Placer County's Hidden Treasure

Maureen sent me these pix from today - and what a talented photographer she is!! I will turn the blog over to John since I'm sure you don't want to hear about spending 3 hours at Sac Zoo with a 4 and 2 year old ("I hungy gamma...")

Nine of us drove down Hwy 49 on another beautiful winter Wednesday to Hidden Falls Regional Park for what has become our annual hike in this relatively new park. I did a little research and discovered that the park was formerly the Didion Ranch and comprises 221 acres with a total of seven miles of established trails. An adjacent ranch, the Spears Ranch (961 acres), was acquired more recently and will be incorporated into the park in the future. It will be nice to eventually have more trails to hike in this beautiful area.

We did our usual loop covering about 5 miles, with lunch at the confluence of Coon and Deadman Creeks. Instead of lunching on the platform, we walked down to the creek level on what I think is a newly constructed stone staircase and trail.

A new hiker, Tom, joined us today and we hope we will see more of him on forthcoming hikes.

There was no discussion about next week's destination, but if Clarence is able to join us, perhaps we will do one of his Spenceville loops. There was also some talk of doing the Cool hike one of these weeks before the warmer weather sets in.

South Yuba to Humbug

Selma with a normal lip.

Fourteen of us headed up the South Yuba on a shady trail, searching for sunshine. We found it at various southern exposures along the cliffs. Although the river roared below us, we didn't see it very often. The trail is beautifully engineered and kept relatively clear of windfalls, of which there were quite a few. It's ups and down are so comfortable that we ticked off just short of 10 miles round trip. By the slippery rocks down where Humbug Creek flows into the Yuba, there were swarms of fairly dormant ladybugs. The sun would liven them to some degree but they weren't flying, just wintering. I guess there is safety in numbers but still quite a phenomenon to see. Towards the ends of the trip, Selma's walking stick slid out on a slippery rock causing her to do a spectacular face plant. I guess we shouldn't be too reliant on those things. She ended up in a pool of water, bleeding and swelling from a split lip. We were all thankful she hadn't done more damage to herself or her glasses. Her biggest worry is that she has to get on a plane tomorrow and face family in Southern CA whom she hasn't seen in a loooooong time. Oh well, she has bragging rights: 10 miles!!

No talk about next week, guess we're still waiting for Karen on Red Rocks at Spenceville. There is another hike we haven't done there in a while - to the lake. Also Hidden Falls in Auburn or Stevens Trail. Going lower than GV has been a problem the last few weeks due to persistent heavy fog starting in about Auburn. Some time we might want to go down the Humbug and then take the 1.7 mile trail that goes along at river level past the primitive camp. John reports that after a section of slippery rocks there appears to be a good trail would be fun to try.

Rices Redux

Top 7 pictures from Clarence. Maps from Frank.

Repeating the hike of 2 months ago, sixteen of us started at the Rice's Crossing gravel road (up high) and hiked 5 3/4 miles down to Rice's crossing and back up to the trail that sent down to the picnic tables at the park by the Buttermilk Trail. Tammy and Priscilla hiked back to get a car to meet us at the park. Two big picnic tables easily sat us while we basked in the weak but welcome sunlight while eating our lunches.

Several people were interested in the Osage Orange Trees. Frank forwarded some information on them: named after the Osage Native Americans who used the wood for their bows. Merriweather Lewis was responsible for their spread beyond the south central US and they became the pre-barbed wire fence of choice of the settlers due to their thorns. The wood was also used for fence posts. Barbed wire came into use in the 1880's.

Next week (depending on the weather): Hidden Falls? Red Rocks? South Yuba?

Western States Trail

Never know what you'll find on a trail.

Finally!! A warm (well, there was frost but we ignored it), sunny day. It brought 17 of us out of our holes and into the sunlight. Having not seen each other, it took a while to get everyone's attention and organize into cars. But we managed to get it together and headed down to the horsehoe tree parking lot on Highway 49 just short of the confluence. The trail was quite muddy in places but was otherwise perfect as it was in the sun a lot of the time. We walked the 3 plus miles to the park with the picnic tables but decided instead to eat lunch on the metal bleachers. We were entertained by the skateboarders and trick bikesters, who sported not one helmet and the usual low pants. I'm sure they really liked having an audience of older people in their hats and sunglasses.

Next week we are hoping to go to the Spenceville tombstones...weather permitting and our fogometer (Barbara) concur - Karen will join us..

Map courtesy of Frank who's baaaaaaaack!! Bleachers pix by Clarence...