S. Yuba Missouri Bar to Poorman Creek

 

Bridge at Logan Canyon

South Yuba Fall Colors from John:

 

Four of us drove in two cars to Washington and on to the trailhead at Poorman Creek, where we left one of the cars and piled into the other for the twisty, slow drive on Relief Hill Road to the Missouri Bar trailhead.  The dirt road itself is in pretty good shape, with just one slightly dicey section.  The weather was perfect, mild with brilliant sunshine showcasing the fall colors.  The trail down to the S. Yuba is beautifully built, with good footing and a steady, not-too-steep decent for 1 ¼ miles.  The river at Missouri Bar is quite beautiful: water with a gemlike color, brilliant yellow and orange foliage, and dark glistening rocks.  Heading upstream, the trail rather soon leaves the river and begins climbing, passing a couple of small tributaries, then begins climbing in earnest, to the point where we wondered if in fact we were heading back to the road.  But no, it finally topped out, dropped some, climbed again, and finally, dropped down to the bridge at Logan Canyon.  It was already well past 1 pm, so we ate a somewhat hurried lunch in what was becoming a weak sun, heavily filtered by the forest canopy.  We were aware that we had quite a way still to hike, and the daylight wouldn’t hang around for too many more hours.  The trail from Logan Canyon is more familiar to us, as we hiked it earlier this year on an in-and-out from the Poorman trailhead.  It took about 25 minutes to reach the beach where we had eaten lunch on that earlier hike, and discovered that someone was staying across the stream in a fairly permanent-looking camp.  We saw only a brief glimpse of whoever was there.  He (she?) had a fire going, a dog barking, and a makeshift tent made of plastic.  It was an idyllic setting, but none of us thought spending a night there would be much fun, especially with a storm on the way the following days.  So on we trekked, reaching the comfort of our car at a little after four.  By the time we retraced our path driving to the other car and then heading back to GV, the light was failing, we were tired, but happy to be heading to the comfort and warmth of our homes, having spent a wonderful day in such a beautiful part of the country. 

Coral-bellied Ringneck Snake

 

The hike next week depends a lot on the weather, of course.  We’ll probably stay pretty close to town as we all will be busy getting ready for T-day!  Hike suggestions?

Gold Run

Think of ants running everywhere but their destination.  That is what 5 of us did while exploring a diggins in the American River Canyon just up the freeway from Colfax.  We were repeatedly told to turn around, we had been here before, let me find the trail.  While it was great exercise in the colorful autumn light, our feet and legs were getting tired from the uneven steep slopes we were trying to traverse.  The nature of a hike like this is that it leaves ample time for exploring.  We climbed into various drainage tunnels over loose tailings and along a very old ditch. 

return trip

The well-advertised goal of the hike was to "walk the plank".  When we finally found the plank, we were all surprised by it's non-event status.  Someone's memory had exaggerated the lack of width.  However, I have failed to mentioned that the hike was being led by a black fur-wearing quadriped who picked us up at our parking space.  She dutifully eeked out pee at the numerous bear droppings - why do bears choose the roads??  We carefully watched her as we would go one way and she was quite obviously trying to lead us the other way.  The glitch came at the plank.  "No way!" she said.  But Tammy and Frank convinced her by leaving a path of food to cross both ways. 

 

When we left the area to drive home, she lay down next to our car and maybe she waited for the next hiking group.  Or maybe she was waiting to be called in to dinner.  Wonder what she'll tell her people?

 

John wants to add the following: we were hiking towards Canyon Creek, a tributary of the N. Fork of the American River.  This is not the same Canyon Creek we hiked last week -- it's a common name for creeks, it would seem.  The landscape in this area is jumbled, largely because of the 19th century hydraulic mining.  It's hard to get one's bearing, and the GPS is of limited use, due to the heavy tree cover and canyons limiting access to satellites.  When we finally reached Canyon Creek, we found it to be quite beautiful, with lovely rocks, deep pools and narrow slot canyons.  We definitely want to come back here again, and, knowing the way (we hope), we'll have time to hike all the way down Canyon Creek to the American River.  Something to look forward to!