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Monthly Trail Meeting
Date: Friday, August 9th
Time: 12:00 pm 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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A big thank-you to ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) and Fire District #1 for the brushing work on the Eulalona trail to reduce the fire hazard.
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History of Moore Mountain Trail Names, 2nd Edition (Moore Park Area)
We got to musing about the Moore Park trails and how they were named. So, we asked our trail folks for help. There are colorful stories behind some of the names, but to keep it brief we just included a sentence or two. In total there are 36 trails names, so they are broken up into three geographic sections. Last month we previewed the Eulalona area. In this edition, we'll list those in or near Moore Park.
Klamath Ridgeview - signature trail originating in Moore Park then gradually climbs to ridge line above Lakeshore Rd offering expansive views of Klamath Lake.
Big Sky - Kevin Jones was the primary builder of this trail, and named it because he felt like he was in Montana looking out at the skyline while sitting in the area near the wood bench.
Hayride - another Kevin Jones trail that is named after Ken Hay for his cooperation with the grand plan.
Five Gallon - when it was being built there was a huge bum camp. We hauled all the garbage away including a 5 gallon bucket of poop that was their toilet. We buried it and a dog named Roca dug it up and rolled in it.
Enduro - named after Kevin Jones' bike that inspired building this trail.
Express Lane - because it is a very fast way off the mountain.
Gooseberry - because it has gooseberries growing next to the trail
Archery - because it started from the old archery range at the bottom of the trail, which is now a picnic area.
NoName - it was deemed just a nondescript piece of trail and not worthy of a name.
Tank - named by Jerry Enman after the water tank at the bottom of the trail.
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Youth Education at Spence Mountain
There is more than hiking and biking going on at Spence these days. Thanks to Eva Jones, Great Outdoor Alliance and Lisa Kochenderfer, Talk About Trees, 138 students on three field trips have participated in environmental education near the Shoalwater trailhead. The programs have entailed shelter building and survival, owl pellet dissection, forest hike, fish dissection, fire prevention, ornithology, macroinvertebrate collecting, and wetland/ watershed conversations. The Great  Outdoor Alliance used the North Ridge Trail for a survival talk and hands on shelter building activity. They discussed the Rules of 3 for survival and how to prioritize your time and resources when recreating in the forest. Talk About Trees led a forest hike down the Mazama Trail where many of the Oregon conifers can be found. This created great conversations for tree identification, forest practices, and wildlife habitat. The wetland skirts the Mazama Trail which was great for bird watching, and discussions about wetlands and their importance to the ecosystem. Shoalwater Bay Trail is a nice, flat trail which allowed us to have many different programs in the open areas along the path. We conducted owl pellett dissection, macroinvertebrate collecting, and fish dissection all along this trail. Many Mazama High School students volunteered their time to help facilitate and educate the programs and activities. Also, partnerships with the Oregon Department of Forestry led to an engine visiting to discuss fire safety, fire ecology, the fire triangle, and tips for living in a fire adapted ecosystem. |
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Eulalona Kiosk & Trail Signs
The last phase of the Eulalona Kiosk project has been completed and there is a beautiful new display welcoming trail users and a detailed trail map. A big thank-you to Larry Holzgang for his fine woodworking skills in building the display case.
New trail signs, 25 in total, were installed a few months back to improve wayfinding in the Eulalona area. Volunteers on the trail sign project included Mark Goodman, Kevin Jones, Grant Weidenbach, Michael Schaaf and Drew Honzel.
One of the new way finding signs
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Volunteers Needed - Crater Lake Century, Saturday, August 17th
This is a long running charity ride benefiting Klamath Trails Alliance, The Klamath County Museum and the Klamath-Lake County Food Bank. We are always looking for more volunteers. If you are interested in helping please contact Zach at craterlakecentury@gmail.com or call (541) 331-5247.
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July Trail Work Log
July Maintenance Work = 130 hours
Moore Mountain Trails: Cleared grass and brush on Ridgeview trail above Lynnewood; Trimmed overgrown grass around Eulalona kiosk area; Built and installed Eulalona Kiosk display case; Installed new map displays in the four Moore Park Kiosks; Removed piled up fencing and posts from Lynnewood Connector and Hayride area (~500 lbs of metal scrap).
Brown Mountain Trail (BMT), High Lakes, Rye Spur, and McLoughlin Trails: Finished brushing the BMT in the switchback area; Machine brushed the BMT from the summit east through switchbacks; Trimmed brush and grass on High Lakes along Great Meadow; Installed replacement interpretive panels along Great Meadow; Trim brush and grass along High Lakes for 7/10 mile east of the PCT and 3/10 mile to the west; Cleaned up High Lakes trail and Brown Mountain trailhead from brushing of Road 3640, and filled holes left by vehicle spinning tires against barrier rocks at Road 900 trailhead; String trim around Great Meadow interpretive sign and first half-mile of High Lakes trail; Picked up litter at Great Meadow trailhead; Tossed sticks and debris, moved one log, Trimmed brush from High Lakes Trail; Logged out McLoughlin trail to timberline; Cleared two down trees from Rye Spur.
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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