Board of Directors

For Mitchell Hayes, trails have always felt like home. He took his first backpacking trip at age 15 and has been hooked ever since. While hiking was his first love with the trails, he is also a passionate mountain biker and cyclist. Mitch has recently moved to Humboldt County and quickly became inspired by the trails we have in the area. Mitch frequently visits the trails in the Arcata Community Forest. He rides single track on Hatchery Ridge Trail System in Blue Lake. He has had professional roles with the California State Parks in Humboldt County and California Land Management in Placer County. His favorite trail in the area is the James Irvine in the Redwoods National State Park. He recommends anyone in the area who has a passion or curiosity for backpacking to hike the Lost Coast Trail. This one of the many unique experiences that the North Coast has to offer for outdoor recreation.

Korina Johnson has knocked around California most of her life, but when she moved to Arcata she fell in love. After hiking the Arcata Community Forest for a few years, she decided to give back and joined the Volunteer Trail Stewards. She was so enthusiastic about the VTS that she was asked to join the board. Today Korina is on the Advocacy Committee and still an enthusiastic VTS volunteer. She also loves riding her bike, and can hardly wait for the Humboldt Bay Trail to be completed.

Steve Jones is an avid cyclist and hiker who would like to see a network of trails in every neighborhood. A retired Operations Manager, Steve lives with his wife in Sunny Brae and is often found on the surrounding trails.

Favorite hiking trail: Emerald Ridge/Tall Trees loop in Redwood National Park
Favorite Mountain Bike trail: Hugger-Mugger at the Hatchery Ridge Trail System in Blue Lake

Stevie Luther got started with trail maintenance early when a McKinleyville High School service project called for moving wheelbarrow loads of crushed gravel to trails in the Arcata Community Forest. He later helped remove brush on the Hammond Trail with an upstart group of do-gooders donning dashing vests who called themselves “Trail Stewards.” These days, he enjoys helping improve the natural environment along the Waterfront Trail. He joined the Board in 2019 and is excited to be part of the next generation working to fulfill the vision of a seamlessly connected regional trails network. Stevie works as a Planner for the Humboldt County Association of Governments, and is happy to be a bike commuter.

Jonathan (Jonny) Maiullo realized the utility of bike trails at the young age of 11 when riding to the mall for the first time in his hometown of Jackson, Michigan. After nearly being run off the road on busy street, the young Maiullo stopped into the township offices and requested a bike path be put in. While this plan never reached fruition, Maiullo has made extensive use of trails elsewhere. In Armenia, he hiked the janapar trail in the Artsakh region; in Thailand, he followed a trail on the island of Koh Tao to discover an abandoned resort hidden in the jungle and in the US he through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2016.
Maiullo is currently an associate English Professor at The College of the Redwoods. When biking from his Arcata home to work, he makes use of the Humboldt Bay Area’s extensive trail network and eagerly anticipates the conclusion of the Bay Trail.

Kemset Moore’s interest in trails originated with her involvement with the Fortuna Senior Hiking Group’s adventures on hikes throughout Humboldt County and beyond. Kemset is a retired civil engineer and lives with her husband Ken and Labrador retriever Jax south of Eureka.
Favorite hiking trail: Friendship Ridge in Redwood National Forest from the old Klamath bears to the hike in camp sites and back along the Klamath river. This one is in Del Norte County.
Favorite trail to take out of town guests (when we could have them): Headwaters from the Elk River trail head.
Favorite unexpected adventure trail: At very low tide only, Hookton Slough to Old Southport Landing site along the sandy shore of Humboldt Bay, number 47 in Rees Hughes’ book Hiking Humboldt Volume 2.
Favorite trail for social distance hiking: Thornrton Multi use trail in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Michael Proulx worked as a Rehabilitation Counselor for 22 years at the California Department of Rehabilitation, retiring in 2011. He continues to teach part-time in the School of Business at HSU.

Michael’s volunteer activities include Arcata Economic Development Corporation, Making Headway (disability organization), American Field Service (exchange program for foreign high school students) and Humboldt Trails Council. He joined the Humboldt Trails Council Board of Directors in 2015, regularly participates in the VTS trail workdays in the Arcata Community Forest and currently takes care of one section of Bay Trail North through the VTS program.

While my favorite trail on the planet is the hike to the Tall Trees Grove in Redwood National Park, my most frequent hiking trails are those in Arcata Community Forest. In addition to hiking, I love backpacking and like to visit the Marble Mountain and Trinity Alps Wilderness areas. The North Coast has so much to offer in outdoor recreation and adventure!

Bruce Silvey is a mostly retired Marriage and Family Therapist who has lived on a small working sheep ranch an hour east of Eureka for forty years. For the last twenty years he and his wife Leslie have traveled around the US riding rails-to-trails. Captivated by the history, tunnels, trestles, and virtually flat trails that take you from town to town, Bruce joined the HTC Board in 2018 to help convert our unused railroad corridor to a trail everyone could enjoy. His current passion is the development of the Great Redwood Trail.
His favorite local trails are the Eureka Waterfront Trail and the Bay Trail North, both of which will become part of the Great Redwood Trail if all goes well.

Karen Underwood has spent her life on trails with family, friends and horses. She likes hiking as much as riding, and retired from teaching at Fortuna Middle School and immediately joined the Fortuna Sr. Hiking group. This extraordinary group shared the trails and roads of Humboldt County. Karen and her husband Steve live in Hydesville. Steve is a retired park ranger whose career took them to Olympic Nat Park, Crater Lake NP, Lava Beds NM, Yosemite NP, and finally to Redwoods NP and Humboldt Redwoods State Park. That is a lot of places to compare with Humboldt County, and she is happy to report that the comparison holds up. Feels like you can’t have enough trails so she is happy to be involved with the advocacy subcommittee.
Favorite Hiking Trail involves a loop of many trails at Prairie Creek SP: California Coastal Trail north to West Ridge Trail, south to Friendship Ridge Trail, back to coast on Fern Canyon Trail.
Favorite Horseback Riding Trail: Bull Creek south side trail at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.