A bunch of us concerned (and frustrated) citizens–35 by one count–did some serious blackberry and undergrowth clearing along the North Coast Railroad track between South G Street, Arcata and the Eureka Slough yesterday morning. The track is now walkable. Most of it. And we had a ball.
Coordinator Rees Hughes (Rees.Hughes@humboldt.edu) is planning an inaugural walk along the tracks between Eureka and Arcata–let him know if you’re interested in participating in this or in additional clearing.
This article appears in Burned by the Wait.
cool, lets get the speeder going between Eureka and Samoa. No stops in Arcata…lol
Forget the dangerous, noisy, smelly speeder.
Let the bikers and hikers go between Samoa and Eureka, stopping everywhere along the way to enjoy the scenery
Thanks for the good work. It takes a lot of us pitching in to keep the corridor open – or at least mostly accessible. It’s still heavily ‘jungled’ in some areas between Arcata and Samoa, especially the north end of Manila. Hopefully, we can all soon enjoy rails and trails, to the community’s benefit. A trail will open up healthful exercise and viewing opportunities for many local citizens. The tourist railroad will bring lots of needed revenue into the area, with a major boost to our struggling tourism industry. Hear that whistle?? It’s blowin’ for railers and trailers!!
So Mr. Hughes was able to get an EIR approved? Something the owners of the railroad have been fought tooth and nail on for several years? I see in the background of one photo that somebody is using a shovel in facy has it full of dirt.
I assume he had the proper permits and insurance, and provided chemical toilets for his workers rather than let them contaminate the shoreline. I assume this was an HSU sanctioned event.
Yah! More homes for the transients. put some bathrooms in while you are at it.
Didn’t someone get in big trouble for doing this just 2 years ago? Oh no, its OK if it’s for a “Walking Path”. Where’s our boys from EPIC/BAYKEEPERS now??
I certainly hope the group had permission from he NCRA, EIR in hand, insurance and facilities available for volunteers to be on the rails doing anything at all. Rest assured they know about it now. The rail groups get slammed for this without an OK from the various controlling agencies.
We took over 420 pounds of trash and several tires to the Transfer Station and cleared a walkable path for much of the way between Arcata and Eureka. It was a grassroots effort sponsored by no one . . . just interested people who hate to see this precious community asset deteriorate while benefitting no one. We all should be outraged.
We are outraged, just at EPIC, etc who throw a fit anytime people try to do any little thing towards putting the rail back running, including the speeder. The rail is little used because of the opposition, not because the rail cannot handle the speeder.
Good, now we will find out how few are actually going to use this as a trail.
where is the like button…?
My vote is in for the trail clearing–a big like. I am frustrated (& disgusted) by the selfish and self-serving perspective of the rail folks. Trails serve MANY more people, and studies show that places with beautiful trails (say, around Humboldt Bay) attract more visitors who stay & contribute to the economy. This work was done by private citizens who care about their community, it’s accessibility and walkability, and by extension, the health of all the folks who live, work, & visit here. I suspect there will be more guerrilla trail making in the future.
Bigs thanks to those who’ll actually get up and physically do something to better our community. Who cares what the NCRA thinks. I used to work on that railroad, it would be nice to see it used for something. Even if it is a bedroom for hobos.
Nice job work crew! This valuable community resource should be accessible to all. And making this a walking, biking, hiking, riding trail will do just that. A speeder train is not accessible to all, nor is it even economically feasible. Let’s get people moving on the corridor.
@Susan, if you even bothered to meet with ANY of the train folks (the excursion ones, not the corporate ones), you’d find a kind hearted group of people that wholeheartedly support both, not one over another. If you think about it, you ALREADY have a trail–it’s right between the 2 lines of iron. Having their little cars and trains run along the line isn’t going to hurt anybody or anything but give back to the community in many forms, if only for something fun for our residents and tourists to do. And if you haven’t noticed, this area is heavily dependent on the tourism, aside from all the weed growing. I’ve riden the speeder. They bend over backwards to accomodate all people. I’ve ridden it. It’s a lot of fun and kids really have a blast. It’s not the death star and Darth Vader like you folks paint it out to be. What is it you are so afraid of?
I live on the bay in a boat…one day about a year ago i saw a large teliphone pole floating by…The bay keepers boat saw this 60 foot pole stopped looked at it and left it for sombody to run into…So i paddled out in my canoe and pulled in the large pole…so what does Baykeeper meen??? I’ve never seen the baykeepers pull any garbage out of the bay!!! They just let it float by…I pick about 5 garbage bags of garbage a year out of the bay and thats just the stuff floating by my boat!
Contrary to some thought, I have met train folks (and I don’t doubt that they are kindhearted, hello.), ridden the speeder, etc. I still think it’s not the best use of the space for the community. Railroads are romantic, but romance does not necessarily make for a healthy community. Access does. If they are so busy bending over backwards to help, where were they last Saturday? Helping might also mean NOT blocking progress on a trail around the bay.
Always good to see opposing viewpoints on something as important as the rail corridor between Eureka and Arcata, just hope we can all take a deep breath and realize there’s hope on the horizon. There are huge arguments that can be made for preserving the rail in the name of historic preservation, future port commerce, tourist excursion trains, as well as commuter rail potential. The need for a true, safe, scenic trail corrridor is a given as well and would no doubt be used by many, myself included. The true win/win comes in the form of a rail/trail proposal that’s already in the final planning stages for a large portion of our bayfront. Karen Deimer with the City of Arcata has worked tirelessly on the first phase of the bay rail/trail plan that encompasses from the Arcata skatepark to Bracut.
We all need to join forces to make it happen. Name-calling and taking sides has been going on for too long, let’s work together to get this thing done.
Thanks for all of your hard work “track stars,” this trail will be a great resource for our community.
so much hate and vitriol, no wonder nothing positive ever gets done around here.