Stevens Trail

This was just my second hike in my newfound career as a hiker, and it proved how little I knew about hiking.

The Stevens Trail (apparently the Bureau of Land Management shares the disdain for the apostrophe that the National Forest Service and National Park Service feel) is just off of the Interstate 80 exit for Colfax, about 49 miles from Sacramento. It took me a little while to find the trail head using the directions from California Hiking.

There are many hikes down to the North Fork American River from both the northern side and the southern side. They all share the traits of involving a big descent on the way out, which means a tough climb on the way back, and of being unsuitable for typical summer temperatures, as you are not at a high enough elevation to avoid the valley heat. This particular hike is one of the easier ones, but it wasn't easy to me at the time.



There were plenty of people on the trail that day, and observing them was interesting to me. I saw some people who had dropped a lot of money at REI, and were wearing everything you could possibly hope to for hiking and using expensive poles. Another woman jogged the whole trail and did not have water with her, which is still amazing to me.

The trail splits at one point. Bicyclists are supposed to go one way, and hikers another. I took the hikers' way. That led me to crossing a seasonal creek above a waterfall, and I was uncomfortable with the crossing. A slip would have pretty much been the end of me. There was no mention of danger in the description of the hike I had read.

Much of the trail had me a little uneasy because it was such a steep drop off to the side of it. I can't imagine traveling it on a bicycle.





About midway down, I found some bull thistles, with a bee visiting them (pictured up top).

I got down to the river and ate my lunch next to the river on the sand. Then the fun started.



For water I had two canteens I had bought from an Army Navy Surplus store. I had frozen one overnight, so it would be cold throughout the hike. But it hadn't thawed much by the time I started my return trip. I was already out of water as I headed back up the trail, with just a chunk of ice rattling around inside my canteen.

I had no experience in pacing myself. At the gym, I went on the treadmill at a fast pace, and adjusted the incline to whatever I could handle at that pace. But there's no adjusting the grade on a hike. I went fast until I ran out of breath and had to stop and rest. And I kept doing that. I would put my canteen on my neck to cool me off and melt some of that ice, and then drink whatever few drops I could get out of it.

When I came to the split in the trail, I took the route for bikers. That led me to an easier creek crossing, and also took me pass an old truck rusting by the side of the trail. I have no idea how it got there.



I was stopping to catch my breath more and more frequently as I got towards the end of the hike. When I got back to my car, I reached into my pocket for my car keys. I didn't find them. I panicked. I thought they might have fallen out while I was sitting next to the river. But I found them in another pocket--I have no idea why I put them there.

Once I was able to open the car, I grabbed a bottle of water that I kept on hand in case of emergency, and drank the whole thing, even though it was hot. I made good time. My book said the hike would take 5 hours, and it only took me 3 hours and 20 minutes. But I was totally spent.

I've since done much more difficult hikes down to the North Fork American River and found them easier, like the Mumford Bar Trail, which has 2700 feet of elevation change, compared to just 1200 for Steven Trail. Pacing myself makes all the difference.

Hike Summary

Date: 7 May 2006
Trail head: Stevens Trail
Approximate distance: 9 miles
Links: official information

Spenceville Wildlife Area

Shingle/Dry Creek/Fairy Falls

April 29, 2006 was the day I became a hiker. I had done a few hikes spread over many years before, and even owned an expensive pair of hiking boots. But as of that day I started hiking regularly and have built up enough strength and endurance to hike to amazing places most people in the area will never see.

I initially had two motives for taking up hiking. I wanted to take more photos, and I wanted to get into better shape. But I needed to start out with an easy hike, and one that was suitable for April, which led me to choose the Shingle Falls hike out of California Hiking.

It was an adventure to me just to get to the place on obscure roads and dirt roads. At the trail head there was an old concrete bridge that didn't connect anything, a remnant of some past farming or ranching operation. The first part of the hike is just an old road no longer used by vehicles that crosses another concrete bridge.




The Trail

I hiked up the road to the turnoff for the trail to the falls. I encountered a surprising number of people on the way, some of whom asked if I was headed towards Fairy Falls. My book said they were officially named Shingle Falls but were commonly known as Dry Creek Falls (because it's dry later in the year).





Near the turnoff, a father and his two sons with BB guns told me about a dead cow up ahead and a bobcat they had seen near it.



I saw the dead cow, and the vultures circling over it, but never saw a bobcat. Later I was surprised to see a tree that had blown completely over and had its roots in the air. I see a dozen such trees on any given hike in the high Sierra now, but at the time it was something new, and I took a picture.

There was a small waterfall before the main one. And somewhere along the creekside I found rusted old equipment.





Finally, I reached the large waterfall, old What's-Its-Name Falls. There was a cliff here by the lower portion of the creek, and it was fenced off. I wandered up and down it a bit.

I had seen a narrow foot path head off the main trail, which I took on the way back, figuring it was a short cut. I'm not sure if it is shorter, but it didn't go up and down so much, and got me back.


On the Shortcut

I had been spending enough time in the gym on the elliptical trainer and treadmill that the distance and the climbing were no problem for me. But I hadn't been doing anything at the gym that resembled hiking downhill. The fronts of my legs below the knee is where I was sore the next day. Apparently those are the muscles that keep you from plunging downhill at full speed.

I had plenty of time afterwards, so I resumed my more usual hobbies, eating at Shakey's Pizza in Oroville, and photographing buildings and neon signs.







Hike Summary

Date: 29 April 2006
Approximate distance: 5 miles
Links: Map