 2025 Mount Shasta Trail Challenge kicked off a few weeks ago so we better start telling you about the cool finisher swag!
This year we are giving away FREE “Alert Bells” to the first 100 finishers. These bells are custom made for us by Bevin Bells in East Hampton, Connecticut. They have our popular Trail Challenge logo on them and a very nice sound. They work on bikes, backpacks, dog collars, you name it. Bells work remarkably well to alert others when you are just around the bend. It’s also a good idea to keep an ear bud out so you can hear the bell:)
The Gateway Trail System has been a multi user trail network for more than a decade and the recent trail expansion was paid for with grant funds that mandate multi use. Some historic trails are “Hike Only” while others are “Downhill Bike Preferred”. Responsible trail users practice “Share the Trail” principles and should always stay under control. With a little courtesy we can all use these beautiful trails together safely.
But that’s not all Trail Challengers… Stay tuned for another finisher swag announcement in the coming weeks!
We’ve just updated our website to include the passport plus a lot of great information on this year’s trail challenge. Check it all out here.
Looking for something great to do in the gorgeous weather this weekend? The 2025 Mount Shasta Trail Challenge just went LIVE and is calling you!
Check out the Trail Challenge passport posted here.
This year’s theme is bike friendly trails and the expansion of the Gateway Trail Network. There are several new trails and trails new to the Trail Challenge to check out. There is something here for folks of all abilities, all sports and all seasons. All this snow might make biking a challenge so whip out those skis or snowshoes! There are lots of options if you like hiking with your kids, or parents, or dog:) Maybe find a lower altitude trail like Lollipop if your favorite is still snowed in.
Lots more information to come in future posts on finisher swag, highlighted trails, etc! For now, just get out there and enjoy this incredible weather!
This spring, the US Forest Service will offer MSTA volunteers the opportunity to attend a chainsaw certification course. This allows us to keep our beautiful trails clear of trees and brush in a safe manner (and the certification is required to work on USFS property). We currently have about a dozen certified sawyers who do this critical work, and because people just love to cut stuff up, we have a lot of fun when we go out.
If you want to attend this course, please let me know so we can give a rough head count to the USFS staff. The course usually happens on a Friday and Saturday from 9 to 4 in late April, May, or early June. You can use the “Contact” tab on this website to add your name to the list.
Now that we have most of the signs installed on the new trails, we have to go back to the original Gateway Trails (so-called Gateway I) and make sure everything is properly signed. We need a couple helpers next Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 1 pm to place fiberglass markers and several steel posts. We’ll meet at the Gateway Trailhead on Everitt Mem. Hwy, open the green gate, and drive to the sites. Most of the work will involve no walking or short distances. There will be some digging and concrete work, but mainly pounding in the flat signs. Come for a half hour, come for an hour, or just come to criticize the work. Don’t miss it, campers.
Within the past week, our volunteers got after it again. A bunch of signs were installed around the top of Moon Doggie Trail and around the McBride Trailhead.
Then, a couple days ago, Mike Backes and Mark Derby cleared the downed trees everyone has been reporting at the bottom of My Trail. Besides these two guys, I want to thank Eric Blomberg, Davis Bowden, Steve Eddy, and newest trail workers Paul Horton and his very eager, strong son Wyatt, who promises to return in the future to help us geezers do some of the heavy lifting.
I just have to give a huge shout out to Davis Bowden and Katie LeBaron, who yesterday spent four hours (each) removing a huge, downed tree from the Tunnel Trail and clearing branches and brush elsewhere in Gateway I. Multiple people have reported this tree, but the rest of the chainsaw crew hasn’t been able to get to it (or didn’t have a saw big enough). This is an example of how many of our trail crew sneak out to do this hard work when no one notices, so the rest of us can enjoy the trails. Sorry about the blurred photos; Davis’s phone camera is dying, but you get the idea of the size of this beast.
