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Monthly Trail Meeting
Date: Friday, June 14th
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Place: 205 Riverside Dr. (South Portal Bldg)
The purpose of our meeting is 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 our upcoming meeting.
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Maintenance Day
Check out the new KTA Meetup group for upcoming maintenance days by clicking here.
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Member Highlight
By: Alison Andrews
As I approach Leap of Taste, I see a couple in biking gear and a tandem bicycle leaning against the bench. It is clear that I have found Karen and John Poole. They are a team in many things, even tandem bicycling sometimes. They have ridden 25,000 miles on tandems, in the past 28 years.
John grew up in Klamath Falls, and his grandfather and great uncle even built and operated the first large tour boat in Crater Lake. It was launched in 1924. They had to slide the boat down to the lake's surface on wooden tracks that they built for that purpose. Karen grew up in Ohio, but has lived in Oregon for 33 years. They like being in Klamath because of the small town feel, recreational opportunities, and the support and camaraderie of the trail and outdoor community. John enjoys sailing and riding his bicycle-operated boat around Lake of the Woods (where they spend their summers). He loves the opportunity to share these experiences with youth, and has made it a priority to do so over the years. He is looking forward to adventuring with his granddaughter when she visits this summer. They both are avid cyclists (even riding to Medford or Klamath Falls from the lake for errands), and have also been runners over the years. They have done bike tours, and have ridden across the U.S. five times. They have climbed Mount Mcloughlin over three dozen times. Karen is a meticulous record keeper and has documented over 300,000 cycling miles in her life.
Karen and John are committed to volunteer trail maintenance. They’ve been doing it for over 17 years! They spend winters in Arizona, and have logged 5,000 hours of volunteer work there. They work closely with the Forest Service here as well, and have worked 2,000 hours on maintenance and repair of local trails. They previously maintained the Brown Mountain Trail, but have recently turned that task over to the Klamath Trails Alliance. In 2016, they cleared 80 downed trees from Brown Mountain Trail in one day. John said that doesn't include the trees that two people could just pick up and remove; those 80 trees had to be cut with a chainsaw. Karen pointed out that John is a skilled sawyer, and that they have been able to all their work safely for almost two decades.
They have a special attachment to the High Lakes Trail, which connects Lake of the Woods to Fish Lake. They love this trail because it is approachable and fun for most ages, skill levels, and types of bikes (you don't need a mountain bike). It's smooth (because they keep it that way), and the grade in some places (especially by Lake of the Woods) is flat enough that children on balance bikes can easily ride it. Karen fondly recalls telling a child on a balance bike that she hadn't raked on the trail where he was headed and he said "Don't worry, I can steer around sticks."
So, if you see two hard-working volunteers out on the trails this year, one with a Bob trailer attached to his bike, and another with bulging bike panniers attached to hers, give a sincere “thanks” to John and Karen for all of us!
Map of High Lakes trail created by Karen.
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New Trails at Spence
A big shout out to Dirt Mechanics for completing yet another successful spring build season at Spence Mountain! Three new trails were just opened adding 7 miles to the system and bringing total mileage to 35 miles.
Queen of the Lake Trail (Black Diamond) - will no doubt become a “signature trail” for its uniqueness. The 2 mile trail originates at the main Spence Mt. Trailhead off of Hwy 140. It contours the steep ridge line, paralleling the lake, through a very diverse landscape. It is unlike any trail so far at Spence. At the end there is a natural picnic area down by the lake. Many thanks to Paul Thomasberg, Terra Velo Consulting, who designed and built this trail along with the Dirt Mechanics team!
Winema Trail (Blue Square) - This trail extends down the mountain toward the lake from Modoc to meet up with Queen of the Lake, providing another connection from the south side of the ridge to the north side. Lower Winema, Jct 9 to Jct 10, is recommend for downhill travel as it flows best this direction through rocks, berms and small jumps. There is a climbing road after the first .4 miles for uphill travel.
North Star (Green Circle) - is a green trail that will make a nice loop in the central portion of Spence with the existing Modoc Trail and a short section of Winema that is also green. It starts at Junction 7 and winds 3.4 miles though gentle terrain to the Winema trail.
Many thanks to all those individuals and businesses that have contributed to the Spence Mountain project! We couldn’t do it without your financial help. Special thanks to our public partners, Klamath County and Travel Oregon, for providing 50% of the funding for this phase through their tourism grant programs.
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Klamath Union High School Give Back Day
Job well done to the 19 students from Mr. Huntsman’s Bio Med Class who participated in this years Give Back Day! Armed with lopers, brush cutters and hand saws the group did an awesome job of cutting brush back from Express Lane and Tank trails in Moore Park.
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Spence Mountain Run Update
The Spence Mountain Run on May 18th was a success! Click here for a brief video of the event by Paul Kinney. The results are available on the Linkville Lopers Running and Walking Club facebook page.
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May Trail Work Log
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 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.
Below are details from work completed in May:
Spence Mountain Trails: Installed 14 signs on new trails, helped Dirt Mechanics remove stumps & boulders and raked on Queen of Lake, cleared downed tree from North Ridge trail, cleared tree from Mazama.
Brown Mountain and Fish Lake Trail: Logged out, light brushing/raking, cleared litter and campfire ashes at trailhead, painted trail signs; painted and remounted signboard, cleaned trail sign, swept asphalt trail apron and bike shoulder at Fish Lake trailhead. Trails now open for 2019 season.
High Lakes Trail: Logged out, raked, picked up litter, painted signs.
Boy Scout Trail: Logged out, painted signs.
Mountain Lakes, Billie Creek Trails, Family Loop: Tossed sticks/debris, logged out Mountain Lakes trail below wilderness trailhead on Rd 3660, removed sticks/debris/logs, hung repainted trail signs.
Sunset Trail: Cleared sticks/debris, prep trail signs for painting.
Geo Trail: Cut high grass and brush.
Moore Park Trails: Raked and cleared brush, brushed Express Lane and Tank Trails as part of KU's Give Back Day project, finished Autobahn re-route, brush cut new route at intersection of Klamath Ridgeview trail and Lynnewood Connection Trail, added new stickers to wayfinding sign posts.
Total hours logged in May: 322 hrs
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Elementary Kids Try Mountain Biking
Theresa Ross teaches physical education at Shasta Elementary. She took a group of children out to Shoalwater Trailhead in April. One group rode mountain bikes on the Old Eagle Trail trail, out and back. Another group rode a loop covering the Shoalwater and Old Eagle Trails. The kids had a wonderful time! Check out the Herald and News Article about their day.
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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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