Hacking a trail out of wilderness is not an easy job

Xavier Slevin smooths the forest floor along the Boulder Creek to Big Flat section of the Coast to Crest Trail. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

While walking those smooth paths that tame even steep country by following contours, it’s hard to imagine the work that goes into trailblazing.

It’s easy to forget that every inch of forest floor is covered in logs and brush, has thick roots, old stumps and rocks and generally is far from the nearest amenities.

Easy to forget, unless you’re part of the California Conservation Corps.

The Hot Club of San Francisco interprets the legacy of one of the world’s greatest guitar players, the Belgium-born gypsy Django Reinhardt, and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. Photo Courtesy of Stuart Brinin

Mehling was referring to the “Gypsy jazz” that his Hot Club of San Francisco will play in concert for the first performance of the 2009-10 season of the Del Norte Association for Cultural Awareness. The show begins  at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Crescent Elk Auditorium.

The Hot Club of San Francisco interprets the legacy of one of the world’s greatest guitar players, the Belgium-born gypsy Django Reinhardt, and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. The duo founded the now famous Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934.

Back when Reinhardt starting playing jazz guitar, there were “almost no jazz musicians in Europe,” explained Mehling, so there were no American jazz musicians to jam with and learn from. “Those who had an affinity for it (such as Reinhardt and Grappelli, who met while playing with different bands on the same bill) learned it from records only.”

Twenty years ago, when Mehling decided to dedicate his professional life to this elusive, intricate, string-based music and founded the Hot Club of San Francisco, it was “difficult to find people to play the music and hard to book,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “It was like starting over again — starting from square one — each time I had to try to explain the music in words.”

Pictured l-r: Byron Wilson, vice president; Kyle Clausen, president; Annie Wilson, secretary; Jessica Kirby, treasurer; and Samantha Hurt, board member. The Daily Triplicate/Michele Thomas

The Redwood Coast Rotaract Club held a reception Saturday night to celebrate its new charter. Redwood Coast Rotaract is a service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30, and is sponsored by both the Sunrise Rotary Club and the Crescent City Rotary Club. This is the first Rotaract club on the North Coast, and one of over 7,000 Rotaract clubs worldwide.

For information about joining Rotaract, e-mail Kyle Clausen at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

President Helga Burns introduced new members Liz Crocket, Carmin Hollensead, Linda Ging and Mark Harper. They will each serve a three-year term. They join existing board members Helga Burns, Mary Foote, Cathy Dean, Kathy Kresa, Judy Baker, Harley Munger, Bob Cochran and Kirk Roberts.

This year, the Redwoods Mural Society was responsible for the Caltrans mural, “Building California Highways,” and has many new mural projects planned for the coming year. 

Some of these projects have been requested by local businesses such as Discount Liquors, Front Street Inn, Hiouchi Motel and Sunset RV Park.  The requests for murals in the city has increased substantially and RMS is hoping that it can accommodate many of the requests and paint more than one mural a year. 

If you have any interest in participating with the group, contact Helga at 464-2710.  RMS would also like to invite any and all artists who would like to become muralists.