14 minute read
Season of trail building
A PATH THROUGH THE WOODS
EXPANSIVE TRAIL WORK CONNECTS THE REGION
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STORY BY SEAN M c ALINDIN
LEND A HAND
California Conservation Corps | ccc.ca.gov
Tahoe Fund | tahoefund.org
Tahoe Rim Trail Association | tahoerimtrail.org
TRPA Trail Survey | trpa.maps.arcgis.com
Truckee Trails Foundation | truckeetrails.org
he Tahoe Sierra has always been a place of connection. In times past, it was the last crossroads before settlers reached the promised land of California using a web of ancient paths spread throughout the mountains. More recently, it’s become known as a paradigm of community cooperation as numerous counties, towns, states, public agencies and nonprofits work together to protect and maximize the benefit of a beautiful, yet complex, landscape.
With a record-breaking influx of new residents and visitors, our region is now experiencing some of the most profound and sudden changes in its history. While untold numbers will tread Tahoe’s soil this summer, smaller numbers work behind the scenes to maintain, design and expand the sustainable trail system necessary to accommodate an ever-increasing population of outdoor enthusiasts.
Tahoe Fund is leading an effort to raise $3 million for the Tahoe Trail Endowment to finance trail projects for generations to come. They are part of a team working on the Tahoe Regional Trails Plan as a blueprint to guide investment and fundraising while limiting impact on the natural environment and improving user experience.
“There is a lot of momentum right now from many partners for having a coordinated vision for access and connectivity,” says Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit trails engineer Jacob Quinn. “It results in more efficiency and better management of the trail system.”
On June 3, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency released a public survey on the trail plan that is open until July 16. As partners work to gather input from the swelling multitudes of newfound naturalists, land managers and trail-building organizations are moving ahead with their works plans for the year.
A SUMMER OF TRAIL BUILDING
This year is turning out to be a banner year for trail construction in the Tahoe Sierra with a mountain of major projects happening throughout the region.
The Martis Valley Trail Project announced in January the attainment of funding goals and environmental review milestones toward a 10.2-mile, paved pathway connecting Truckee to Northstar Village and Brockway Summit. The project will ultimately become part of the Resort Triangle Trail, which will connect the communities of Kings Beach, Tahoe City, Olympic Valley, Truckee, Martis Valley and Northstar in a continuous loop. The estimated $8-million segment between Truckee and Northstar Drive is slated to begin this summer.
In South Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) will oversee the reconstruction of Rainbow Trail to remove asphalt from the marsh and install an elevated boardwalk at Taylor Creek Visitor Center. A section of the Perimeter Trail, which is planned to encircle Monument Peak, will be completed from the top of the Heavenly Gondola
“Land acquisition and trails go hand in hand for us. Our mission is to connect lands of high value with public recreation opportunities. … We’ve seen very strong increase in interest in our region. More trails give people more room to spread out without feeling crowded.” –Greyson Howard
to East Peak Lake. Construction on Armstrong Connector and Corral Trail will add new rock rollovers, slabs and berms to an already well-loved trail complex.
Tahoe National Forest announced in March the East Zone Connectivity project, an extensive plan to construct trails in the Verdi mountains adjacent to Boca and Stampede reservoirs. This historically popular, but neglected, mountain bike zone will receive 70 miles of new multi-use single-track, 40 miles of
restored OHV trails and several additional staging areas to connect Truckee to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the community of Verdi down river at the foot of the Sierra Nevada.
The plan also designates 35 miles of existing nonmotorized trail as officially open to e-bikes including Sawtooth Trail, the Jackass Ridge trail system, Emigrant Trail and Big Chief Trail. This was the first major addition of authorized e-bike use on National Forest System trails in the region.
Tahoe National Forest district ranger Jonathan Cook-Fisher expects e-bike access to only increase in future plans.
“Thirty-five miles of class one e-bike trails isn’t going to be sufficient,” he says. “The question is: Where does the opportunity go from here?”
