Post-christmas walks aplenty in the foothills
It’s the day after Christmas and maybe it’s gray outside, maybe it’s still raining or snowing. But you want some exercise, you want to get some fresh air, and you want to be outside.
Here’s a short list of local walks for grown folks and youngsters where you can expect to see other people, so follow the basics to avoid spreading or catching COVID-19. Stay socially distanced from others and keep a mask handy in case you end up in a crowd, on-trail or off-trail.
Some of these walks require driving and parking in public lots. Remember the same social distancing and mask precautions apply, wherever you may come across other people.
Bomb Trail
This is the steepest, most challenging walk of the five offered here. It’s also likely to be the least crowded. The parking lot nearest the trailhead is on the north side of the new Parrotts Ferry Road bridge, on the Calaveras County side, on the upstream end of New Melones Reservoir.
If it’s pounding rain when you arrive, choose an easier walk.
The trailhead itself up the road on the east side of the pavement, and there’s a fork in the trail right at the start. Take the steeper route to the left. Given the recent rains and the chance it may still be raining as you begin this walk, wear sturdy shoes that can handle mud and water. Consider bringing walking poles to keep your balance.
Expect to get warm walking uphill and be prepared to peel layers or at least unzip your rain jacket or windbreaker. It’s less than a mile to the top. Expect the trail to steepen as you gain altitude. You’ll make your way through some boulders and then come out on a flat plateau with igneous, fire-formed rocks exposed in places.
Take the trail left and you should come to a graffiti-covered torpedo-looking bomb. Locals know about this thing and that’s why some people call this the Bomb Trail. The bomb is actually a sonar device accidentally dropped by a military aircraft in the early 1980s. Inside, there’s a small metal plaque with words including “Trans
ducer, Sonar” and “Manufactured for Navy Department - Bureau of Ships.”
There are multiple trails and tracks on the top of this plateau. Follow any that’s headed east and explore. You’ll be reminded of the top of Table Mountain outside Jamestown. Turn around whenever you want and follow the same route downhill.
There are other trails that take alternate routes back down to Parrotts Ferry Road, but the steep way down is the way I recommend. This is where your sturdy shoes and poles will help you stay on your feet.
If you still have energy, stop in Columbia State Historic Park for snacks and beverages.
Sugar Pine Rail Trail
This path follows an old, gentle railway grade about five miles one-way from Twain Harte to Lyons Dam.
Trailhead parking is at Confidence-south Fork Road and Middle Camp Sugarpine Road. The railroad grade is flat, and it’s popular with bicyclists. This weekend you may find rain or snow.
Historians say the abundance of sugar pine in the South Fork Stanislaus watershed was a magnet that drew post-gold Rush timber and railway investors up into the Central Sierra Nevada in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the late 1890s, sugar pine was viewed as “the most valuable commercial wood” in California, W.H. Mills, chief of the federal Department of Forestry, said in an article before the 1904 World’s Fair at St. Louis, according to a history of the Sugar Pine Railway published in 1997 by Pamela A. Conners for the Stanislaus National Forest.
Back in 1903, investors and promoters at Standard Lumber Company in the new boomtown of Standard began building Sugar Pine Railway. An early rendition of the route ran 14 miles from old Ralph’s Station on Tuolumne Road to where Lyons Dam is today.
The old Sugar Pine Railway was a going concern for more than 60 years. The railroad ties and tracks were pulled back in the 1970s. More than two decades of planning and development resulted in completion of the Sugar Pine Rail Trail in 2011, this newspaper reported in 2013.
The walk out is pretty basic. Once you come to Lyons Dam, you have views of the Tuolumne Main Canal flume section that begins below the dam. Stay off the flumes unless you’ve walked them before.
Return the same way and stop in Twain Harte for hot coffee or soup.
Pinecrest Reservoir
Expect to be above the snow line at Pinecrest and dress accordingly. Also expect to find the reservoir drawn down. Two weeks ago, it was holding about a quarter of its capacity.
