Toothpick Trail

Toothpick Trail is a shaded, gentle 3 mile out-and-back trail just outside of town. Add the Lamb Mine Trail for a little bonus.

Driving

– This 15 minute drive starts south through town on Main Street/Siskiyou towards the university. Pass the university and in a couple miles, turn right at the stoplight at Toleman Creek Road. Toleman Creek heads straight uphill and then winds around into the mountains. After about 5 minutes, keep your eyes open and on the right there will be a small turn-out with a couple of home-made trail signs. It’s very subtle. Good luck.

Parking

– There is barely room for 3 cars so you may have to pull in to the grass a bit, or find a pull out further up the road. It’s not a super busy trail, so you should be okay.

The Trail

– You start uphill for a good quarter mile. It’s a decent workout, but very smooth. Then, you’re in some taller pine trees for the next mile along a gentle, rolling hillside. The Catwalk trail joins in at one point. Mountain bikers will also join in. They mean well, but they do take the edge off of the serenity. You could, technically, hike up the Catwalk Trail… but that’s really for the mountain bikers. I’d skip that.

Toothpick ends at the Lamb Saddle trail hub on the Ashland Loop fire road. The Lamb Mine Trail heads downhill to your left and if you take that for another quarter mile, you will find the mine. It’s a hole carved into the side of the mountain and while it looks like there should be 50 bear living in there, I have never seen, nor been eaten by, one. You can continue down the Lamb Mine Trail, and that slowly gets more and more scrubby. It has fun lots to scramble over and some interesting view points, but it turns into more of a deer trail at some point. So when it gets too sketchy for you, just turn around. Trail done.