The First Leg Of The California Sierra's Game-Changing Town-To-Town Trail Is Finally Open

If you're a lover of the outdoors and someone who enjoys trail hiking, biking, or horseback riding, you're about to have a brand new, miles-long trail to enjoy. In fact, the first part of it has recently opened. This is the Connected Communities project, and when completed, it will be an over 500-mile trail connecting the rural communities of California's Sierra Nevada mountains. This game-changing trail is not only great for outdoor enthusiasts, but for the communities as well. Years in development, the trail will ultimately connect towns that include Sierra City with its endless outdoor adventures, Chester, Westwood, Susanville, Jonesville, Greenville, Downleville, Graeagle, Portola, Sierraville, Loyalton, Truckee, and the biggest little city in the world, Reno, Nevada, right over the border. The first 13.5-mile leg connects the towns of Quincy and Taylorsville. 

The idea was to connect towns that were once thriving from resource extraction, and bring in more visitors, as well as give residents and visitors more access to the wilderness in this beautiful area. The process involved environmental review and fundraising, with support from the communities. It's funded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and the whole project is called the Lost Sierra Route. Surveys done by Sierra Buttes Trails Stewardship showed 96% of responders want more town-to-town connections, and this will have that in spades. 

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship's completion of the 13.5-mile route between the historic and walkable town of Quincy and the rural and charming Taylorsville leg of the Lost Sierra Route was announced in an Instagram post by @singletracks and @sierratrails, with a map to show the leg. (You can also see a master plan map, with distance information for each segment.) The route goes along Mt Hough, and work has already begun on the next part of the trail. 

The whole trail will run through Plumas, Sierra, Lassen, Butte, Nevada, and Washoe counties, and the ancestral homelands of the Miwok, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkow, Pit River, and Paiute peoples. In a video from the Sierra Buttes Trails Stewardship, a number of business owners and residents in these towns talk about the positive economic impact of having a connection between them. In addition, Leslie Edlund from Plumas National Forest says that the trails are not only good for the community, but can help facilitate dealing with not only active, but also prescribed wildfires. If you're looking to check out the first leg of the Connected Communities trail for yourself, the closest major airport is Reno-Tahoe International Airport, which is around 83 miles from Quincy and 104 miles from Taylorsville, so you'll definitely need to have a car for this trip.