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.
As part of the Trail Association’s ongoing effort to keep the Gateway Trails a quality experience, we recently installed nine “your are here” signs throughout the network. So just when you think you are hopelessly lost, one of these signs will come to the rescue!
We also updated the map panel at the trailhead kiosk to now show the Foundation and Pig Farm Trails, and removed a proposed trail segment that wasn’t needed. Enjoy!
The Siskiyou Science Festival and the Mount Shasta Trail Association invite the public on a strenuous and sometimes steep, 5.5 mile round-trip hike to the sky scraping granite spires called Castle Crags on Sunday, May 19th.
The elevation gain is 2,200 feet. Participants will first walk through the forest to Indian Springs and then hike out in the open, amid the granite slabs and pinnacles where the postcard views of Mt Shasta and the Crags become more and more spectacular.
Castle Crags are actually part of the Klamath Mountains, not the Cascade Range, and are much older. They were formed by granite magma slowly cooling underground ( as a “pluton”) and subsequently becoming exposed at the surface through uplifting and erosion.
This is the same way that the granites of Yosemite formed. In fact, the Klamath Mountains broke off from the Sierra Nevada about 60 million years ago. Mt Shasta, in contrast, was formed by relatively recent surface eruptions (within the last several million years) and its rock is andesite (a type of basalt).
Meeting place is 111 Morgan Way in front of The Best Western Tree House in Mt Shasta at 9:00 am. We will carpool to Castle Crags State Park. Bring lunch, water, and sun protection and expect to return about 4:30 pm. For further questions call Joan Roemer 530-926-0647.
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 6th 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 20th:
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.
