You are invited to a trails planning meeting for Eastern Plumas County!
Trails for Plumas County (TPC) and Plumas Corporation have been awarded a Sierra Nevada Conservancy grant for the creation of a Trails Master Plan for non-motorized trails on public and private lands. It is TPC’s goal, though thoughtful planning, to help prioritize trail projects and maintenance, provide public education and information dissemination that will allow us all greater access and enjoyment of our natural environment.
Trails for Plumas County is hosting the trails planning meeting November 20, 2008 from 6 – 8 p.m. at Chalet View Lodge Events Room in Mabie, CA on Highway 70. This meeting will focus on the Eastern Plumas County portion of the Trails Master Plan. We will also introduce a new interactive trails website being developed and begin dialogue about how groups and individuals can collaborate best to have the trails systems that trail users want. Chalet View is donating the meeting room and there will be a free raffle drawing for attendees including a $98 Chalet View Lodge gift certificate.
The goals of the meeting are to:
• Communicate with local trail users, trail organizations and agencies
about the creation of the Trails Master Plan
• Introduce Trails for Plumas County’s goals, mission, and board of directors
• Review TPC inventory of non-motorized trails & add missing trails
• Review of TPC trails questionnaire
• Introduce the interactive trails website
• Critic future local public workshops to receive public input for TPC’s Trails Master Plan and prioritize trail projects
If you cannot attend the meeting, we encourage you to submit a trail questionnaire at www.trailsforplumascounty.org (available online in December 2008) and share your trail use information which includes trails used, user type (e.g. hiker, bicycle, multi-use pathways, equestrian), impediments to use, suggestions for future trail development and maintenance issues. Questionnaire data will be incorporated into the Trails Master Plan to be submitted to the County for inclusion in the Plumas County General Plan. Additionally, public workshops will be held in the spring to prioritize trail projects and to gather public input for the master plan draft. For more information e-mail: info@trailsforplumascounty.org.
Please consider joining TPC or volunteering with planning meetings and trail project prioritization, mapping trails, writing trail descriptions and reports, or helping with educational outreach programs. We hope to hear from you soon!
In 1991, I competed in the 21st annual World Championship Ride & Tie being held for the first time in Taylorsville, California. Ride & Tie is an endurance race with teams made up of two humans and one horse. The championship covers over 30 miles of challenging trails.
A Ride & Tie Championship involves support crews made up of family members and friends, a veterinarian staff, and volunteers. There are horse trailers, campers, and all the other things that come with horses and people. A race of just fifty teams will involve two hundred people on race day. Because of the size and numbers the events are usually held at the end of long gravel roads in the middle of nowhere. What a surprise to find ourselves right in downtown Taylorsville.
On race day eighty riders and eighty runners lined up in the field behind the rodeo grounds and headed across the road. After a short distance, half mile to a mile for most teams, the riders stopped, tied their horses and took off on foot. The starting runners, arriving at their tied horses, mounted up and rode until they caught up to their now running and walking partners. In this manner, riding and tying and running and untying, the teams covered the 32-mile race. It was a beautiful and challenging course. Joe Tomaselli and Chuck Stalley, local Plumas County residents, spent a lot of time and effort selecting the trails and connecting to the historic Hosselkus Trail. Mile 29 had me dragging my knuckles as I moved as fast as I could to the top of Mt. Jura, hoping I would see my partner and the horse again real soon.
The Ride and Tie Association holds our races where participants, families and friends will enjoy having a week long vacation. Taylorsville was very well liked. For once we were located close to town. We could even ride our horses to get groceries. It was a large enough area that we could all camp together. There was a creek to explore and even a swimming hole for the kids. It was so well liked by the participants that we returned to Taylorsville again in 1994.
Fourteen years later our members are still saying great things about the past Taylorsville Championships. There will be a 32 and 15 mile course. There is over $5,000 in cash prize money and belt buckles to all finishers of the long course. If you would like to compete in our Championship visit our website at www.rideandtie.org for more information.
38th Annual World
Ride and Tie Championship
June 21, 2008
in Taylorsville
If you would like to volunteer, contact Dennis Miller at (530)281-6631. If you would like to cheer us on, stop by the rodeo grounds June 14-21. We’d be glad to tell you all about Ride & Tie!
Author: Don Betts is the President of the Ride and Tie Association. He started in Ride & Tie in 1980 and has completed 20 Championship races.
