What a remarkable year it has been for Ascend Wilderness Experience! Our final outdoor trip of 2024 has wrapped up, and we’re excited to share just how AWE-inspiring this season has been. Building on the valuable feedback from previous years, we extended our season from spring through fall, and offered an even broader range of free programs, catering to everyone from youth to adults.
Our season kicked off with our second Spring Break Day Camp, hosting over 60 students for five days at the East Weaver Campground. Throughout the summer months—June, July, and August—we conducted 12 engaging youth and teen trips into the stunning Trinity Alps Wilderness and the Russian Wilderness. Participants, aged 9 to 18, enjoyed a variety of experiences, including a collaboration with Shasta-Trinity National Forest on trail stewardship. This project involved retreading trails, brushing back vegetation, and removing over 50 downed logs, with teens receiving stipends and real-life trail work experience.
In total, 158 youths explored the wilderness, hiking, swimming in lakes, and reveling in nature’s beauty through our 2024 programs. Some of the breathtaking lakes they visited included Boulder Lakes, Paynes Lake, Lily Pad Lake, Deadfall Lake, and East Boulder Lake. AWEsome.
Our adult programs featured six trips across various locations in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, including the Canyon Creeks and Long Gulch Lake trail systems. We kicked off the year with a trail-clearing trip up the Waldorf Trail, where our volunteers tackled logs and poison oak. The momentum continued as we navigated through Canyon Creeks, expertly dodging bear canister-savvy bears while removing over 50 downed trees. An overnight trip to Lily Pad Lake proved highly successful, clearing trails from the trailhead to the first junction. Another highlight was the Long Gulch Lake trip, which benefited from pack support, enabling us to clear 15 miles of trail, remove 49 logs, and monitor over a dozen miles of wilderness trails.
This year, 60 volunteers dedicated over 1,300 hours to maintaining our wilderness trails, resulting in hundreds of logs removed and over 50 miles of trail retreaded and brushed. On that note, this incredible season wouldn’t have been possible without the passion and commitment of our volunteers, staff, and collaborators. Their hard work ensures that our trail systems remain open and accessible for future generations to enjoy the wonders of nature. We want to especially thank our Forest Service partners Erik Fleitz, Jotham Barragar, and Monique Rea who put a lot of effort into making these goals achievable.
None of this would be possible without support from grants and donations. A gracious THANK YOU to the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance, National Forest Foundation, Trinity Trust, Rose Foundation, Redding Rancheria Community Fund of Community Foundation of the North State, California State Parks and Rec, Humboldt Area Foundation, USDA Forest Service, and our many many wonderful donors. We also want to thank collaborating organizations like the Backcountry Horsemen, Bigfoot Trail Alliance, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Trinity County schools, and the Trinity County Resource Conservation District and Watershed Research and Training Center.
As we wrap up 2024, we are already excited about what’s to come in 2025. We have many trips in the pipeline and will release a detailed schedule by March 2025. To be the first-to-know about next year’s trip dates, sign up to receive our email newsletter by visiting our website ascendwilderness.org. For information or connecting with us in general, you can reach Ascend at 530-739-1177, check out our Facebook page, or email: [email protected] Here’s to another year of adventure and appreciation for the great outdoors!