Announcing TCT merch!!!

On Tuesday I ordered our first batch of T-shirts (36!!) and stickers.  I'm hoping they'll be available for distribution on our 7/6 hike (Tuolumne Main Ditch and Flume -- one way from Lyons Dam to Twain Harte).  The fabulous design is by local graphic artist Diana Beasley.  Thanks, Diana!  We love 'em!

T-shirts are $20 for sizes S - XL.  For XXL & XXXL, add $2 or $4 to the cost.  We are proud to tell you that $5 of each T-shirt sale will go to a fundraiser to improve the Shadow of the Mi-Wok Interpretive Trail at Pinecrest.

We will have a supply of stickers available for $5 each.  After recovering the printing cost, the full amount of each sale will go to the Shadow of the Mi-Wok Interpretive Trail fundraiser.

Sticker/Front of T-shirt

Detail of back of T-shirt

TCT #19 -- Lisa Murphy

Lisa Murphy & Erin Naegle
 & the bat-finding equipment

This month's episode of Tuolumne County Trailhead is short on voices -- I failed to get Three T mini trip reviews (what was Tough, Trip, and Tremendous) on our Pinecrest Lake loop hike.  We were so focused on the stewardship aspect of this National Trails Day hike that I simply spaced it out.  There were a dozen Trail Heads on the hike; as soon as we started walking, they started working, picking up all the trash and litter on the trail and a ways off, too.  Mainly we had plastic bottles and micro-trash, but we also found a wetsuit!  Pinecrest is a lovely destination for hiking (the lake loop trail is a fairly easy 4 miles), picnicking, boating, swimming, and just plain chilling.  It's a year-round recreation area with snowshoeing in the winter.

Here's a link to the US Forest Service webpage for the Pinecrest Lake National Recreation Trail:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/stanislaus/recarea/?recid=15077

Gay Hunt & litter haul

Anyway, no Three T trip reviews means more time for our main interview.  That's a good thing, too, because our subject, Lisa Murphy, has A LOT going on!  In this episode we limit ourselves to just three of her projects.  I'm sold on all of them, and I'm sure you'll be interested in at least one:  Bats in the Gold Country, Lemurs in Madagascar, California Naturalist certification at Baker Station.

Here's the link to the radio program TCT #19 -- Lisa Murphy so you can listen:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BHCmkHVgE4Fu5XgJMsUJmrqiELiCxW6N

You know, we're gonna do an evening bat hike.  When?  Watch this space!

Here's a link to the High Sierra Institute webpage with a schedule of classes being offered there (through Columbia College) including the California Naturalist Certification:
https://www.gocolumbia.edu/arts_sciences/highsierrainstitutepages/hsi-classe-schedule.php

Here's a link to the Gold Country Bat Project website: https://www.goldcountrybats.org/

Here's a link to the Go Fund Me page for Gerard Bakarizafy:  https://www.gofundme.com/hexfse-skip-a-latte-save-a-lemur-or-skip-a-lager

Flume just west of Lyons Dam

I've got a special treat planned for our July 6 hike:  We're going to walk the Tuolumne Main Ditch and Flume Trail from Lyons Lake to Twain Harte.  This is a little over 5 miles and fairly easy IF you don't have height or vertigo issues.  The ditch system is a remnant from the Gold Rush; it moved water from the high country to the placer mines in Columbia and other "dry diggings."  By now, the historic ditches do double-duty as infrastructure (still supplying untreated water to many communities) and recreation trails.  Some ditch trails are on private property and not accessible.  However, most or all of the Tuolumne Main Ditch is accessible to the public.  It's an adventure to walk it, though -- some of the time you'll be on planks above the rushing water; other times you'll walk on a dirt trail alongside the ditch; occasionally gaps are traversed by trestles.  This will be a one-way hike with a car shuttle setup.