Mt. Elwell

Yesterday i had the privilege of meeting up with Phil Raymond, owner of the Long Lake cabin and historian of Lakes Basin. He came by the shop in Graeagle a week ago and mentioned that he knew of a historic route that was used to access the Mt. Elwell lookout, which was built in 1911 and abandoned in 1934. We were joined by Ron Heard and Kellen Calbaugh, who is working with us for his senior project at Portola High School. In order to access the Mt. Elwell trail you normally have to hike for about an hour, but for this trip Phil hooked us up with his motor boat and we zipped across the lake to the trailhead. First Class all the way. When we go to the far side of the lake we landed at the boat dock for the cabin, which was built in 1917 and has been in Phil's family for nearly 60 years.

From the cabin we hike to Mud Lake and started scouting the new alignment. While we crashed through bushes, Phil would talk about the people that have come and gone from this place and how they shaped the landscape, and the different experiences he has had in this beautiful country. After a few hours of scouring the hillside, looking through an inclinometer and hanging flags, we found ourselves at the intersection of Long Lake and Mt. Elwell Trail. The new route is a huge improvement over the original alignment and will have an average running grade of under 10%. The current route has an average running grade of nearly 20% and the tread is in very poor condition.

The next step is to flag a realignment for the upper half of the trail, from the Long Lake Trail intersection to the summit of Mt. Elwell. Once the flagging is complete the Plumas Forest will start working on the environmental work. Construction will begin in summer 2010 and is funded through Plumas County Resource Advisory Committee.