Visitors told to avoid Mossbrae Falls; Dunsmuir works on trail to attraction

Business leaders and officials in the city of Dunsmuir say they have no choice but to spend at least the next two years urging people to stay away from a waterfall that draws tourists — and the dollars they spend — to town.

Though city officials have begun the process of securing land and funding to build an official trail to Mossbrae Falls, a pristine waterfall on the Sacramento River, it's at least two years away, said Jim Lindley, Dunsmuir's city manager.

The current path to the falls — long a locally held secret now widely publicized on waterfall aficionado websites — requires hikers to trespass along a potentially dangerous, milelong hike on Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Hikers can be cited for trespassing by Union Pacific police. Railroad officials last fall also blockaded a section of land that for decades had been used as a nonsanctioned parking area.

"It's very dangerous situation," Lindley said. "You've got trains going through and people hopping off the tracks."

Then there's the problems caused by the closed parking area, Lindley said.

Residents living in the nearby Shasta Retreat neighborhood complained during the July 4 weekend that so many falls-goers' cars had parked along the street they couldn't reach their homes.

"There were so many hordes of people," said Barbara Ross, a San Jose resident who lives for the summer at a home in the retreat.

Lindley said Siskiyou County sheriff's deputies that weekended cited several dozen people in response.

Because of all the problems, city officials and local economic boosters are telling people to not go to the falls at all.

"Mossbrae Falls Trail is CLOSED," the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center says in bright red letters on its website.

Lindley said the city also is having no parking signs made to be installed in the retreat.

Meanwhile, Lindley said the city continues to make progress on its new trail.

Union Pacific issued the city a $10,000 grant to come up with a plan for a trail that would pave a wheelchair accessible trail from Hedge Creek Falls in north Dunsmuir to Mossbrae.

Lindley said surveyors have determined that to complete the trail, the city would need to acquire a three-acre sliver of land along the Sacramento River that's currently owned by the Saint Germain Foundation, a New Age religious group that owns spiritual centers elsewhere in Siskiyou County as well as land adjacent to the river.

Lindley said the land the city hopes to acquire is so steep, "it can't be used for anything but a trail."

City officials say the Foundation has agreed "in concept" to transfer ownership to the city. The rest of the land is owned by either the city or the railroad, which has agreed to donate the land for the trail, Lindley said.

The city also is in the process of applying for state recreation grants to build it.

The total cost for the project is estimated at $600,000 to $900,000, Lindley said.

Lindley acknowledged the city is in a strange predicament telling potential tourists to avoid a popular attraction.

"It's disappointing, because people want to go to Mossbrae Falls, but the timing hasn't been right to accomplish this trail project," Lindley said.