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Trail Kiosk with maps

The three park rangers Gary, Dick, Tony The creative genius and energy behind Forest Park.

April 08, 2011 Mail Tribune It's not a straight shot down the mountain this year, but the second annual Bike Fest outside of Jacksonville is building up to a more competitive format. "It'll appeal to a broader spectrum of riders," says organizer Joe Davis of the mountain-bike race that draws entrants from all over Oregon, as well as Washington, California and Nevada. Bike Fest's new, combined Super D encourages racers to ride on two days and tally their fastest total time over approximately 10 miles of woodland trails. More than 100 professional and amateur racers are expected to partake in the weekend competition, but course construction also makes for a spectator-friendly event, says Davis. Partially set on a stretch of fire road with a vertical drop of 1,000 feet over nearly four miles, the fastest course is slated for Sunday, April 10. Faster riders, says Davis, will reach speeds of about 30 mph.

Saturday's route borrows four miles from last year's course on Forest Park land but adds more than two miles of rolling climbs and banked corners that should test riders' endurance and demand a fairly high level of bike-handling skills, says Davis. The trail goes through dark, damp, wooded areas and includes several creek crossings. "Our courses are vastly different," says Davis. "It makes it a lot more competitive." When the city of Jacksonville approached Davis and Anderson about holding another cycling event, they gave the city not one but two: Bike Fest and the Stagecoach Cross Country race, planned for July 16 this year. "We went for the whole gamut," says Davis. The events have been so well received in the local mountain-biking community that Echelon was handed the reins to this year's Spring Thaw Mountain Bike Festival, the 20th annual. Davis says Spring Thaw, set for May 14-15 in Ashland, will be very similar to previous years' events but offer a few more prizes put up by some new sponsors.

July 12, 1917 (Exact date of death from the Jacksonville Cemetery records) Train Engineer Steamed to Death Train engineer Denver Marsh is steamed to death when his locomotive’s brakes fail and the heavily loaded log train slides backwards at a high rate of speed and derails just above the City Reservoir. July 21, 1917 From the Jacksonville Post ACCIDENT ON LOGGING ROAD. Engineer dead, firemen badly hurt. An accident on the logging road near the City dam on Jackson Creek, Friday afternoon, resulted in the death of Denver Marsh the engineer, and Charles Schumpf, the firemen of the logging engine had a leg broken and other injuries.

Here are 3 photos of the Bullis Climax Locomotive that was wrecked out of Jacksonville in 1917. It's Shop Number is 886 and is shown here in 1921 at Timber, Or after being sold to Prouty Timber Co. as there number 2. Originally built for Northern California Lumber Co # 2 at Hilt, Ca in May of 1908. Here is the history of the ownership of the Climax Locomotive Shop Number 886. Bullis Logging. It weighed 40 tons.... S/N 886 Class-Weight B-40 tons Gauge Standard Built 5-1908 Acquired/Disposed - 1913 Owner(s) – Notes * = First Owner - (D) = Locomotive Dealer *Northern California Lumber Co. No. 2, Hilt, CA Fruit Growers Supply Co. No. 2, Hilt, CA Southern Oregon Traction Co., Medford, OR (Bullis Logging Co., Medford, OR) Prouty Timber Co. No. 2, Timber, OR Wheeler, C. H., Cochran, OR Eagle Lumber Co., Westimber, OR (Wheeler Lumber Co. No. 2, Westimber, OR)

Train wreck trail plaque installed along the Bullis Rail Trail, with the help of City crews, Park Rangers, and the Railroaders club.

Jacksonville Forest Park warning signs.

What’s new in the Jacksonville Forest Park? The Park has new trails, another bridge, and trail maps. Trail maps are available at the Kiosk at the Park entrance just below the dam, the visitors’ center in Jacksonville, and the city offices. Also a big print version of the maps is mounted on the kiosk ready for everyone to plan their hiking trip into the beautiful 1,080-acre city park.

With nearly eight miles of trails established in 2010, two new trails totaling one and one-quarters of a mile were added since last fall. One of these is the three-quarter mile extension to the existing Granite Trail, which brings the length of this trail to two miles. The extension starts at the top end of the Granite Trail, and is easily accessed from the Reservoir road via a big trail sign by the road that points to the Granite Trail trailhead.

This trail extension is an easy walk along an old, almost level logging skid road, gaining only 200 feet in one-half mile. Then it goes through an area of very big, old manzanita shrubs that are over fifteen feet tall, ending up on the Naversen Family Trail ridge. This section has been nicknamed the Halls of Manzanita!

Trail Head sign - Granite Trail The second new trail is called the Ponderosa Snag Trail after the big pine snag that is along the trail. This old snag is three feet in diameter and 80 feet tall. Also on the trail is one of the biggest madrone trees to be found, with a diameter of four feet at the base. This new trail can be found by going up to the Rail Trail from the kiosk, and the southern trailhead of the Ponderosa Snag Trail can be found after walking only 100 feet on the Rail Trail. After the trail goes by the snag and the madrone, it travels on the hillside above the reservoir and comes back to the Rail Trail at the site where the train wreck occurred in 1917 on the old Bullis logging railroad.

Trail sign and You Are Here sign See the just installed interpretive panel featuring the newspaper article from 1917 that describes the brave actions of the engineer Denver Marsh to save the fireman Charles Schumpf by throwing him off the runaway train loaded with logs, only to have Denver killed when the speeding out of control train smashed into the 75-foot trestle across a ravine. In front of the interpretive is ten feet of replica railroad track installed to show how the railroad was built.