Korina

What we really need is a paved trail running parallel to Avenue of the Giants.

Clyde1820

That would be wonderful, for cyclists and walkers. But with all the "historic" trees around, and how tight the space is, it's hard to see how a new trail could be cut and paved without a big ruckus being made from folks. For that reason, alone, I doubt it'll ever get seriously proposed or built.

Nice thing is, it's a relatively little-traveled road through the Avenue. Even at peak season, it's not all that bad. It's darker, with the canopy, and with the windy roadway and near-zero shoulder. But it's relatively safe for cyclists, all things considered. Bummer that the route wasn't cut 20ft wider during initial creation, decades ago, in anticipation of future use.

Korina

Fair point. An unpaved trail would be much easier, and probably more sensible.

Korina

Woo hoo! The coal train's d-e-a-d dead! The coal folks never filed their intent to make an OFA, therefore IT'S DEAD! Unfortunately the Skunk Train folks, Mendocino Railroad, did file for the 13 miles between Fort Bragg and Willits, which would put a big hole in the trail. We'll fight them off too.

Leinster

There's got to be room for both on the ROW. The Skunk Train's not exactly the TGV, and they have pedal-train rides on their website too.

Korina

Turns out I was wrong; they want those miles on the main line, right where there's no room for rail-with-trail.

Also, the coal folks turned in their notification of intent the day after the deadline, with the excuse that their lawyer was on vacation and couldn't get back in time. No one knows how the STB is going to react to this; hopefully very badly. Most likely, the trail is ****ed.

Korina

The plot thickens. Lawyers for the Great Redwood Trail Agency interesting financial shenanigans. The Lost Coast Outpost has been doing some great reporting about the coal train.

stardognine

Ya gotta love a thickening plot, huh? 🤔😉

Why does it always turn out to be one, or very few, selfish jackasses, who ruin things for the majority? 😒🙄 Hopefully, they get their just desserts, in the end.

Korina

As it happens, the STB rejected the coal co.'s dog-ate-my-homework excuse. Ding dong the coal train's dead!

Unfortunately, they didn't reject the Mendocino Railroad's notice of intent to file, but they might just laugh them out of the room if/when they see their OFA.

Korina

WOOOOOHOOOOO!!! The Surface Transportation Board rejected Mendocino Railroad's (aka the Skunk Train) bid to be a "real" railroad by taking 13 miles out of the middle of the Great Redwood Trail!!!!!!!!!

The STB also says it'll rule on the railbanking on October 25. 🤞🤞

Clyde1820

That's good news. Skunk Train's been a "thing" for awhile, along the northcoast. Good to see it's apparently dying out and the GRT now has a fighting chance.

Korina

The Skunk Train is a good and useful thing, or it was until the tunnel collapsed. Repair is prohibitively expensive at $39 million, but if they were a "real" train the parent companies could get the Feds to pay for it. They could also use eminent domain to take a large chunk of Georgia Pacific land (thereby saving GP a poop-ton of cleanup). They're currently in a knock-down drag-out fight with the city of Fort Bragg, with suits and counter-suits flying everywhere. It's a whole thing; I wish the city well.

stardognine

Still watching this thread with interest. 🙂

I didn't say before, but I've ridden through the Eel River Canyon before, and it's awesome. 👍 There's a heck of a big logging mill there, somewheres, right on the Eel River.

I also rode Avenue of the Giants, but a few years earlier. I got stuck in Garberville for a few days, waiting for the store to open, so I could get some new innertubes. 🙄

But it worked out fine, and I got a killer deal on some cold-water hash, lol. 😁😎

Clyde1820

The old Pacific Lumber Company grounds in Scotia, I think you're referring to. Big place, indeed. In its heyday, it was a busy spot, processing redwood lumber products to be sent around the world.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Pacific...ages&ia=images

Korina

So this just happened. (squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubue...e.ca.gov/video

stardognine

That's probably it, alright. Unless there were 2 really big lumber mills in that area. 😁😉
Great pics there, & lots of them. 👍

stardognine

I'll finish watching that at the library later. An hour & a half kills a phone quick. 😉

icemilkcoffee 

I am happy this project is happening. But my heart sank when he said "90% of the trail will be dirt and gravel". They've put in all this work, why can't they go the last mile and pave this trail?.

Korina

It'll likely be paved inside city limits, but 90% of it is backcountry, which is not suitable for paving. The GRT Master Plan site has an interactive map that shows the route.

The plan is to do the easy stuff first, and save the hard parts (Eel River Canyon and Carlotta) for last.

icemilkcoffee 

Yes, backcountry could be a problem. But this is over a serviceable rail road. Seems like you can run a train over it hauling a load of tar and asphalt and just pave behind the train as you roll along.

curbtender

https://www.railstotrails.org/trailb...redwood-trail/

Korina

Maybe parts of it, but there are other parts where the rails are hanging 8 feet in the air, other parts where the rails have fallen into the Eel River, and other parts buried inside collapsed tunnels. Who knows, maybe that's what they'll do. We'll find out.

Leinster

Turns out folk at the south end of the trail are also campaigning.

https://www.marinbike.org/news/road/...redwood-trail/

There's a petition to sign to support opening up the Alto Tunnel to connect Mill Valley and Corte Madera.

https://openaltotunnel.org

Korina

@Leinster, good luck with the tunnel; it seems like a no-brainer. Just gotta get county government off their behinds.

Eureka has begun the process of looking at a way to extend the Hikshari' Trail from its new terminus at Tooby Rd. all the way to College of the Redwoods!

Arcata is still in the design phase for taking the trail from the skate park to Pump Station No. 1 off of West End Rd. Sounds boring, but it's a popular recreation area on the banks of the Mad River. I think they're looking for construction to begin in another year or so. Eventually, the plan is to get it to the town of Blue Lake, but that's taking forever.

Best news of all, construction of the missing middle of the Humboldt Bay Trail is scheduled to begin next month!!!! We've only been waiting a quarter of a century.

All of these trails will be part of the Great Redwood Trail. Spiffy.

Korina

Almost forgot! The GRT is in its design phase; if you have opinions or want to find out more, there's a website for that. Go check it out, and get on the mailing list. They had a workshop in Fortuna last month, an online workshop coming up on Tuesday, and more planned. Get involved!