Ascend Wilderness Experience recently completed a successful trail project deep in the Marble Mountain Wilderness along scenic Wooley Creek—a river-sized tributary nestled near the tri-county border of Siskiyou, Humboldt, and Trinity counties, just outside Somes Bar.

Partnering with the Six Rivers National Forest and Bigfoot Trail Alliance, staff and volunteers put in solid work restoring 6.5 miles of trail. A wild and wet winter left roughly 75 fallen trees—many of them heavy hardwoods like Tan Oak and Madrone—blocking the trail. The team cleared debris, brushed overgrown sections, and retreaded eroded portions to help reopen this beautiful stretch of wilderness.

Next up, Ascend is heading to the Waldorff Crossing Trail system in the Trinity Alps near Helena, CA May 3-4, and the Haypress/Let ‘Er Buck trail systems in the stunning Marble Mountains near Somes Bar May 8-11. Both of these upcoming May trips are car camping adventures, offering even more opportunities to get involved, give back, and enjoy time outdoors in some of Northern California’s most ruggedly beautiful backcountry.

Ascend has adventures planned throughout the summer and fall, with free trips available for adults, teens, and potentially youth (pending funding availability for 2025). One trip, the Adult Botany trip will have a fee to join as our first “fundraising trip”. Multiple hikes and volunteer opportunities are scheduled from May through October.

Interested in joining a trip or know someone who would love to get out on the trail? Head to the LINK for all the details or call us at 1-530-739-1177 Monday – Friday 9 am – 5 pm. And don’t worry if you’re missing gear—Ascend’s fully stocked Gear Library ensures that everyone can access the wilderness, no matter their equipment situation.

Join Ascend for an Overnight Trail Stewardship Adventure on the Waldorff Trail. (LINK BELOW)

Are you passionate about nature and eager to give back to the trails you love? Ascend Wilderness Experience, in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), is excited to invite volunteers for a special overnight trail stewardship trip with car camping at Pigeon Point near Helena, CA, and hiking from the nearby Waldorff Trail.

This is your chance to make a meaningful impact while enjoying breathtaking views, working alongside fellow outdoor enthusiasts, and experiencing the wilderness in a way few get to.

Event Details:

Host: Ascend Wilderness, in partnership with the USFS
Location: Pigeon Point, near Helena, CA and Waldorff Trail
Dates: May 2nd – 3rd
Difficulty: Moderate (2 miles one way, 4 miles round trip)
Volunteers Needed: All skill levels are welcome

What You’ll Be Doing:

We will focus on vital trail maintenance tasks, including:

Improving trail tread – ensuring the path is safe and easy to navigate.
Tree logout – removing fallen trees or branches blocking the trail.
Brushing – clearing overgrowth to keep the trail visible and accessible.

Why Volunteer?

Not only will you contribute to the preservation and upkeep of our beautiful public lands, but you’ll also be treated to an unforgettable outdoor experience. This is a fantastic opportunity to:

Take in stunning views: Waldorff Trail offers incredible vistas, making every step worthwhile.
Learn valuable skills: From trail-building techniques to teamwork, you’ll gain hands-on experience.
Meet like-minded adventurers: Whether you’re a seasoned volunteer or new to trail stewardship, this is a great opportunity to connect with others who share your passion for nature.

What’s Provided:

Gear and food: Ascend Wilderness has you covered with all the necessary gear for camping and trail work with delicious meals to keep you fueled and energized.
Car camping: Enjoy a comfortable base camp at Pigeon Point, where you can relax and unwind after a hard day’s work.

Ready to Join Us?

Spaces for this incredible trip are limited, so don’t wait! Sign up with the link below and get involved in an experience that combines outdoor adventure, community service, and environmental stewardship.

We can’t wait to see you there and work together to maintain and protect our local trails.

It is nearly March and Ascend has released our “Save the Dates” flyer for 2025, registration will soon be live for the 2025 season, no later than April 1st. The deadline to sign-up will be May 15th. If you have any questions or concerns about any upcoming trips, please give Ascend a call at 1-530-739-1177, we are open Monday thru Friday 10am to 5pm. We can also be reached at [email protected] and in-person at 420 Main Street in Weaverville, California (We are located directly underneath and behind Kay’s Bookstore).

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!

Ascend Wilderness Experience has concluded its summer season with an impressive amount of trips under our belt. For our fall season, we still have a few more trips available, but first, let’s dive into what has happened so far!

