Dirt Magic Trails Report - May 22nd, 2025

For additional Mt. Hough, Lakes Basin & Downieville shuttle information, visit www.yubaexpeditions.com

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

On this episode of Dirt Magic we join the Orogenesis Collective and their mission to boldly go where no mountain bike trail has gone before. We will explore the vision of “a new way on old ground,” born from Bike Packing Roots and dreamed about over pints in small mountain towns. A vibrant community of people growing their relationship with backcountry landscapes, each other, and themselves along an uninterrupted ribbon of singletrack trails that bridge borders throughout the western ranges of the North American continent. Our guests today have adventured through these landscapes on hands, feet and wheels and certainly aren’t afraid to raise a glass and say “cheers” to a moon shot idea. From completing the epic Oregon Timber Trail to spending 3% of his life on the face of El Capitan and living the dream of a 20 plus year trail stewardship and founder of the World Famous Downieville Classic, these gentlemen’s resume speaks for itself. Introducing Orogenesis Collective Executive Director Gabriel Tiller, Editor-In-Chief and co-founder of the Gear Lab websites Chris McNamara, and SBTS executive director, Greg Williams.

Guest Bios:

Gabriel Tiller is finding a new way on old ground as the executive director of the Orogenesis Collective. He is the founder and former executive director of the Oregon Timber Trail Alliance, as well as helping co-found the Oregon Mountain Biking Coalition and served as a board member for Bikepacking Roots. He’s passionate about backcountry trails and long-distance connectivity, and is a staunch believer that outdoor experiences have the power to transform people’s lives. Joyful experiences make us the best people we can be.

Chris McNamara is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of the GearLab websites. Chris is the author of 10 books, a big-wall climbing expert, and a recovering ex-Wingsuit BASE jumper. Climbing Magazine once computed that three percent of Chris's life on earth had been spent on the face of El Capitan—an accomplishment that has left friends and family pondering Chris’ sanity. He’s climbed Yosemite's daunting 3,000+ foot El Capitan over 80 times and holds nine big wall speed climbing records. In 1998, Chris did the first Girdle Traverse of El Capitan, an epic 75-pitch route that begs the question, “Why?” Outside Magazine has called Chris one of “the world’s finest aid climbers.” He’s the winner of the American Alpine Club's prestigious Bates Award and the founder of the American Safe Climbing Association. This nonprofit group has replaced over 120,000 dangerous rock climbing anchor bolts. Chris is also the founder and lead author of the rock climbing guidebook publisher SuperTopo. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley. You can follow him on Instagram and ChrisMcNamara.com.

Greg Williams leads the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship and is a descendant of the Deer Creek Band of Northern Sierra Miwok. Greg has spent his life in the Sierra Nevada Mountains living by the examples of his elders — developing a passion for community, clean streams, big mountains, and long trails. Greg is a trailblazer and pioneer of backcountry mountain biking in Downieville, establishing Yuba Expeditions guide service in 1991 and the Downieville Classic mountain bike festival in 1995. In 2003 Greg founded the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship in order to maintain and enhance the trail system, create local jobs, and grow the recreation economy in the Lost Sierra region.

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

On this episode of Dirt Magic we delve into the world of ladies in cycling. From recreational rolling to world class competition, we will explore the successes and challenges that young girls to seasoned pros must navigate from everyday riding to standing on the podium. Our guests today collectively are a multiple time Olympian, world cup cyclocross champions, gravel champions, mountain bike champions, barrier breakers, a former Bike Magazine editor-in-chief, a World Class events director, a journalist, a mentor, the winningest Downieville Classic All Mountain World Champion and even a former Division-I college baseball player. Definitely a resume for success and a good group of good people. Inrtroducing professional cyclists Katerina Nash and Anna Yamauchi, SBTS Marketing & Communications Director Nicole Formosa and SBTS Events Director Kyle Stone.

Guest Bio's:

Katerina Nash

Anna Yamauchi grew up in Truckee CA, and just returned to her hometown after wrapping up college at Cal Poly with a degree in architectural engineering and spending some time in Santa Cruz. With a background in competitive skiing, running, and surfing, Anna has newly found success in the professional off-road bike racing scene. Her racing career truly started in 2022, and with the mentorship of Katerina Nash, she jumped into Gravel and Marathon MTB racing, competing as part of the '23 and '24 Lifetime Grand Prix, and finding podium finishes at a handful of races including BWR AZ, Cactus Cup, BCBR, Downieville, and Lost and Found. This year she's excited to continue to explore new start lines and return to her favorite races with the support of Allied, Rapha, SRAM, Smith, and Vittoria.

