As of Apr 1, here are the final season numbers: Rain is at 132% of average for Northern CA, 127% (central Sierra), and 129% (southern Sierra). Snow pack is at 164% of average for Northern CA, 164% (central), and 155% (southern). This is terrific news for California! The final numbers are probably most similar to 2011, and not as big as 2017. Now that spring is here, I am definitely OK with people wanting the rain to end and spring to start. In fact, I would like to see that as well (are you surprised?). However, the rain is continuing to fall as we go into April. We are not seeing any more big storms, but nonetheless, we are still seeing very unsettled weather with many showers and rain and it looks like that will continue through mid month.
This past weekend, I tried to go on an early season backpacking trip down to my favorite river, the North Fork American. It was a nightmare on NFAR St.
My plan was to hike down the Mumford Bar trail to the river and along the American River Trail to New York Canyon. It would have been glorious. I tried this a couple years ago, and the trail was so horribly overgrown, I could not make it even anywhere close to Beacroft Falls. However, I heard that the forest service has now cleared this trail, and I wanted to try it again. So ..
This time around, it was much earlier in the year, so I had to start hiking from China Wall. This added 3 miles (one way) to the hike. There was 3-4 feet of snow on the ground. The first 3 miles is on the road, and it was packed down because it is popular for snowmobile riding in the winter. I did not need my snowshoes for this section, however, once I got to Mumford Bar trail head, snow shoes were required. The snow was deep, and not hard packed. I would not have made it more than a hundred feet down that trail without them.
This trail is a huge descent, 2700 ft. elevation loss in about 3.5 miles. The first 1100 feet were in the snow, so this made the hike extra difficult, and it took a long time. There were a couple very sketchy spots as well, where I had to cross a couple seasonal creek drainages. It was quite steep with big drop-offs from the snow bank down to the creek, and very unstable snow at the edge of the creek. If the snow bank collapsed on me, I would have a very big fall. I looked for a different way down to find a more stable option without any big drop-offs. It was difficult, but I found ways around these sections, and continued on. At 4300 ft. elevation, the snow was finally gone, and I ditched my snowshoes beside the trail, hoping they would still be there the next day when I came back up.
For this hike, I did something a bit different, wearing trail runners instead of hiking boots. This is the first major hike I have worn trail runners. (actually, it is the first hike, period). The reason I did this is because I knew there would be a number of creek crossings plus hiking in the snow, and I did not want to have to carry water shoes because I am trying to cut down on my backpack weight. Overall, wearing trail runners worked out fine, except for one thing: I kept rolling my ankles. In hiking boots, I am sure this would not have happened at all. I did not hurt my ankle on this trip, but it worries me for the future, because I was out of commission for 6 months a few years ago when I severely twisted my ankle on a hike.
By the time I got to Mumford Bar, it was much later than I wanted. I still had a long way to go to New York Canyon. I did not think I had enough time now, but I would re-evaluate once I got to Beacroft. The trail to Beacroft Falls is now cleared, and easy to follow. There were still a lot of downed trees to climb over. These could have been from the last winter or two, after the trail was cleared by the forest service. HOWEVER … I had a bigger problem …
THE TICKS ….
WERE ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS ….
The section from Mumford Bar (a little before that) to Beacroft was unbearably tick infested. It was the WORST TICK EXPERIENCE I have ever had in my life. I was initially going to say it was the second worst experience (after Canyon Creek), but I changed my mind. It was the worst experience, and the reason I say worst is because once I got home I found out that I had about 4 or 5 small tick bites on my body. I had thought I escaped with no bites. Nopity nope. Nope nope nope. I had to pluck over 100 little buggers off my body on this section to Beacroft, stopping every few minutes to check my legs and body. It seems they were all over the ground, also, which is very unusual. They must have been hanging on very low brushes, because they seemed to get on my shoes as I walked along, and then climb up my legs from there.
By the time I got to Beacroft I was completely done with this hike. There is no way I could continue another 5 miles to New York in this infested terrain (and the trail was much more overgrown after Beacroft, so it would be even worse). I decided to camp at Beacroft instead, but one problem: there is no camping area here at all! Any flat ground I saw was not cleared of brush, and hence was infested with ticks! There is absolutely no way I was camping here amongst so many ticks. That would be very stupid indeed. I needed an open area, and there was none. I thought about going back to Mumford Bar. I did not want to, but it seemed I had no choice. Finally, I found one very small spot by the river. It was quite rocky, but there was one small place I could set up my tent. It was not too great, but there were no ticks there, and it would have to do.
After setting up and eating dinner, I wanted to go down to see Beacroft Falls. I was here in 2003, and I did not get a very good photo of it at that time, so it would be a nice consolation being able to get a good photo of Beacroft Falls. When I was here 16 years ago, it was very easy to get down to the waterfall. Now it is IMPOSSIBLE! Believe me, I tried. I gave it my very best effort. Even though the Forest Service cleared the trail to Beacroft, they did not clear any brush off trail (ie. down to the river or falls). Never mind the ticks, the area along the river around Beacroft Falls is completely overgrown and access to the river is literally impossible. Think of the worst brush you have ever encountered in your life. Multiply that by 1000. The brush at Beacroft is even worse than that. You think I am exaggerating but I assure you I am not. I could not get down to the waterfall. More disappointment. The photo here is taken from just off the trail from quite a distance away. It was the only view I could find. As you can see it is not a big waterfall, only about 15 ft. or so high. It is not a bad view, but would have been much better from close up.
I slept pretty well down by the river in my tiny little spot. I got up fairly early and packed up. I wanted to get back to Mumford Bar before the ticks woke up. Maybe they would be sleeping in. Well, that did not really work out too well. I still got plenty of ticks on me on the way back to Mumford, but I suppose they were not nearly as active as they were the previous afternoon.
I rested at Mumford Bar trying to prepare myself for the big climb ahead of me. I found my snow shoes right where I left them. The last 1100 feet climbing up in the snow was very tough. In particular, the difficult section where I had to cross the seasonal creeks was a lot more sketchy on this day because the snow was a lot softer. I had to be really careful on each step. It could have been disastrous if I slid down the soft snow. The last 3 miles on the road back to the car was also a lot tougher because the snow was so much softer. I was so tired when I got back to the car. It was time to drive home, eat pizza (thanks Tara), and sleep.
