In Attendance (* indicates driver):
Kathy (Leader)* and Richard C
Anita* and Gil L
Sandy* and Tim H
Joanne* and Mike T
Carol and Jim* B
Martin W* and parents, Jim and Darlene
From Kathy:
We had a beautiful 70-degree day in the foothills today on our search for late spring wildflowers. 6 rigs gathered at Wendy's plus a surprise appearance from Jim and Carol B and their 2001 BMW R1200C motorcycle with California Sidecar.
As we headed out North Hwy 49, we had to pull over 3 times for emergency vehicles to pass – 2 sheriffs and 1 highway patrol. Thankfully we did not encounter the situation they were rushing towards. We crossed the South Fork of the Yuba and turned left at Peterson's Corner to continue down Pleasant Valley Rd. towards French Corral, but decided not to stop because of the parking (or lack of) situation.; We continued on to Rices Crossing Rd. to do a bit of off-roading, no 4-wheel or air-down required! We spent a little time at the end of the road where a local informed us that a bit upstream, the North and Middle forks of the Yuba rivers converge as they enter a finger of Englebright Lake.
Next, we moved on to the South Yuba River State Park. This was around 10:45am. The North parking lot was nearly full. The group split up; a few went to the Visitor Center and others walked the Buttermilk Bend trail out about 1/2 mile. The trail follows the route of the old 1877 Caleb Cooley water ditch, so is mildly sloped and has been made wide enough for wheelchair accessibility. We were very fortunate to have Martin's mom, Darlene, with us as she used to be a docent at the park and conducted the wildflower walks. She told us that there are 3 seasons of wildflower blooming; early, midseason, and late. We are now in the late season but we did see several flowers and shrubs that Darlene told us about. I would recommend that we schedule this run for early to mid-April in the future for the best variety of wildflowers.
The groups gathered just after noon for our picnic lunch. After that, half the group split off to return to Grass Valley on their own. I led the others up Bitney Springs Road to Newtown and back to Hwy 49. The run concluded around 1:30pm.