Edwards to Purdon

Thirteen of us headed off to a more challenging hike:  the South Yuba Trail from Edwards to Purdon.  The trail was mostly shaded and, at the beginning, slightly icy.  At one point it is washed out, requiring hikers to step down onto some rocks and back up to the trail.  The steep slope afforded almost constant view of the Yuba below which was alternately roaring and quietly rushing on it's winter flow.

No, we didn't cross the river but we did explore the beaches a bit.

As the sun crept behind some trees our lunch crowd migrated closer and closer to the river.

Fungus a-plenty on downed logs.

Above photos from Frank.

Four Hikers cut out about half-way and went down to eat by the river while the rest of us plowed onward downriver.  Although we stopped for lunch a bit upriver from the old Purdon cabin, we continued downstream to explore the cabin site afterwards.  "Farmers" (squatters?) had changed the landscape some, bringing beach sand up between their quasi-fenced gardens.  Various art artifacts were in evidence as were two shovels with recently turned-over earth.  The cabin itself had burned, sometime in the past year as we understand it. 

Bright green mosses and succulents covered orange and black slabs.

Milkmaids - earliest flowers of Spring
 

Barbara, Mary, Priscilla

Above pictures from Maureen.

Next week's weather forecast calls for rain, but if it proves to be wrong, perhaps we'll do the Hidden Falls hike near Auburn.

Chicago Park Ditch

Six of us hikers and 2 furry trotters braved the ice and snow to start our hike an hour later than usual to the Chicago Park Ditch.  Some of the roads up there were slow walking due to icy conditions.  At the end of the trail we had to guess our next step and somehow did a big loop behind the trail that eventually landed us on Hwy 174 west of the road we thought we'd come out.  We thought we'd be in Chicago Park but in fact, we were past Peardale towards GV.  Go figure - well figuring is what we have all been doing, GPS's and all, but we still are confused.  Well we aren't the only ones:  we did see various service trucks back on those roads going back and forth, presumably looking for the correct addresses. 

The hike was stunningly beautiful what with all the snow dripping from trees and outlining all buildings. By late morning, the sun warmed up the ice, making the walking easier and steaming the air with a bright brilliance.

Foresthill

Fifteen of us hiked 5.5 miles of rolling hills between the north and south forks of the American River. Typical winter hike: sunshine and long tree shadows.   

After the hike, we drove the rest of the way into Foresthill, sat at the picnic tables, and enjoyed the view of the snowy Sierra.

Next week we are hoping to go back to the S. Yuba.

Fairy Falls

In the interest of keeping an archive of walks, I will add a quick summary of yesterday but really Maureen said it all:  beautiful nippy sunny 7-miler with falls running strongly.  A welcome relief from freezing rain that turned out 14 of us for the fresh air.

S. Yuba trail

Has the weather been that bad?  Has it been about a month since we took a group hike?  Might be - Wednesday weather has been problematic for sure.  The group met and split into two:  those who wanted a shorter hike and beautiful day with the birds at Gray Lodge; and the ones whose muscles were itching to be worked.

Since I went in the latter group, I will report on that first:  six of us wore warm clothing to S. Yuba trail campground near Malakoff.  Memories of a south-facing, ie., warm, slope brought us hope.  But it was not to be.  The trail was a bit slippery at first, with frost heaves poking up like sapporophytes.  Stream crossings were sketchy - it would have been smart to bring poles.  Although the bright sunshine did not hit us (except a few spots), we enjoyed how it lit up the fuzzy moss-covered oaks that grow on the steep slope.  When we saw the river, it was running strong and noisy.  Surprisingly, we did meet a couple of other parties:  a miner returning to his camp just past Humbug Creek (Primitive Camp); and a young couple out for a hike. 

We hiked about 8 miles and got back to Brunswick Basin early, before the Gray Lodge group.  Next week Wednesday falls the day after Christmas, and the forecast is for rain.  If it turns out to be a decent enough day, we may show up at the meeting place to see if there are any others wanting to burn off calories.

Maureen writes that the birders at Gray Lodge had a lovely day.  I will attempt to upload a picture or two but fiddling with this internet is frustrating - we will be getting new internet - they have to get a tree climber in first. 

 

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!