Auburn State Recreation Area
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Stagecoach Trail Auburn State Recreation Area |
November 12, 2017
Having been virtually sedentary since returning from my fabulous Fall Bucket List Tour to Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada, my body is telling me to get away from the computer terminal, away from the bridge table, and into the great outdoors; so here I am. Although I already have explored most of the trails in the Confluence area, this segment is a new one.
No reference to a trail on the street
The trailhead is around the corner
⇔
A quarter-mile down the trail, I ditch my walking stick.
The walking is pretty easy around here.
Half a mile down is a trail junction; I turn left to increase the scope of the planned loop.
Some extra climbing is perfectly okay
Highway-49 leads down toward Cool
There ought to be more of these at trailside:
There even is some water in the dog dish!
Mellow going
This time I'll head to the right
Lots of water runoff on the unprotected path
Another left turn. I might as well take a gander at the nation's
third-highest bridge
This must be where the mossy rock is.
The only running water on today's route
A bit more climbing to do
Toyon
Cobwebby Thistle
Finally, the views open up a bit.
The No Hands Bridge parking lot is full
Foresthill Bridge
At another junction I meet a stretch of trail that I have seen previously, when I ventured up and over the bridge. Having no interest in doing that again, I turn right toward the confluence.
Those guys run up the hills, then walk down. Go figure.
Another junction! The original plan was to head down to the highway before turning around, but getting closer to the noisy traffic isn't going to improve my experience.
I'll head back from here
On the Clementine Lake Trail
I could have returned this way from the confluence
Even the ten-dollar lot is overflowing
North Fork American River below the No Hands Bridge
This is a bicycle-friendly route
After retrieving my walking stick, the isn't much trail remaining.
End of the line
Across the road is a fenced playground area with some toys lying around. It seems to be part of something called the Stagecoach Ranch.
Nice trucks, but no kids on this pleasant Sunday afternoon
§: Well, I came here for some badly needed exercise, and I got it.
At this time of year, though, that's about the only reason to walk around here;
it's a different story in the springtime, when everything is green and pretty.
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