The Haire To There Trail is a new 6 mile trail that will eventually connect Memorial Park, in downtown Grass Valley, with the Brunswick Basin. It will be a wide urban singletrack when completed. At the moment there are 2 sections that are completed totaling 2+ miles. The missing links are being negotiated and hopefully the trail will be finished in a few years. Here is a link to a article in the local The Union paper about this trail. Haire To There Trail article. This trail is being constructed with the Nevada County Land Trust coordinating and financing, and a combination of volunteers, and equipment operators helping to build this urban trail.
This is a good trail for beginners although advanced riders will enjoy it too. Its not finished but the sections that built are a lot of fun.
You might ask why the name "Haire To There Trail".
Bill Haire, working for the Nevada County Land Trust, has been instrumental
in getting this trail built. He's been handling the negotiations with
property owners, Grass Valley, Caltrans, Nevada County supervisors, Ca.
Fish and Game, Ca. State Parks, and probably lots more folks. He also
was there throughout the construction, organizing and supervising volunteers,
and always there helping with a McCloud or a chainsaw. So, since no one
else has named this trail, I figured that it would be a good name. So
that's why I call it the Haire To There Trail.
Thank you Bill Haire for the good work...
Part 1, The Memorial Park Section: To
access this section take Colfax Highway {Hwy 174}out of Grass Valley towards
Colfax. As you are leaving town, on the right is Memorial Park and at
the south end look for the tennis courts on the corner of Colfax Highway
and Race Street. Take a right on Race Street and on the backside of the
tennis courts there is a gravel road. Take this gravel road back 200 foot
or so and you will see a trail entrance sign on the left. Follow the trail
and in 1 mile you will be at the entrance to Empire State Park on Empire
St. near Hwy 174.
If you want to start your hike or bike at the main entrance of the park
look across Empire road to the pinic tables. The entrance to the trail
is next to the pinic tables.
This section of trail is 1 mile and has a 200 ft gain from town. The bottom
part of the trail snakes through a diggins and the upper through a nice
forest following Hwy174 up the hill. You are too far from the highway
and houses to see or hear it though. My cycling friends tell me its their
favorite section of urban trail around. I like it too, maybe cause I did
the tractor work building this trail... There is a nice cafe called Summer
Thyme's Bakery Deli near Memorial park on Cofax Highway, and it's a good
spot to get a treat to enjoy if you are hiking or biking this trail. There
is a saucer shaped rock, halfway up the trail, where you can stop, sit,
and enjoy your treats. There are no motorbikes or horses allowed so it
is smooth, fairly dust free trail. Thats probably why I see road bikes
using this dirt trail in the summer. Here is the Memorial Park section
of the map.
Part 2, The Brunswick Road, Loma Rica section.
Well, this part of the trail starts at the north side of Brunswick
road at Town Talk Road. This part of the trail isn't all finished. Before
you come to Idaho Maryland road there is a bridge missing that should
be built this fall, 08.
So the best place to start now is at the corner of Brunswick and Idaho
Maryland roads. There is a place to park on SE side of Idaho Maryland
Road. You can see a trail ramping off that corner of the road with Brunswick.
This is a good place to jump onto the trail.You go a few hundred feet
and will cross a small stone bridge. A good jumping bridge I'm told. Continuing
on you cross a small meadow and then start climbing. Trail follows dirt
roads at first then singletrack and serpentines up the hill. There is
a rock bench halfway up the hill. A nice place to rest. You might just
notice the alternate trail jump if you are downhillin here. Continuing
on, you cross the NID ditch on a volunteer built bridge built by volunteers
Tom Ernest, Zachi Anderson, Dave Hughes, and others, with materials donated
by CaseyWood of Grass Valley. Shortly after crossing the bridge you cross
Loma Rica Drive and drop back down to the NID ditch where you can continue
for a bit crossing Greenhorn Road before you have to drop down onto Brunswick
Rd. From here you can coast down Brunswick Road to your start, or its
more fun to just turn around and go back down the trail. A nice 2+ mile
ride round trip. Here is a map for ya.
Part 3, Soon To Come: The rest of this trail is still being negotiated to be built. Support the Nevada County Land Trust in its efforts to complete this trail as well as a number of other local urban trails they are working on.
The Fish