From the Pinecrest parking lots, take the 3.9-mile loop trail. Walk it either direction. I prefer counterclockwise.
When the surface level at Pinecrest is low, most of the water pools in the deepest section near the dam on the northwest side of the manmade lake. Low waters expose the reservoir bottom’s mud flats, boulders, and hundreds of submerged stumps, a stark contrast to what the reservoir looks like when it’s full.
Some of the stumps appear to be what’s left of mature trees that could date as far back as 1856, when the first dam was built by the Tuolumne County Water Co. Other stumps could date to 1916, when a new rock-and-concrete dam was put in by the Sierra and San Francisco Power Co. Large-diameter stumps are surrounded by smallerdiameter ones, showing where trees of all ages were cleared to make room for stored water.
Today, the utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric Co. owns and operates Pinecrest Reservoir and Strawberry Dam that impounds it. PG&E uses Pinecrest water to generate electricity at powerhouses downstream from Strawberry Dam, and it stores some Pinecrest water for Tuolumne Utilities District.
Administrators and elected board members at TUD are in negotiations to try to acquire Pinecrest from PG&E.
About a mile into the loop, you can see across a stretch of water to the dam that impounds the reservoir. More fish and birds are drawn to the deeper water. You can see ducks swimming, preening and socializing on the surface, and osprey riding breezes and up-drafts 100 feet and higher above the water.
The closer you get to the far east end of the reservoir, the nearer you come to the inlet and source of the water, the South Fork Stanislaus River that comes out of its rockbound watershed reaching east into the Emigrant Wilderness.
Linger as long as you
want. Expect to come across other walkers on the narrow trail. Finish the loop and stop in Mi-wuk Village for a burger if Andy’s Mountain Grill & Deli is open.
Red Hills
The Red Hills outside Chinese Camp cover about 7,100 acres of public land overseen by the federal Bureau of Land Management. A public parking area is off Red Hills Road before you reach La Grange Road.
Expect to find mud and water on the trails. There are multiple trail options. Whichever path you chose, expect to be walking close to thorny buckbrush. Some days you see a lot of people at Red Hills, but there’s plenty of room for solitude on at least 17 miles of trails.
People at BLM say the Red Hills Management Area is a designated Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
The designation is intended to protect plant species found there, the rocky, erosive soils that provide habitat for the unique flora, habitat for a minnow known as the Red Hills roach, and bald eagle wintering habitat. Biologists say the mix of plant species in the Red Hills is unique because it occurs nowhere else in the world.
Walk a few miles, work up an appetite, and stop at the Chinese Camp Store and Tavern or in Jamestown for refreshments.
Dragoon Gulch
This is a popular option for anyone living in the Sonora area. You can walk from wherever you live to the trailhead, and include a stroll through downtown Sonora after you finish. There’s also public parking at Woods Creek Rotary Park and off Alpine Lane.
Expect to find mud and water on all the trails. Volunteers and trail custodians with the City of Sonora have expanded trail options at Dragoon Gulch in recent years. There’s 10 miles or more of walking available on the expanded trails. You can do a long loop or a steep walk to the top of one of the ridges to access views of downtown Sonora.
Expect to see plenty of people on the Dragoon Gulch trails, regardless of the weather. Some days you may see absolutely no one else. Most weekends you will share the trails with other walkers and bicyclists.
Exit options from Dragoon Gulch include Alpine Lane and Stockton Road. You can walk to downtown Sonora from either. Treat yourself and order to-go from your preferred eatery. You earned it.
Reporter’s note: Before I began working for newspapers in the early 1990s, I spent seven years with Visionquest and Outward Bound as a paid, certified wilderness instructor and emergency medical technician accountable for groups of felony offender teens, courtordered children, and adult Cuban refugees. I am in my late 50s and anyone who walks OK on their own can keep up with me.