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?