South Yuba Trail 4/29/09

Finally I got to rejoin you all (figured it may easily have been 2 months!!! what with one thing and another) - for a fantastic 6+ mile hike down to the Yuba and back again. Sixteen of us (Grace, Laurie, both Marilyns, both Barbaras, Kim, Karen, Tammy, Maureen, Tiana, Jo, Selma, Cyndi, John and Elly) were rewarded with singing grosbeaks, towhees, and other unidentifiable birds plus lots of Spring wildflowers and perfect hiking temperatures in the upper forties to very low sixties. A lovely grotto of cascading water and cool blue pools was visitable with a very short side trip on our way down the trail. Huge, multiply-trunked black oak trees (?) hung precariously over the river gorge looking like a feather could push them over.

Let me know if I have omitted or mis-identified any of the following wildflowers:

purple and harlequin lupine
indian pinks and paintbrush
yellow cats ears
frying pan poppies
stickseed (pointed leaves, ultramarine petal with white circle)
canyon dudleya (succulent)
blue dicks
buttercups

Marilyn S. adds these flowers:
pink carnations
monkey flowers (red and yellow)
ceanothus (blue and white) shrub

There was a large dead bird on the trail that appears to have been a turkey. I wonder if it met its end by becoming entangled in some kind of human detritis that appears tangled in its wing and neck.

We ate lunch at a dramatic spot where the river makes an almost 180 degree turn around Long Point. We all found niches to settle in to enjoy the swift green river surrounded by beautiful, large, iron-coated rocks. Dogwood and Redbud were among the trees making their rooted entries in cracks betweeb the vertical cliff across the river.

Four of us extended the hike a bit at the end by going down the old toll road to Illinois Crossing which has a beautifull stretch of what looks like prime fly fishing water. There are picnic tables on a bench above the river and a primitive camping area.

I'm not sure if there was discussion of where to go next week. Does anyone have an idea?

Purdon on Earth Day

Unseasonably warm weather greeted 19 hikers as they fought their way past poison oak and snakes. Mary, Jim'n'Jan, both Marilyns, Steve'n'Ella, both Barbaras, Maurine (welcome back!), Karen, Selma, Kim, Stan, Priscilla, Laurie, Ann, Cyndi, and John hiked 7 miles round trip. They ate lunch at a beach just east of the Round Mountain Trail on the Yuba.

Once again I wasn't there - still sick with this viral infection!! Gads, don't get it!

Hopefully I will bring my weakened self on next week's hike. The proposal is to start at S. Yuba Campground and hike to Illinois Crossing and Overlook Point. For those who want a longer hike, there are a few alternatives on the return with a meeting at Edwards Crossing. If it's a really HOT day, we might want to hike up at the Omega Reststop on the Pioneer Trail.

Stevens Trail on Tax Day

As many of you know, I am writing this secondhand from my sofa, where I have been hanging out since Monday. I've caught the flu from Hell and yes, we DID have the shots. Fever as high as 102.



So John told me that Akiko, Tiana, Cyndi (welcome back - is this farewell to snow?), Barbara G. Stan, Jim, Steve and Ellen (from Colfax - anyone have their email address??) hiked down the Stevens Trail on the east side of Colfax to the American River. John thought it was about 8 miles while Jim, and his "accurately callibrated instrument" thought it was 7. So you can take your pick. Spectacularly beautiful wild flowers were seen, including Fairy Lantern and Lupine. The trail was well-built, contoured and high above the American River, gradually descending to meet the river at the site of a former crossing to the Iowa Hill trail.



An alternate trip was taken locally by Laurie, Priscilla, and Karen.



Next week the group is going to hike out of Purdon. I won't be there due to yet another workshop (if I recover sufficiently) but John will. Hope to see you all the following week.

Table Mountain redux

I've been getting emails from people afraid they've been dropped from the hiking group. Nope - just haven't been hiking with the group due to other commitments including travel. But due to Superman Clarence with the power of email and the GPS, John and I, who had an afternoon appointment in Oroville (bottom of Coal Canyon, actually) got to re-create your hike of last week. Today we saw the not quite as wonderful wild flowers of last week: Blue Dicks, Poppies, Lupine, Owl's Clover, Sedum, Mimulus, Violets, etc.....walking cross-country between waterfalls enjoying the spectacular rock outcroppings while hurrying due to the storm that the darkening west portended.

