Hiking Log

 2010-12-09

A new trail recently opened up in my area. The South Fork of the American River Trail. The American River Conservancy has been working to get this section of trail completed for several years. Besides the physical labor involved in clearing brush and digging dirt and pulling out rocks, the conservancy has been persevering to acquire land parcels and right of ways to connect existing trails at Cronan Ranch with the trail system at Folsom Lake in the Salmon Falls area.

The final result is a pretty nice stretch of trail that climbs east from the Salmon Falls bridge onthe South Fork of the American River, and follows a ridgeline for a mile or so before dropping down to the riverside and entering Cronan Ranch.

My wife and I first checked out the trail on a hike with  our 12 year old daughter one Sunday. It was the second day the trail was open and we met several other parties along the trail who were curious about it as well. We parked in the parking lot at Salmon Falls Bridge and found the trailhead at the north end of the lot. After the requisite stop in the restrooms at the trailhead, (they were in decent shape) we headed north along the trail.

The trail followed a creek for a quarter mile  and then crossed over the creek on the spankin' new Acorn Creek Bridge. The aroma of creosote from the lumber the bridge was built with was intense. There is a plaque at thewest end of the bridge commemorating it's completion.

Immediatly after crossing the bridge we started climbing up a rather steep section of trail. Several switchbacks followed and lots of winding around the hillside. As we climbed and chatted between ourselves and withother parties, new perspectives of the river and it's inlet into Folsom Lake began to come into view. We also started feeling a refreshing breeze coming off of the lake, to the delight of our daughter, who was starting to begin the whining sequence of the trip.

After a mile or so we  reached the ridge and the trail became more or less level. Another mile of steadily slowing pace found 2 thirds of our group ready to turn back. After a brief rest and downing what we later realized was the last of the water we turned back. The mood and scenery improved considerably as we cruised back down the switchbacks and took in the new perspectives of lake views on the return.

Two weeks later I headed for the trail again with a different mode of transportation in mind. A friend and I were going to ride the trail to Cronan Ranch on mountain bikes. We started from the same parking lot at Salmon Falls and were soon climbiing up the swtchbacks on a unseasonably warm Saturday morning in October. The exposure to the sun all the way up the hill, coupled with the steepness eventually got to us. As we reached the peak of the hill, the trail angled up sharply and we got to that point where you are going so slow that you have to unclip and jump off before you topple over like Artie Johnson off his trike on Laugh-In (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you just had to be there).

A short rest stop and we were rolling along the ridgeline and eventually coming to a forest service gate with a picnic table under some oaks. The gate establishes the boundary line for how far west equestrians are allowed to ride on the trail. From this point east, we needed to be mindful of not blazing around a corner and nailing a horse head to chest. My head, it's chest. We know who is going to win that battle, however the status of the rider on the horse could be another story altogether.

East of the gate we rode some switchbacks down through a nice oak forest to about 50 above the level of the river.We were somewhere around five miles into the ride at this point and riding on a well established fire road that had been in use for years.  The recently built part of the trail was the first section from Salmon Falls to the ridgeline. After that we had been riding on fire rtoad  most of the time. As we pedaled further east and upstream along the river we were entering the Cronan Ranch regional park area.

 There are some structures in the Long Valley area of the park that were once used as a movie set. The rumor I have heard from more that one mountain biker is that it was used in a film version of little house on the prairie.The movie set is where my friend and I decided to stop for a serious rest and then turn back. We were just about 7 miles from our cars at this point and had some decent climbing to get back up to the ridge before the downhill to the parking lot. Gatorade was drunk, bananas gobbled and discussions about the ranch held with other cyclists coming by.

Our ride back to the cars pretty much had us at t he edge of our limit for a day's riding. The 14 mile round trip would have been fairly easy for an advanced rider, but probably a bit more than a beginner would want to attempt.

The trail sections were well maintained and there weren't any major obstacles that the bikes couldn't clear. All in all a sweet ride on a nice Saturday morning!