During the month of May, Ascend had an all adult stewardship project on the Waldorf Crossing trail that saw some badly needed clearing, brushing, and logouts! In June, our 5-day adult stewardship trip to the Canyon Creek trailhead received a lot of love from our staff + volunteers, helping clear 55 trees from the trails caused by last winter’s big storms and doing miles of brushwork. We also had an adult day hike trip up to Shimmy Lake where some moderate brush work was done. Our 7-day Teen Stewardship Trip saw 8 teen volunteers collaborate with the United States Forest Service to do some heavy-duty trailwork on the Boulder Lakes trail system that also included 55 logouts, retreading, and brushing work. The month of June also kick started our youth backpacking program with two day hikes, one on the Lewiston Lake trail and another in Whiskeytown Falls.

In the month of July, Ascend provided youth ages 9-14 backpacking trips ranging from 3-5 days to East Boulder Lakes, Boulder Lakes, Paynes Lake in the Russian Wilderness, and Deadfall Lake. Two teen trips that included youth from the Dream Quest Youth Center and volunteer teens, participated in a trip to Boulder Lake and Stuart Fork. The Teen Field Science Trip up Stuart Fork was a collaboration with BigFoot Trail Alliance and Cal Poly geologists. We were joined by Executive Director Michael Kauffmann, a noted local author, as well as Botanist Liz Houghton who engaged the teens in the world of plotting and soil sampling. An all-ages 2-day backpacking trip was completed up at Boulder Lakes that involved light-duty brushing. To spread awareness of Leave No Trace ethics, Ascend tabled at Stuarts Fork and Canyon Creek Trailheads during the Fourth of July weekend to hand out information on trail conditions and permits for campfires to bustling crowds going into the wilderness. 

 September and October will see a couple of trips, some of which are still looking for volunteers to join.  An all adult 7-day stewardship backpacking trip in collaboration with BigFoot Trail Alliance will be taking place the last week of September going into October to the Long Gulch trail system. This trip will include pack support from the USFS with their famous pack mules and will focus on trail work that will also include logouts and brushing while camping under the stars. Lastly, we will culminate our fall season trips in October with a Car-Camping Stewardship Trip in the Coffee Creek area, location is still TBD.

If you or anyone you know are interested in joining one of Ascend’s upcoming trips please contact us via email at [email protected] or contact us by phone at 1-530-739-1177. 

Upcoming Trips:

September 29th – October 5th – Long Gulch trail system, adult stewardship, 7-day backpacking with brushing and logouts in collaboration with the USFS and their famous pack mules as pack support.

October 19-20 – Location TBD, structure of the trip will be Car Camping with the option of a day hike to our work area. 

We know you have all been chomping at the bit to sign up for Ascend’s summer programs. We are officially launched and have an exciting schedule planned for 2024. We have trips for all ages; youth 6-18, teen internships, adult stewardship and multi-generational/family trips. We have something for everyone, whether you’re absolutely new to backpacking and hiking, or you’re looking for a more immersive backcountry experience. Check out our Trip Description page for more details on each date we have planned. To apply, click here to access our digital registration form. Our deadline to apply is May 15! Both youth and adult day hikes are first-come, first-served. You can apply anytime before May 15 for our youth multi-day backpacking trips and those groups will be curated once we have all the applications, but those spaces are also limited due to wilderness permit group size restrictions. (Our Adult Autumn shoulder season trips registration window is open until August 15).

Call the office for any questions, 530-739-1177. See you on the trails!

In wrapping up 2023, we are looking at the numbers and are blown away by Ascend’s accomplishments this year – Ascend hosted 16 more days in wilderness than the previous year and served over twice as many youth!

This accomplishment is largely thanks to the launch of our very first Spring Break Day Camp (SBDC) in April 2023. This program offered outdoor education and adventurous day hikes to 60 youth, ages 5-14, during the week of spring break at no cost to families. SBDC also employed high school counselors during the week, providing adult mentorship and references as well as a source of income to teens during their time off from school.

Ascend wants to make sure to offer this excellent opportunity for youth in April of 2024!

During December, all donations to Ascend will go to supporting Spring Break Day Camp. Please consider including Ascend in your end of year giving!

Saturday, Dec. 2nd | Wvville Veteran’s Hall | 9am-4pm

We can’t wait to connect with our community in person!