- Across California: A life-long dreamTo honor John Muir and to educate future generations, John Olmsted's lifetime dream was a cross-state ecological trail from Mendocino to Lake Tahoe. It is our goal to complete his vision. Join us and lace up your boots, this trail will be the 2nd longest in the state!
John Olmsted at the Sutter ButtesFamous for his self-made panoramas - John was rarely able to be included as he was usually behind the camera, though he is visible here. This is probably from the early 2000's.
The Across - California Trail, approx. 350 miles.This map represents the last iteration of the trail while John Olmsted was alive. Note the Northern and Southern routes, one going towards Lake Pillsbury and through the Berryessa and Snow Mtn. wilderness, the Southern route being the original plan, going south of Clear Lake and visiting Mt. Konocti. More work will be done on this map soon! - The Sierra Club CupWatershed Dipper Metal Hiking Cup circa 1960's
In the late 1950's, as the hiking lifestyle was gaining momentum,
the Sierra Club
began making simple metal hiking cups with a clip for your belt or pocket. The low rim resulted in the cups being referred to as "dipper cups" as it was very easy to dip them in a stream along the hike - before filtered pumps and iodine tablets curtailed the practice.David Brower's son Kenneth writes about them hereMy father, not surprisingly, wasn't satisfied with the basic cup, and designed and produced his own version, the "Watershed Dipper" cup, based on Muir's favorite bird the water ouzel, which lives near waterfalls and streams from Mexico to Alaska, and personified both Muir's belief that the smallest things can have great significance, as well as emphasizing the actual purpose of the cup.So where can you get your own cup?I'm glad you asked - new cups are in the works, which will commemorate both John Muir and John Olmsted, their shared vision, and their ongoing impact on conservationism in California. Stay Tuned - The AC Trail - The SectionsThe Across California Trail will be the second longest trail in California, stretching over 300 miles from Mendocino to Lake Tahoe, and will stand out as being East-West, traversing California's distinct ecological areas. The trail will begin on the Mendocino Coast, traveling across state park land, BLM land, Caltrans highway land, open space, National Forest, and private property. Despite these many designations, it is our goal to create a uniform trail showcasing California's varied landscape.
Jug Handle State Natural Reserve, Caspar California
John Olmsted at Sutter Buttes, California
Buttermilk Bend Trail, South Yuba River State Park
Rush Creek and Overlook, Independence Trail - John D. Olmsted - Educator and ConservationistJohn Olmsted 1938-2011
by Alden OlmstedJohn Olmsted was my father, and although the obvious nods are to John Muir and distant cousin Frederick Law Olmsted, when it comes to conservationism and parks, there really was no one like him.
He began his formal work clambering around the creeks and canyons of Mt. Baldy and the San Gabriel Mountains, studying and recording the flora and fauna in incredible detail, before heeding the call north, accepting a position in Golden Gate Park as a botanist at Strybing Arboretum.
But formal positions and paychecks were not to be his future, it was while leading hikes on the Mendocino Coast when he met famous soil scientist Dr. Hans Jenny, and learned of the unique Pygmy Forest. He would go on to become a parks' crusader, purchasing land and preserving parks beginning with Jug Handle Reserve in Caspar, building the wheelchair-accessible Independence Trail in Nevada City, establishing the South Yuba River State Park System and Bridgeport covered bridge, all in all preserving 11 major parcels across California.
His Across California trips with school kids and instructors in the 1970's were legendary, utilizing the fledgling Oakland Museum of California as an 'indoor museum,' with his Earth bus trips as the complementing outdoor version. Beginning at the Berkeley Pier, these trips included stops at estuaries, adobes, forts, parks, and trails, and it was on these trips that his life's dream took on a distinct shape. Although he is compared to many other land stewards and environmentalists, John's goal of education was always front and center, as he, like his father before him, UCLA and UCR professor John Whipple Olmsted, was at heart, always a teacher.
When he read of John Muir's famous 1868 walk from San Francisco to Yosemite he was hooked, and attempted his own hike 100 years later. He found, not surprisingly that the suburbs and freeways that had altered the landscape since Muir's walk made it nearly impossible, and spent his life establishing a more suitable path.
The land that he went on to preserve and "un-develop" follows roughly the path of highway 20, from the picturesque coast of Mendocino, through Redwood Forests, across the inner coast range, to the central valley, up the foothills of the northern Gold Country, over Donner Summit and down to Lake Tahoe.
It is now our goal to make his trail real.
Thanks and remember - Keep California Wild
