California Trails Days, April 26 - 27
Hardy volunteers hacked through poison oak, manzanita, and everything else brushing out new sections of the Foresthill Divide Loop Trail. The FATRAC Mountain Bikers showed up in force as usual, but we also had a pretty good turn out of Foresthill people. Tom Birch, Russ and Diane Melanson, Skip Lauderbaugh, Sherri Osborn and, of course, Greg Wells were among the die-hard trail builders working on this trail. It felt really good when one of the new sections we were working on broke through and joined a section that had been completed last year.

State Parks is looking into buying a trail- building tractor, possibly by combining resources with the green sticker- supported OHV areas for the purchase. The tractor could then be used to help maintain OHV and other trails throughout the park in the future.

Equestrian Fun Ride
The Friends of the Western States Trail raised more than $5000 for trail projects at their annual Fun Ride and barbeque on Saturday, April 26th. The funds will go towards projects already underway to repair the bottom portion of the California St section of the Western States Trail and to build the No Hands Bridge bypass trail.

Tevis Will Go Through Todd Valley
Because of the flood damage to the bottom portion of the California St section of the Western States Trail, this year the Tevis riders will be coming up the Peachstone Trail from Cal 2 and going through Todd Valley on the Todd's Valley section of the Western States trail. This will be a treat for some who enjoyed spectating on a warm summer evening from the comfort of their decks and for others who will relive traveling the "old trail".
Charlie Gabri presented this idea at the May Forum meeting and also wrote an article asking for any concerns and feedback for the Messenger. One person at the Forum meeting was concerned about the impact additional traffic on McKeon-Ponderosa Rd., but Charlie assured them there will be minimal traffic since crews will not be allowed access at White Oak Flat. There will only be a Vet Check stop there. Anyone with a concern or question is encouraged to call Charlie at 367-2981. He is working hard to try to make this a good experience for the community.

Proposal for a Search and Rescue Teams Invitational
Dorothy Cleveland, who grew up in Foresthill and recently moved back, has approached the FTA and the Chamber of Commerce with an idea for a new trail event designed to further enhance our community's reputation and local economy. She proposes having a 100K Relay Race for Search and Rescue teams (at least one person on the team would have to be a Search and Rescue member). The course would be from Foresthill to Robinson Flat and back, with a survival overnight stay at Robinson Flat (the relay handoff point) in some challenging month like February. She has a very detailed proposal and some great ideas and is looking for people to help pull it together. She plans to be at the May meeting to meet us and share her proposal.

Western States 100 Run Training - Memorial Weekend
About 300 runners will be here for their big annual training weekend. Anyone is welcome to participate in the training runs. You don't have to be training for the Western States. You do have to sign up and pay $10 per day for the transportation and aid stations. Last year more than 50 people used the aid stations without paying. Probably many did not intend to, but once they were out there 15 miles into the run those aid stations looked too good to resist. As a result some of the stations ran short. Saturday will be Robinson Flat to Foresthill (35 miles), Sunday - California Loop to Rucka-Chuck and up to White Oak Flat and Monday - Green Gate to the finish.

Next Youth Outing - May 16th
We're going to hike North Fork of the Middle Fork trail which intersects Mosquito Ridge Rd and follows the creek for about 3/4 mile. Meet at the Elementary School at 2 PM. If you'd like to join us, call Sherri at 367-3928. In June we are planning to go to the Confluence Festival.

New Members
Welcome to new members Johanna Fox and Brian Purcell. Also we welcome Dan Baglioni's renewal. Sherri will have updated member lists at the May meeting, or if you can't attend the meeting and would like one, give her a call.

Trail Partners
It's safer and more fun to go out on the trails together. If you'd like to partner up or already have a group going out regularly and would like to let others know, please call Sherri and she will put it in the newsletter.

Mike Winslow would like to try to organize horse weekly outings on a day during the week. Please contact him at 367-3928 if you are interested and let him know which day/time would be best for you.

Foresthill Trails Alliance                      PO Box 468, Foresthill, CA 95631
http://foothill.net/fta/                        email: fta@foothill.net