Trails in Brief
Welcome to the UVTG home page. We have tons of stuff here. Whether you’re interested in our new BIG Bridge, our plan for a Low Gap Extension trail, or want to know how to help us with a rail trail, this is the place. Thanks for stopping by.
Take a look around and make a donation if you can. You can also be of great help by joining our list of supporters – the more we can demonstrate community support, the stronger our advocacy is. Thanks for your interest, see you on the trail.
Latest News and Events
Record Turnout for Volunteer Trail Day
Holy trailedo! We absolutely smashed our record for volunteers on a single trail day. Thanks to River Oaks Charter School, Fetzer Vineyards, Yes We Can Mendocino, and the Peregrine Chapter of the Audubon Society we had a new record 42 volunteers pitch in 198 hours of trail work on March 22nd at Scorpion Trail. The Peregrine folks paid for lunch AND took out the monster poison oak bush that threatened to eat the entire upper section of trail. River Oaks Charter School assembled 10 students and three adults and formed their own crew. And what a crew! Like a well drilled marching band, they formed a line, worked like a unit, and got a ton of work done. Finally, Fetzer Vineyards made a snazzy donation to the UVTG and sent a crew of five volunteers to show they can also put there shovels where there wallets are. What a day! Scorpion Trail, which was completely overgrown and impassable a few years ago, is now much closer to having all its deferred maintenance taken care of. A few more days like that, and it will arguably be the nicest trail in the valley. Way to go team. See you on April 22nd when we try for a new record attendance!
Low Gap Extension Trail
CEQA Review Available for Public Comment
It's been a three plus year journey to building a mile and a half extension of trail from Low Gap Park onto city property. The CA Environmental Quality Act study is now available for public comment. We hope to be able to present our trail plan to the Ukiah City Council within the next 60 days then immediately begin to build trail. Keep those donations coming. You can specify that your money goes to this project and we won't spend it on nuthin else!
Lake Mendocino Trails Christened with Names
We're pleased to announce that we now have official names for the "un-named" trails on the south and east side of Lake Mendocino. This is great news because it means we can now combine directional markers with maps to help all our friends find all our great trails (and find their way home too)! The long trail on the east side of the lake will now officially be Eastside Trail. The trails on the south side will be named 1) manzanita, 2) moon, 3) woodpecker, 4) blue oak, and 5) soap root. We hope to be able to place interpretive signs at trailheads that will provide the local Pomo translations for these names. We'll start placing the signs ASAP and start to work on making maps available. Your donations always encourage us to work with vigor, diligence, and speed.
Trail Work is FUN!!!
This may sound crazy, but doing volunteer trail work really (no, really) is fun. You don't have to be super strong and we all work at our own pace. We usually have some tasty treats ( check out the cinnamon rolls in the photo!), you get to go out to beautiful places, work with fun people, you get a great work out, and... you go home feeling great about how you spent your time.
Even if you can just make it once a year, that's a huge help. We have a number of regular volunteers, and it really helps them keep coming out when they see new faces and don't have to feel like it's all up to them. Our goal is to contribute 650 hours of trail work this year. We need to average 65 hours per trail day, that's thirteen volunteers per day. Just give us a five hour day and you might be surprised how much you enjoy it.
