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Monthly Trail Meetings
Date: Friday, November 8th
Time: 12:00 pm to 1:30 p.m.
Place: 205 Riverside Dr. (South Portal Bldg)
Date: Wednesday, November 13th
Time: 6:00 pm to 7:00 p.m.
Place: 831 Main St. (Zach's Bikes)
The purpose of our meetings are to hold an open forum to discuss ways to further our mission of promoting great trails in Klamath County. Please join us for all or part of one of our upcoming meeting.
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Trail Maintenance Day
Sign-up for notifications on KTA events on their Meetup site by clicking here.
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Kedric Osborne (front) & Nathan Stroh (back), Spence Mountain 50K this year.
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Member Highlight - Nathan Stroh
By: Alison Andrews
This image shows Nathan Stroh (Bib #104) after he placed 5th in the Old Cascade 50 Miler. Friends call Nathan, Mr. 100. Nathan started running just seven years ago, at the age of 40, and has already done over 70 ultramarathons (a footrace on trails longer than 26.2 miles, generally 30miles/50km or more), including seven 100 milers. He has also done triathlons, including two Ironmans (for which he learned to swim). Back in 2011, Nathan describes himself as having been an out of shape smoker. He hadn't done regular exercise since racing mountain bikes for a couple years in high school (races included the Humbug Hurry Up in Yreka and Revenge of the Siskiyous in Ashland). He has a wife (Amy), three children (now grown), and a grandson. As they were growing up, he always encouraged his kids to do their best at their pursuits, including sports. Seven years ago, his kids turned it around on him and asked him why he wasn't doing his best. That's when he started running. Though he's run more miles than most people have in a lifetime, he still considers himself a beginner.
Nathan attributes much of his success to the Linkville Lopers running group. The Lopers have a group run that starts at 6pm every Wednesday at Asana Yoga and Sole. In 2011, the Lopers had only three regulars doing the weekly runs before Nathan joined, and he still runs with the group which has grown since then. Nathan described how the Lopers are a true community, supporting and encouraging every runner. They give each other tips on how to run better, compete better, and recover better from injuries and/or hard races. They even travel to races together. They take new runners to events like the The Canyon Rumble Frozen Half in Madras, OR, on the first weekend in December. The race offers a half marathon, 10K, and 5K.
He recently placed 4th in the Plain 100, which takes place in Plain, Washington, and is a completely unsupported race. He and his friend completed the grueling race despite being rained on the entire time. Nathan is taking it easy for a couple months and limiting his runs to around 8-10miles, but generally his training consists of 15miles/day five days a week and 30miles on Saturdays. Training runs are frequently in the conveniently located Moore Park. He has his sights set on running the Western States 100-mile next year, but will have to wait to see if he gets picked out of the hat (it's a lottery).
Nathan is passionate about our local trail systems, especially the new Spence Mountain Trail system because it has enabled the Linkville Lopers to put on the Spence Mountain Run in the spring (includes 25K and 50K races). He speaks of many trails in our area that some locals may not even know about, including the Swan Lake area and Stukel Mountain. Nathan appreciates the many health benefits of trail running, but he also just loves getting out in the mountains and finds that it's a great way to mentally "detox".
Besides spending a lot of time running, Nathan works as a custodian at Klamath Union High School. He spends a couple days a year doing trail maintenance on our local trails. Talking to Nathan, it is apparent that he also loves to spend his time helping others get into running. He frequently stops on the trail during runs to talk with other runners about running, and answer any questions they might have. He has informally trained numerous runners from out-of-town, and even helped them get running groups started in their hometowns. Running and the running community have enriched Nathan's life, and he is happy to help almost anyone get a taste of it for themselves.
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New Evening KTA Trail Meeting
Zach’s Bikes will be hosting a second monthly KTA public meeting starting in November for the evening crowd. This is a great meeting to see what's happening in the world of local trails, pitch your thoughts and ideas, and network with like minded people. More details can be found here.
Note, this evening meeting is in addition to our regularly scheduled daytime meeting the second Friday of each month.
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Join KTA at our Annual Meeting
It’s time again for our Annual Meeting which will be held again at Gaucho’s (corner 11th and Main St.) on Friday, December 6th. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting starts at 6:30. You are welcome to hang around afterwards.
This gives us all a chance to mingle with folks who value the outdoors—biking, hiking, running, skiing. We’ll give you a roundup on our activities in 2019 in Moore Park and Spence Mountain.
Renewing Board Members. Our bylaws require us to ask members to approve the slate of renewing Board Members. Your board feels that the following have done a good job and represent your best interests. Bylaws allow current members to propose their own board members. You may do so by submitting the name and bio to info@klamathtrails.org.
Here is our proposed slate for the coming two years:
Kevin Jones - Returning board member. Kevin continues to be the chief advisor on Moore Park trail upgrades and maintenance. He has volunteered countless hours towards maintaining and developing trails, among them building several boardwalks over bogs and ordering and installing the Ken Hay Memorial Bench. His dedication has greatly benefited our community’s health and fitness.
Dan Gailis - Returning board member. Dan has served as Vice President since joining the Board. He’s an active runner who has helped with various projects: setting up trail runs in Moore Park, installed maps and helped with tool sharpening. When not out exploring the running, hiking, or biking trails, Dan and his wife Tara can often be found fly fishing on one of the many local lakes or streams during the summer or seeking out the Nordic ski or snowmobile trails during the winter.
Mark Goodman - Returning board member. Mark is a key member of our board. He is the map expert in GIS which has allowed KTA to produce high quality maps of the local trail system including the maps for the KTA trail brochure. Mark also enjoys trail maintenance and riding his mountain bike at Moore Park and Spence.
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Oregon Trails Coalition Meet-up
The Oregon Trails Coalition will be hosting an informal meet-up November 15th, 5:30-7:30, at Klamath Basin Brewing. Please come join us to share what you're working on, learn more about the Oregon Trails Coalition and how to inform and plug into statewide efforts, meet up with others working on trails locally, discover synergies, and build relationships. Please RSVP if attending.
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Much Needed Brushing!
Check out the before and after pictures of the Geo Trail! Overgrown tumble weeds and sagebrush encroached almost the entire trail bed. Thanks to an army of brush cutters, the trail was totally cleaned up on October 14th.
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October Trail Work Log
Maintenance Hours:
October = 128.5 hours
Year to Date = 1461.75 hours
Maintaining trails is a core mission of KTA. We perform trail maintenance on over 90 miles of trail locally to include Moore Park, Spence Mountain, the Geo Trail, Brown Mountain, High Lakes and the lower half of the Mt. McLoughlin Trail and an adjoining section of Pacific Crest Trail through the Forest Service's Adopt-A-Trail program.
If you are doing trail maintenance we ask that you post your hours on KTA’s Trail Work Log located on our website. This will help us track volunteer hours and is especially important when applying for grants as it shows community support! Note, you should include time spent driving to the trail location, in addition to the work being performed.
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How to Become Involved with the KTA
Visit KTA's website or our Facebook page for more information on projects and events. Consider joining or renewing your membershship today! Individual memberships start at only $20 per year. These funds support trail maintenance, promotion, new trail development and the resources needed to keep us up and running as a non-profit organization! Email Info@klamathtrails.org to join the mailing list for updates.
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