LTBMU plans to release its Basin-Wide Trail Analysis by the end of the summer and seek another round of public comment on the use of e-bikes along with future trail and parking plans.
WATCH THE SHORT FILM “A TRAIL FOR EVERYONE”
ABOUT THE CONNECTED COMMUNITIES TRAIL NETWORK A PATH FOR EVERYONE
Truckee Trails Foundation has been one of the busiest trail-building agencies in recent years. In 2020, it logged more than 200 miles of non-motorized trails, cleared 170 downed trees, dug and cleared more than 100 drains, brushed miles of overgrown vegetation, installed 54 wayfinding signs, built a vault toilet at Sawtooth trailhead, redesigned sections of the Summit Lake and Pacific Crest trails and added a new loop to the popular Jackass Trail. It also completed the 3-mile Lower Carpenter Valley Trail, featuring 700 feet of boardwalk along pristine alpine meadows abounding with birds and wildflowers, in conjunction with Tahoe Donner Land Trust. The foundation’s projects for 2021 are mostly centered throughout the Sawtooth and Big Chief trail system in the hills tucked between Truckee and Tahoe City citing increased use. “Urban expansion and public access pressure are outweighing the current authorized recreational infrastructure” in this area, stated the Truckee Ranger District in a May 26 written Decision Memo.
To address this problem, Truckee Trails Foundation’s summer plans include the installation of toilets at Jackass and Lower Big Chief, and the rebuilding of nearby Happy Face Trail after it was damaged during the Big Jack East Vegetation Management Project. The area around the Sawtooth parking lot will receive several upgrades including a low-grade walking trail parallel to Forest Road 06, a 1-mile Americans with Disabilities Act accessible path and a beginner bikeskills loop.
After opening the advanced Big Chief Trail last year, the organization is also focused on providing easy access for all levels of walkers and riders.
“Big Chief is too technical for beginners and even some intermediates,” says the foundation’s director Allison Pedley. “We realized we needed to dial it down. What we’re most proud of is trying to reach out and have a little something for everybody.”
In the planning phase are the Granite Flat to Sawtooth connector, the ambitious Pine to Mines Trail connecting Truckee to Nevada City, and the realignment of the back-country Hole in the Ground ride into a single-track loop around Andesite Peak.
The foundation also recently received approval from the Forest Service to begin an Adopt a Trail program.
“We came up with this creative program for people to get involved on their own time with trail stewardship,” says Pedley. “We have this amazing crew of people who come back every year, but it’s getting harder and harder to hire seasonal people with no places to live.”
PHOTOS
LEFT Mountain bikers pedal out on Tollgate Creek Trail in Plumas National Forest. | Courtesy Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship
BELOW LTBMU employee George Gusses clears a giant fallen tree on the North Shore. | Courtesy U.S. Forest Service
TRAIL PROJECTS
EAST SHORE
Flume Trail extension Tunnel Creek work
NORTH SHORE
Brockway Summit work Tyrolian Downhill extension Stanford Rock Trail reroute
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE
Armstrong Connector improvements Corral Trail improvements Lily Lake connector work Rainbow Trail reconstruction Perimeter Trail at Monument Peak work
WEST SHORE
General Creek reroute Fontanillis Lake to Middle Velma Lake work Lost Lake trail reroute Ward Creek work
TRUCKEE
Big Chief Trail modifications Boca & Stampede to Verdi multiuse & OHV trails Donner Rim Trail planning Frog Lake to Independence Lake trail planning Granit Flat to Sawtooth connector planning Happy Face Trail rebuild Hole in the Ground realignment planning Pine to Mine Trail planning Truckee to Northstar Drive paved multiuse trail construction Sawtooth, Jackass Ridge, Emigrant & Big Chief e-bike trails open Sawtooth trail building & bike-skills loop Truckee Springs planning Waddle Ranch trail expansion planning
LOST SIERRA
Antelope Lakes trail building Beckwourth Peak trail building Buzzards Roost trail building Connected Communities trail network planning Downieville Downhill trail building No Ear Bar trail building Storrie trail building
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17
PROJECTS FOR AGES
The always active Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association, better known as TAMBA, has several long-awaited projects in line this summer. The classic Tyrolian Downhill above Incline Village, Nev., will be extended by nearly 2 miles to Mount Rose Highway, thereby reducing mountain bike traffic on Tahoe Rim Trail. The new sections to be built by Sensus R.A.D. Trails will incorporate features such as rollovers, tabletops, step-ups, step-downs and triple-option jumps. Two reroutes down trail to address privateproperty issues and resource damage are being funded by LTBMU through the Great American Outdoors Act passed in 2019.
