A path for trekkers

50-mile stretch to be completed by next summer

A map of the Coast to Crest trail.

In the style of European trekking, a new yet old trail will allow people to hike from Crescent City to Yreka without bushwhacking.

For much of the 50-mile stretch from Crescent City to Harrington Mountain, the Coast to Crest trail will actually follow the historic Kelsey Trail.

Upon reaching Harrington Mountain, the closest crest of the Siskiyou range to Crescent City,  the trail links up to a network of paths and eventually the granddaddy of them all, the Pacific Crest Trail.

“You could walk from Crescent City to Canada or Mexico,” said project supervisor Kevin Hendrick. “Once the trail is finished, it will really connect the area in a way that it hasn’t been for a long time.”

It’s an important project for the area, Hendrick said, not only because it engages history and the region’s natural beauty, but because it also provides a new type of recreation for Del Norte County — trekking.

A favorite pastime in many European countries, trekking takes hiking and backpacking to a new level.

Like some backpackers, trekkers take multi-day trips, but instead of carrying a large pack with everything they need for the trip, they carry day packs and plan their trip around stopping points with amenities, like bed and breakfasts, hostels or simply established campgrounds.

In some cases the Coast to Crest Trail will be more primitive, but there are at least two places to stay in Rock Creek and one in Big Flat.

“It also gives property owners a chance to make some money by providing a place for trekkers to stay,” Hendrick said. “Ultimately that’s part of our goal, to create economic development.”

Hendrick, and his Coast to Crest Trail cohorts, construction supervisor Clarke Moore and U.S. Forest Service representative Don Pass, believe that having a trekking opportunity in Del Norte could bring in a different type of tourist.

“The style of this trail makes me think that we will start seeing trekkers,” Moore said. “The whole thing is 150 miles from Crescent City to the Pacific Crest Trail.”

And would-be trekkers won’t be disappointed.

Even unfinished, the Coast to Crest Trail offers unique views from ridge tops, across creeks and even into the past.

A 7-mile stretch currently under construction stretches from Boulder Creek to Big Flat and should be done next summer.

“Everything will be complete at that point except for a couple sections where hikers would have to walk on roads to connect trails,” Hendrick said.

“Altogether, it shouldn’t be more than five miles on roads,” he said of the 50 miles from Crescent City to Harrington Mountain.

According to Moore, a potential hiker on the Coast to Crest Trail gets to appreciate a surprising number of different habitats.

From the coastal influence of Crescent City to towering redwoods and dry rocky hills, the trail’s eastward  path allows a hiker to experience the unique changes that occur as the ground rises and the air dries out.

The trail starts in Crescent City by following Howland Hill Road to just past Stout Grove, where it connects to the Little Bald Hills trail that takes hikers into the mountains.

After the redwoods, as the trail contours along the South Fork of the Smith River, hikers will see manzanita, Douglas fir and even some carnivorous plants while fording crystal-clear streams and smelling air made pungent by wild bay trees.

Steep rocky canyons and retreating hills make for views that turn blue as they recede into the distance.

Added to the vistas, trees and clear running water are constant reminders of the cultural history of the area.

Hikers will encounter the remnants of mining operations, walk sections of trail that have remained unchanged for more than a century, and see forest returning to its natural state from prior logging operations.

“It’s absolutely amazing that after 100 years of no maintenance, the trail is still here,” Moore said.

In one spot, the trail follows a berm next to a canal that was used for delivering water to a mining site.

In a moment of surprise and delight, the path drops into the canal and travelers get to enjoy the striation of shale-laced walls rising above them, all with  the smell of earth and moss.

Coast to Crest Trail supervisor Clarke Moore surveys a section at Hurdygurdy Creek that may require hikers to get their feet wet. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

The Kelsey Trail, while historically important for the area, was not actually a complete original — it incorporated paths that had been traveled by Native Americans before Europeans arrived.

Native American trails often ran along ridge tops, or followed the natural contours that make trail building easier.

“It’s a lot easier to build a trail and to walk it if it sticks to a contour,” Moore said, laughing.

The Kelsey Trail was constructed in the 1850s and according to Moore,  was last in regular use in 1909.

“They built the trail to take supplies from Crescent City to Fort Jones,” Moore said over his shoulder while navigating a stretch of old trail whose effects on the landscape were still visible nearly 100 years later. “It took 19 days to get a mule train one way.”

That’s 19 days to take a pack train the 150 miles the Kelsey Trail covered, and it’s through some very rugged territory requiring steep climbs.

“The original trail was constructed strictly as a transportation route without regard to resource impacts or providing a pleasant hiking experience,” states a feasibility study done before the current effort began.

Luckily for potential trekkers and hikers, the new trail seeks to follow the original as closely as possible, while maintaining a pleasant hiking experience.

It is still very steep in some places, but with the help of switchbacks and picturesque stone steps, navigating it will be much easier than in the past.

The entire project is being funded by the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, through a $846,000 grant from the California Resource Agency, River Parkways Grant Program, Hendrick said.

“This is really the first project of this kind that the Rose Foundation has provided funding for,” Hendrick said. “It’s exciting to see it working out so well.”

A stretch of the trail near Big Flat shows what crews had to dig through. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)