At the bottom of Coal Canyon is Chaffin Family Orchard. It is an organic permaculture farm selling exquisite fruit and organically raised meats, including chicken and eggs and is reached north of Oroville.

Spenceville Feb. 25, 2009

Fifteen of us successfull gambled on the iffy weather once again and won. As the week before, Clarence was our star path-finder in this beautiful lower elevation area that is the essence of early spring. Karen, Priscilla, Grace, Jim, Jan, Tami, Stan, Barbara G., Ann, Marilyn N., Tiana, Selma, John and Elly joined him to meander through green pastures, wide oaks (live oaks that are deciduous? blue oaks?), and stunningly grand "tomb stones". The wide views were appreciated throughout most of the hike. We climbed up a steep hill next to a small waterfall to get to an old track that led to a homestead (no home evident) where we stopped for lunch. Jim and Jan provided entertainment by both falling through rotten logs as they ate (not simultaneously). On the way back we stopped at an underground river that had been hewn from the rock that led to a ditch that watered stock. After the 6 mile hike, most people returned home while 6 of us hiked a mile further. While the extra mile on the other side of the road was beautiful, it did not rival the main part of the hike. The photo in the upper right hand corner of the blog was from this section - obviously the cattle didn't appreciate the view.

Next week we are talking about going to Moody Road near Lake Wildwood.

Cyndi thought you might be interested in REI Store Events Roseville, CA .

February 18, 2009 Spenceville Nature Preserve

Even though Barbara G. had walked her dog in the morning rain, and Akiko had to dig out of her driveway, they were part of the group of thirteen hikers who gambled that the forecasters actually knew what they were talking about. They met with Grace, Priscilla, Tami, Karen, Tiana, Marilyn S., Clarence, Stan, John, Elly and Barbara's friend, Ann for a hike to Fairy Falls. We gloried in the warm sunshine (mostly) and being able to get outside as we hiked along the raging creek up to the thundering falls. The new leaves on the Buckeyes grew upright like candles on the tips of the branches and there were actually wildflowers blooming - especially a small fuscia geranium (cranesbill?), an uncurling saxifrage (alumroot?) and others that were just getting going in south facing slopes. Dry Creek was a raging muddy torrent at it absorbed water both from the ground and the snowy slopes further up hill. After lunch at the top of the falls, Clarence led us upstream, around the hill some of had climbed last time, and out to a beautiful open pasture area on the other side. It had a sweeping western view of the Marysville Buttes and north. As we walked along the slope, talk turned to cottage cheese and before you knew it, Little Miss Muffett was being recited and we were remarking on the little tuffets that we were crossing. Ann is a birdwatcher (yay!) and with her binoculars identified the bluebird and phoebe we had seen. We concluded the especially beautiful loop having hiked 5 or 6 miles. Next week we will probably go back to Spenceville as Clarence has a couple more of these routes up his sleeve. He is planning to scope them out this Friday. If anyone is interested in going tomorrow, please contact him. Photos by Clarence - and if I knew how to delete the one of me, I would...oh well.

January 28, 2009 Bridgeport

A record number of 19 hikers(!) turned out yesterday to hike about 5 miles in a split hike: out to the end of the Buttermilk trail above the sparkling S. Yuba and then to Pt. Defiance. Mary, Grace, both Barbara's, Marilyn S., Kim, Jo, Akiko, Tiana, Tami, Laurie, Stan, Karen, Priscilla, Selma, Jim'n'Jan, John'n'Elly went on the narrow trail famous for its wildflowers, which, of course, were not present. Some of us extended that part of the hike by taking the old road to the dairy that ends up on Pleasant Valley Rd. Back at the cars we decided to go the other direction, up the switchbacks to the area where trails go back down to the S. Yuba. After lunch at Pt. Defiance (I have yet to find out the origin of that name - who or what was being defied?) we returned via the S. Yuba trail to covered bridge and the parking lot. We met a couple from NC who might be interested in joining our group.

Next week several of us can't be there. It was decided that the group will go to Weimar and hike there. The following week we were talking about hiking going back to Spenceville. See you then!