Happy Trails

This morning Emily Sinkhorn updated us on Safe Routes To School progress in Arcata, The Humboldt Bay Trail, The Eureka Waterfront Trail, and the Humboldt Bay Trail Fund which is now up over $300,000.00 for maintenance and upkeep.

This morning Colin Fisk and I spoke with Kate Beck, the Program Lead at Street Story in Berkley. This is an interactive website that is gathering information on areas that have had accidents and near misses to help both regular folks and municipalities gather data to improve safety at streetstory.berkeley.edu.

This morning Carol Vander Meer and I spoke with Fortuna City Manager, Merritt Perry about some of the trail project happening in and around the friendly city.

This morning Michael Kauffamnn and I spoke with Ian Nelson of the Pacific Crest Trail Association. The PCTA is in charge of managing this trail that goes from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. More info on this amazing national treasure at pcta.org.

This morning Emily Sinkhorn and I spoke with Jenny Weiss, Humboldt County Safe Routes to School Task Force Coordinator and Projects Coordinator at RCAA.

The City of Eureka is planning for a new trail that connects the Sequoia Park Zoo with Tydd Street, in an effort to create better paths for non-motorized means of transportation. This morning Carole Vander Meer and I spoke with Eureka's Deputy Director of Public Works, Jessie Willor, about how the City of Eureka is working to create better paths for students to be able to walk through the city and to create a loop trail to connect with the Eureka Waterfront Trail.

This morning I spoke with Emily Sinkhorn about many things. We talked a lot about Bike Month, which is going on now. A lot more info and a calendar of events can be found at humboldtbikemonth.org. Annie & Mary Trail outreach is happing today with exciting plans for Northtown Arcata. We also spent some time recapping the events of the Trails Summit which took place on May 4th at HSU.

This morning I spoke with Happy Trails Co-Host, Michael Kauffmann about several opportunities folks will have this summer to help and and restore trails along the 300+ mile long Bigfoot Trail. More info at bigfoottrail.org. We started off our conversation this morning with a recap of Saturday's Trail Summit that took place at HSU.

This morning Emily Sinkhorn and I spoke with Mark Mueller about Bike Month Humboldt and the Humboldt Bike Challenge. There are loads of events to participate in at bikemonthhumboldt.org. Also this Saturday from 9:30am till 12:30pm it's the Humboldt Trails Summit, at the Kate Buchanan Room at HSU. You will hear from Hank Seemann, and Senator Mike McGuire.

This morning Colin Fiske and I spoke with Oona Smith, Senior Planner at HCAOG about her regular commute between Arcata and Eureka. She bikes from her home in Arcata and then takes advantage of the bike lockers Humboldt Transit in Arcata, hops on the bus to Eureka and walks to bocks to HCAOG. However, for those of you who want to take your bikes with you, the busses are equipped with bike racks for bike/bus communing over longer distances.

This morning Carol Vander Meer and I spoke with Stephanie Tidwell, Executive Director of Friends of the Eel, about the final approval of the Settlement agreement with NCRA and Friends of the Eel and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics. This has made it possible to proceed with the implementation of SB1029 to create the Great Redwood Trail. Stephanie recently rafted a section of the eel River Canyon that may someday become part of the Great Redwood Trail. We also talked about the Humboldt Trails Summit on May 4, 9:30-12:30 which will include a Trails Showcase, Local updates and a Town Hall meeting with State Senator McGuire on the Great Redwood Trail. This will take place at the Kate Buchanan room at HSU.

This morning Emily Sinkhorn and I spoke with Jaime and Areli Cupp about the upcoming Bike & Health Fair on Sunday at Fortuna Fireman's Pavilion in Rohner Park from 1:30 - 4:30pm. Jaime grew up in LA. Now in Fresno teaches kids about biking and working on their own gear to aid in diabetes prevention. He will be the guest speaker at the Bike & Health Fair.

This morning it was my pleasure to talk with Gabe Howe of the Siskiyou Mountain Club. They deal with maintaining and leading tours of about 300 miles of trails in South West Oregon and North West California. I spoke with Gabe this morning from his home in Ashland Oregon. Check out all that is going on at their website, siskiyoumountainclub.org

This morning our newest Happy Trails Co-Host, Colin Fiske and I spoke with Humboldt County Supervisor, Mike Wilson about his thoughts on personal transportation, public transportation, the future of public transportation and our local trails.

This morning Carol Vander Meer and I spoke with Stacy Becker about the value of Trail Stewards for our local trail system. Stacy was involved from the very beginning of the trail stewards program and had a lot to share about it. We also talked about the upcoming Trails Summit coming up on Saturday, May 4th at the Kate Buchanan room at HSU.