TRAILS

The Mendocino-Tahoe Conservancy's purpose is to engage people in the conservation, stewardship, and enjoyment of our state's rich ecological, historical, cultural, and economic resources. Creating and maintaining trails is one of our top priorities.

 

 

 

 

 

How We Work

MTC uses a Cross-California local perspective in partnering. Members consider themselves as inhabitants and stewards of the 39th parallel trailshed, which includes the trail itself and the lands through which it passes. We believe that a hiking  trail linking places of natural beauty will be a positive benefit to neighborhoods along the way.

Current Trail Projects

CROSS-CALIFORNIA TRAIL

Imagine hiking, cycling, or horseback riding all the way from the Pacific coast to the Sierra crest, through the incredible ecological diversity of California, experiencing crashing ocean waves, colorful wildflower meadows, fragrant sage scrub hillsides, tall redwood groves, ancient pygmy forests, golden oak-studded foothills, verdant riparian corridors, fascinating serpentine plant communities, uniquely delicate vernal pools, fertile agricultural lands, powerful rivers with runs of wild salmon, valley wetlands filled with migratory waterfowl, craggy peaks and buttes, twining manzanita shrublands, towering forests of fir, lush montane meadows, dramatic alpine scree, and high-mountain vistas! These diverse landscapes form our ecological heritage, and are located somewhat linearly along California's 39th Parallel, (see our proposed route here). Inspired by John Olmsted's vision of this trail, MTC is scouting route options and contacting regional partners in the western portion of the proposed route, and hiking the eastern 100 miles of trail that are already contiguous and accessible to the public, with plans to publish our findings in August 2011. The Cross-California Ecological Heritage Trail was included as one of 27 state-recognized California Trail Corridors mapped in the California Recreational Trails Plan in 2002 (downloadable at this link, map on Appendix B, page xiii).

Significant portions of the western and eastern sections were hiked and mapped in 2011 by MTC board members Kristen and Stephen Hein. They presented a slideshow on their adventure accompanied by a performance of songs they wrote along the trail at the recent Mendocino-Tahoe Conservancy Fundraising Event.

Let's make this dream a reality today!