Wednesday, June 6th
Well, it has been a while, hasn't it?
Too much bike riding, not enough hiking.
The mile long loop trail in the nature area is a quick and easy 20 minute outdoor fix. I had it to myself this morning except for one jogger. And lots of bird song. And bushels of poison oak (the trail is nice and clear). Most of the trail is shaded with just a few areas without tree cover. The entrance to the nature area is right off of Highway 49, just west of Lotus, CA.
I was trying to make fancy with alignment and so on. I give up. Captions from here on out!
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| Sign at Highway 49 |
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| Road into parking area. Lots of parking here. |
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| The trail is well constructed and well maintained, with many flat wide bridges over a stream. |
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| One single-board bridge. If you want to get to the river and skip this 'bridge', start at the outhouse end of the loop trail (right side of parking lot) |
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| The huge piles of dredged river rock (from mining in years past) have been turned into walls and trail-edging. |
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| Other signs of mining in the form of a manmade ditch, now a ravine, absolutely packed with poison oak. |
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| Several picnic areas with tables are available along the trail. |
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| Sunlit switchbacks. This is a very easy trail. Super easy. Google "Dave Moore Nature Area" and you'll find the BLM site with everything you'd want to know about Dave Moore. |
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| In common with other BLM properties along the South Fork American River: birdhouses. |
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| Upstream on the South Fork American River |
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| Downstream |
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| What happened here? Brace for some mining equipment? Browridge of a submerged troll? Giant petrified hamburger? |
