The Best Trail System You’ve Never Heard Of: Creating Access to Some of the Most Remote Places in California
If you’re one of the many people looking to get away from it all, there’s a new destination you should consider: Trinity County, California. Whether you’re a hiker, biker, equestrian or motorsports trail user, Trinity County offers unparalleled views, solitude, and adventure.
Our trail dozer and excavator were extremely helpful and effective in certain locations.
The Watershed Center’s recreation division has been cranking out new trail construction and maintenance across Trinity County–improving access in the Weaver Basin and Hayfork Valley in the far northwestern corner of the state. Leveraging support from the McConnell Foundation, Trinity River Community Partners, Trinity County Resource Advisory Committee, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, our team has completed construction of:
Al Browder Trail: 2.5 miles, designed as a climbing trail to access downhill mountain bike (MTB) specific routes
Blue Lead: 1.5 miles, downhill MTB only, designed for fast flow with sweeping berms and stacked turns
Black Lead: 0.5 miles, downhill MTB only, spur trail from Blue Lead featuring berms, steep grades, and optional rock drops
Sweepstakes Trail: 4.8 miles with 3,093 feet of elevation loss
Seavy Ditch Trail: 1 mile connecting Sweepstakes to the rest of the Weaver Basin trails
Connect several of these trails for an 11.5 mile shuttle route!
Ewing Reservoir Recreation Area: 4.97 miles of trail in rolling oak woodland with beautiful views of Ewing Reservoir, Hayfork Bally, and the Hayfork Valley
The Weaver Basin Trail System has evolved over time, consisting of game trails and hunting grounds before being covered with water ditches, mining claims, and prospector cabins during the gold rush. It now provides nearly 60 miles of trail for multiple users–hikers, bikers, and equestrians. Sweepstakes Trail, within the Weaver Basin, is unlike anything in the region, catering to world class mountain biking through sinuous and sustainable construction optimized for downhill travel. The Ewing Reservoir Trail System, long awaited and dearly beloved by Hayfork and surrounding communities, now provides in-town recreational opportunities in the place where the Watershed Center is headquartered. The Recreation Program is actively fundraising for the remaining 7 miles at Ewing, with the ultimate goal of a 12-mile trail system.
Our partners at the Shasta-Trinity National Forest have co-hosted trail-building workshops, including this dry-stack masonry course.
Small but mighty–consisting only of two year-round and four seasonal employees, as well as several temporary workers from partner organizations like the SMART Workforce Center–the recreation division is determined to expand visitation to Trinity County by providing unique trail experiences for users while facilitating necessary maintenance, offering youth conservation crew experiences, conducting wilderness patrols, and creating opportunities for users to engage in future project planning and prioritization. With the support of our many funders and partners*, we’ve also completed 182 miles of maintenance across motorized and non-motorized trails in the county. We would not have accomplished this impressive amount of work without our committed volunteer base, and close partners at local advocacy organizations. Trinity Trail Alliance is one of our greatest volunteer partners, and together we have organized dozens of engaging volunteer trail days, many of them to help prepare for California’s second oldest mountain bike race, the La Grange Classic. Over the last three years, 260 volunteers have contributed 1,806 hours of stewardship work on our trail projects!
The Youth Conservation Crews make tangible, on-the-ground improvements to the trail system while gaining valuable employment experience.
The Watershed Center was founded on a vision of intergenerational stewardship, a priority our recreation team is advancing by leading our Youth Conservation Crews (YCCs). In operation since 2003, our YCC program tackles a wide variety of natural resource stewardship projects, including trail maintenance, campground and day-use area maintenance, prescribed fire, noxious weed treatments, revegetation, stream restoration and monitoring, sensitive habitat protections, soil sampling, and wildlife surveys.
We’ll see you on the trail! During the 2022 - 2024 summer seasons, WRTC wilderness patrol staff hiked 544 miles in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, engaging hundreds of backpackers in the art of wilderness ethics and Leave-No-Trace principles. We look forward to continuing to partner with the Shasta-Trinity National Forest to care for both wilderness users and these special places.
Jack Lienhard during a July 2024 wilderness patrol up Canyon Creek. Photo captured by co-patroller Megan Killeen.
Looking to the future, the recreation team is working on several recreation planning efforts including a project with Trinity Trail Alliance volunteers to map 28 miles of proposed expansion of the existing Trinity Lake Trail, prioritizing Americans with Disabilities Act compliant segments, as well as connecting campgrounds and day-use areas to the communities of Trinity Center, Minersville, Covington Mill, and Coffee Creek. This project would provide additional recreational opportunities and alleviate some of the strain on the Trinity Alps Wilderness, which is seeing more visitors each year.
There is strong input from motorized users throughout Trinity County, expressing maintenance needs and a desire for expanded routes. Through developing proposals to tackle deferred trail maintenance on the Pilot Creek OHV Area near Mad River, and collaborating with Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests and community members on several OHV trail expansion projects throughout the County, we are working to address public desires.
“For our Recreation staff, this is more than just a job. Recreation is both our livelihood and our passion. Our projects reduce sedimentation of fish-bearing streams, protect native plant and animal species, and encourage healthy growth of our forests. But it’s more than that. Through hiking, camping, backpacking, fishing, boating, biking, and hunting, we refresh and restore our mental and physical health. We connect with each other and our planet. We create joyful, lasting memories that shape us for the rest of our lives.” – Jack Lienhard, Recreation Division Manager
*The work described in this article was made possible through contributions from numerous funders and partners including: The McConnell Foundation, Friends of the TCRCD, National Forest Foundation, Trinity County Resource Advisory Committee, Sierra Pacific Industries, Coast Central Credit Union, American Trails, Humboldt Area Foundation, Athletic Brewing Company, Trinity County Brewing Company, California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission, the Schwemm Family Foundation, Sierra Pacific Industries, Trinity County Resource Conservation District, SMART Workforce Center, Trinity Trail Alliance, Friends Enjoying Ewing Trails , Redding Trail Alliance, Ascend Wilderness Experience, Bigfoot Trail Alliance, Redwood Coast Mountain Bike Association, Siskiyou Outdoor Recreation Association, Far West Motorcycle Club, Emerald Triangle OHV.