“We need to make sure our trails are in good shape to handle how many people are now recreating,” says Parsel. “As things start to relax after June 15, we’ll hopefully be able to have more fun social events in the second half of the summer.”
MAINTAINING THE TRT
Tahoe Rim Trail Association (TRTA) has more than 40 volunteer crew leaders who help to maintain the basin’s signature l65-mile loop. This summer, they’ll be working west from Brockway Summit installing new stones steps hauled in from a quarry. In July and August, the focus will turn toward a reroute of the Ward Creek section from an active logging road onto new single-track.
“It will add to the user experience while reducing
In Martis Valley, the land trust is collaborating with Truckee Trails Foundation to expand single-track hiking and biking opportunities at Waddle Ranch.
“Land acquisition and trails go hand in hand for us,” says Howard. “Our mission is to connect lands of high value with public recreation opportunities. Starting with the pandemic last summer, we’ve seen very strong increase in interest in our region. More trails give people more room to spread out without feeling crowded.”
Looking farther into the future, the land trust has high hopes for its 26-acre Truckee Springs parcel across the river from downtown Truckee that it recently purchased. This critical wildlife locale could become an important trail hub once the paved Legacy Trail is extended from Truckee River Regional Park toward Olympic Valley and Donner Lake. Plans call for the installation of a bridge at West River Road to connect the property to downtown Truckee and subsequent single-track links into the Sawtooth and Jackass trail networks.
throughout the summer. However, back-country camps will not be open to the public this year due to precautions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Working on the Tahoe Rim Trail. | Courtesy Tahoe Rim Trail Association
In a bid for better riding, gorgeous views and less erosion on the 2,000-vertical-foot Stanford Rock Trail near Alpine Meadows, more than 1 mile of flowy single-track rerouted from an old logging road will open next month.
On the West Shore, reroutes of General Creek and Lost Lake trails near Sugar Pine Point State Park will eventually link into plans for a bikeable trail circumnavigating the entirety of Lake Tahoe.
“It will allow us to connect into the existing infrastructure more seamlessly,” says TAMBA trails director Patrick Parsel. “These trails will be unique as it feels like you are riding in Desolation with granite slabs and really cool views.”
Heading over to East Shore, a 2-mile extension to the bottom of the popular Flume Trail meant to bypass a steep, sandy road is set to begin in the fall (read more in this edition).
TAMBA’s most demanding project of the year is Lily Lake Trail on the edge of Desolation Wilderness. The 2-mile connector scheduled for completion this month links Angora Lakes and Glen Alpine parking areas with an 800-foot climb up the backside of Angora Peak, stretches of slickrock, high boulder traverses and epic views of Fallen Leaf Lake. In order to complete it, builders have toiled inch by inch through dense vegetation and swaths of talus for three years.
“Anyone who goes on it once it’s open will see the value that it brings,” says Parsel. “In my mind, the views are some of the best in Tahoe. From South Lake, I’ll be able to ride my mountain bike and hike from there into Desolation. It will hopefully reduce the number of people who feel the need to drive on Fallen Leaf Road.”