Nicole Formosa is the communications and marketing manager for Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship. Previously, she spent many years as an editor in cycling media, primarily at Bike Magazine where she was on staff for eight years, including three as the first female editor-in-chief. Nicole has always tried to make highlighting the stories of female cyclists in a male-dominated industry central to her work, and in recent years, has written a piece questioning why female mountain bikers were not allowed to compete in Red Bull Rampage, a rule that was changed the following year, and profiled the female slopestyle riders shattering the glass ceiling of that discipline. She is excited to be involved with SBTS as it strives to make all its races more welcoming to all competitors.

Kyle Stone is a former D1 college baseball player and JC coach, work experience in education, recreation, and program management. Got into mountain biking just before COVID and fell in love with it, which led to a close following of SBTS. Now Kyle directs SBTS race events and youth programming. Race experience: minimal. Like 5 races total. But I'm training to race Moab Rocks in a month. Well, not really race.... but finish!

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

On this episode of Dirt Magic we take a virtual stroll through a historic recreation area, the Lakes Basin, located in the Plumas National Forest of Northern California. With over 20 small lakes, impressive peaks, 30+ miles of trails, waterfalls, picturesque campgrounds and historic lodges, the Lakes Basin Recreation Area is a crown jewel in the Plumas National Forest. And now it is ever more important to talk about keeping these epic trails open for all of us to enjoy.

Joining me on this episode of Dirt Magic are three historical figures themselves. They are purveyors of fine singletrack and have decades of experience when it comes to building and maintaining trails. Please welcome SBTS Executive Director Greg WIlliams, SBTS Master of All Trades Marc Cosbey and SBTS Pro Trail Crew Boss, Henry O’Donnell.

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

On this episode of Dirt Magic, we invite the SBTS pro trail crew in for a casual conversation about digging in the dirt, high flying river jumps and exploding trees, yep, exploding trees. The SBTS pro trail crew creates the most public interface of the stewardship and is literally where the dollars meet the dirt. Since the birth of the stewardship, the pro trail crew has built over 215 miles of brand new trail, maintained over 2,700 miles of trail and helped manage over 9,300 volunteers. Bottom line, the dirtier this crew gets, the more fun we all have on the trails.

We begin with a stroll down the history lane of the trail crew with SBTS executive director, Greg Williams. After that it’s a potpourri of good times, great work and getting dirty with SBTS Trail Crew Boss, Henry O’Donnell and SBTS pro crew trail members Zach Poh, Andrew Burger, Josh Kluger, Evan Olsen and Dominique (Dom) Cavilia. And a forewarning: trying to wrangle this crew onto one live recording session was like wrangling cats in a bathtub. Some are in the studio and others are out in remote land and having to use old technology, basically a soup can and string line.

Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode. - Martin Scheel

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

On this episode of Dirt Magic we will be discussing forest stewardship and how looking to the past may help protect the future of our forested public lands.

Our guests today have a combined dossier of experience that would rival any renowned institution of learning.

Together they are a visionary that collected the right ingredients to create a 20 plus year trail stewardship organization, a self-funded professional mountain bike adventurer who for over 25 years has dabbled in forestry & fire to pay for his bikes and parts, and a registered professional forester with decades of experience in resource management, fire ecology, environmental policy and still had time to author more than 20 scientific papers. You might call this group the “Dream Team” of our forested public lands.

Introducing SBTS executive director Greg Williams, firefighter and registered professional forester Stew McMorrow and Co-director of the Natural Hazards Team and Operations Manager at Spatial Informatics Group Jason Moghaddas.

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

Our show today features a panel discussion from the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force regional meeting in South Lake Tahoe. The meeting was attended by 800 in-person and virtual guests.

SBTS’ Michelle Abramson was a featured speaker on the Focus on Recreation panel, discussing how SBTS is promoting recreation and rural economic stimulation through our Connected Communities project.

She also addressed the challenges with the post-wildfire recovery process, from restoring the trails to restoring communities, and how trails can bring back an economic resource in small communities, as well as future protection and resilience through the SBTS Fire Hardened Trails Prescription Program.

You will also hear from Stew McMorrow, with Cal Fire and SBTS executive board member, about Fire Hardened Trails. And stay tuned for an upcoming episode as Stew joins SBTS Executive Director Greg Williams, taking a deeper dive into how the SBTS is working on our Fire Hardened Trail Prescription Program.

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel

This Episode focuses on the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship's mission to produce world class events. A brief history of how it all began, where we’ve been and where we are going. We will also discuss an upcoming event in Quincy, CA and a grand purple homecoming in 2025. Our guests today consist of a seasoned event producer, manager, director and a rookie that has made his way to big leagues. Introducing SBTS executive director Greg Williams and SBTS events director Kyle Stone.

Dirt Magic-The Podcast, Hosted by Martin Scheel