Zach Urness

Statesman Journal

If you're planning a search for Bigfoot, there's no better place to start than the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon and Northern California.

The remote mountains are a hotbed of all things crypto-hominid, from supposed sightings to specialty Bigfoot traps to town jamborees that celebrate the myth of the half-man half-ape.

So it makes a certain amount of sense that when Michael Kauffmann decided to create a 360-mile hiking route through the heart of the Klamath-Siskiyous, it would be dubbed the Bigfoot Trail.

"I wasn't 100 percent sold on the name at first, but eventually, I just realized that Bigfoot is the emblem of the Klamath Mountains," Kauffmann said. "And if it creates some buzz for the trail, then why not?'"

While Sasquatch is the hook — what gets people interested — what Kauffmann really wants long-distance hikers to discover is the remarkable diversity of plants and trees in one of the oldest mountain ranges in North America.

The route links together six wilderness areas, three national forests and one national park on a route home to 32 species of conifer and 3,500 species of plants.

The Bigfoot Trail connects famous destinations such as Marble Mountain, the Trinity Alps and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, but it also makes a special effort to explore more remote, ecologically rich landscape.

"Most people don't know that the Klamath Mountains have the most diverse, temperate conifer forest on the planet," said Kauffmann, 41, the author of the book "Conifer Country." "The route was a way to combine long-distance hiking with a sort of scavenger hunt for all the different conifers you can find here."

The route — which combines multiple trail systems and a handful of Forest Service roads to link it together — comes at a time when long-distance hiking is growing in popularity.

The Pacific Crest Trail (2,652 miles) and Appalachian Trail (2,181 miles) have become ingrained in popular consciousness, and with the Continental Divide Trail (3,092 miles), they are collectively known as the "Triple Crown" of hiking.

Kauffmann is hoping for similar recognition for the Bigfoot Trail. He's raising money through a Kickstarter campaign to create a nonprofit that would provide stewardship and trail maintenance for the route that will need upkeep to become a hiking destination.

"There are a few sections that really need work," said Justin Rhode, an expert of local trails who lives in Cave Junction. "One of the big issues we're going to have to deal with is trail maintenance in these very remote areas."

Kauffmann, who hiked the route in 2009, said that an experienced route finder could finish the route right now but would find some brushy, difficult sections. His goal is to get the full route marked and have dedicated crews that keep trails from becoming too rough.

The route begins in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness and heads all the way north, into Oregon via the Red Buttes Wilderness, before swinging southwest through the Siskiyou Wilderness and finally Jedediah Smith in Crescent City, Calif.

"What makes this route really incredible is the dramatic shift in the environment," Rhode said. "You go from very dry ridgelines and plunge into wet river corridors, reach high alpine lakes and walk through ancient forests."

The Klamath-Siskiyous might be famous for Bigfoot, but Kauffmann hopes his route will inspire an appreciation of the other rare organisms that reside in these mountains.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for seven years. He is the author of the book "Hiking Southern Oregon" and can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Facebook at Zach's Oregon Outdoors or @ZachsORoutdoors on Twitter.

Bigfoot Trail

In a nutshell: A 360-mile route through the wilderness areas of Northern California and Southern Oregon. For details about the Bigfoot Trail, see bigfoottrail.org.

Help raise money: Help Michael Kauffmann's Kickstarter page. Search for The Bigfoot Trail Alliance at kickstarter.com.