In addition to new projects, ongoing maintenance keeps TAMBA’s vibrant community of volunteers busy all summer long. erosion and conflict,” says TRTA trail operations manager Kristine Koran. “It’s all about making it both sustainable and enjoyable.”
A grant-funded staff will spend eight weeks near Tunnel Creek installing new rock walls and steps. In Desolation Wilderness, TRTA will work with the California Conservation Corps on a 1-mile section of the trail between Fontanillis Lake and Middle Velma Lake.
Currently, Tahoe Rim Trail is allowing groups of up to 10 volunteers to join workdays
FUTURE TRAILS IN THE WORKS
While Truckee Donner Land Trust won’t be turning dirt this summer, it does have several important projects in planning stages for the future. After completing the northern half of the 23-mile Donner Rim Trail loop last year, the land trust is working with the Forest Service and other partners to design the southern segment of the route. This section between Donner Memorial State Park and Royal Gorge Cross Country Resort will join with parts of Placer County’s Memorial Overland Emigrant Trail project as it follows Schallenberger Ridge toward Donner Summit. Links between the north and south sections at either end of the Donner Rim Trail have yet to be determined.
“There is a lot of coordination with different property owners as we are routing out these trails,” says land trust communication director Greyson Howard. “We buy property when we can, but it takes time to work through the processes.”
Having completed the acquisition of lands adjoining Frog Lake, Red Mountain and Carpenter Ridge, the land trust is conceiving trails in this oft-forgotten back-country area. Last summer, crews rehabilitated an old trail from Warren Lake to Frog Lake. They plan to continue this route over Red Mountain and Carpenter Ridge, eventually reaching all the way to Independence Lake.
“It would probably be an overnight adventure for most people,” says Howard. “This whole area east of the Pacific Crest and north of Truckee hasn’t had a lot of public access, so we are interested in opening that zone up a little more.”
CONNECTING THE LOST SIERRA
North of Truckee, Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship is working on a vision to connect 15 isolated mountain communities in the Lost Sierra by restoring historic mining paths and creating new trails spanning four national forests
With a gross income of close to $2 million, the stewardship represents one of the biggest trail crews in the Tahoe Sierra. In 2020, it maintained 148 miles of existing trail, built 10 new miles at Cal-Ida Trail and Chapman Creek Trail and approved 69 additional miles at nearby Mount Hough, Beckwourth Peak and Downieville.
This summer, executive director Greg Williams hired 40 high-school students to perform trail work full-time.
“This is just for Plumas National Forest,” he says. “We want to replicate this three or four times in Lassen, Tahoe and Humboldt-Toiyabe and start putting people to work on our public lands.”
Williams sees trails as the key tool for redeveloping a Lost Sierra economy damaged by the disappearance of mining and logging operations in the wake of increased environmental regulation.
“These are jobs that are good wages for this region,” says Williams “They are targeted at youth development for training and certification. These kids not only learn about their place but have an opportunity to live here and raise a family, which is something we’ve lost for a few generations.”
Trail-building projects this year will visit Buzzards Roost, No Ear Bar, Beckwourth Peak, Antelope Lakes, Storrie trails and the world-famous Downieville Downhill.
Founded 18 years ago, the stewardship recently marked its 100th mile of new trail and 100,000th hour of labor on public lands. It’s spent the last few seasons collecting input on a long-term plan called, “Connected Communities,” which envisions 450 miles of trails linking Loyalton, Sierraville, Sierra City, Downieville, Quincy, Graeagle, Portola, Taylorsville, Greenville, Chester, Westwood, Susanville, Jonesville, Truckee and Reno, Nev.
“This is very much the people’s plan,” says Williams. “People love to get intimate with the wild lands. Trails provide the space to take people to some of the other places they might not otherwise go. It’s a chance to educate the public on the history and future of this place.”
Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, TAMBA, Truckee Trails Foundation and Tahoe Rim Trail Association are all accepting volunteers on trail projects this summer. Visit the websites for more information or to sign up. n
