Bike - Malakoff Diggins on Christmas

On the Malakoff Diggins Rim Trail.

We decided to go back down to Nevada City for another ride, but this time we went to the Malakoff Diggins State Park for more of a ‘touristy’ excursion.

The Malakoff Diggins is an area of historical interest due to its use of hydraulic mining in the 19th century. Streams were diverted into large tanks above the site, which fed large water guns—called monitors—that were used to blast away the hillsides.

We jumped on the Diggins Rim Trail, which is three miles long, mostly level with a couple of short, steep climbs. Unfortunately, it offers no viewpoints along the way.

On the Blair Tail next to Humbug Creek.

The Rim Trail dumps you out into the Chute Hill campground, which leads to the Blair Trail. The Blair Trail follows Humbug Creek, where gold was first discovered in 1851.

Just like last week, we experienced dramatic temperature fluctuations. Parts of the ride had ice on the puddles and frozen ground all day, and other parts had T-shirt weather.

One of the many monitors used to blast the hills with water.

The North Bloomfield General Store.

The Blair Trail leads into the ‘town’ of North Bloomfield, formerly known as Humbug, population 8 to 12. It’s actually a historical restoration of the old town, and it is deserted this time of year.

It felt odd to be the only people around. At one point an S.U.V. came down the road, but it immediately turned around before actually entering the town, as if fleeing a Twilight Zone episode.

Later in the ride, as I rode up to a monitor along the trail I saw a man combing the area with a metal detector. As soon as he saw me, he scurried away. Weird. Perhaps the little town of Humbug has its share of secrets.

The view of the Malakoff Diggins from the Chute Hill Overlook.

Near the start of the Malakoff Diggins Loop Trail.

A lone spire in the basin.

Nearer my mud to thee...

After touring all one and half blocks of the town, we rode on the Church Trail out to the Diggins. The Diggins Loop Trail is not good for biking: you are either in gravel or sand or sticky mud that gums up your derailleurs. It’s kind of like riding in a big, used diaper.

The trail has posts every 100 feet and ribbons tied to the bushes to keep hikers from getting lost. The area is subject to a lot of erosion, so the trail is often obliterated by silt and mud.

In the Hiller Tunnel...the main drainage tunnel is 200 feet below.

The outflow of the Hiller Tunnel.

There was no natural outlet capable of draining the site, so a 7800’ tunnel was drilled 200 feet deep in 1872 to drain the tailings into the South Yuba River.

There is a short drainage tunnel at surface level called the Hiller Tunnel that you can walk through when the water is low.

We only rode ten miles, stopping often to read the signs and explore the historical sites. Afterwards, we drove down to Roseville to have Christmas dinner with Nancy’s friend Linda and Linda’s family.

Bike - South Yuba Trail

A half-mile into the ride.

We drove down to Nevada City to get out of the snow for a short bike ride. There are a lot of rides around Highway 20 and Nevada City—it’s old mining country, with plenty of flumes, trails and old roads.

It’s also the Sierra foothills, which are like Appalachia, only steeper and drier. The road from Nevada City to the South Yuba campground is crazy, the kind where you can look out the passenger window and see switchbacks straight below you.

The South Yuba River runs through a canyon so steep that there are sections that never see the sun this time of year. It produces some dramatic temperature differences—up to 30 or 40 degrees in a half-mile stretch of trail.

The trail resembles the Tahoe Flume Trail in that much of it runs along a steep drop-off. You can’t let your mind wander or admire the scenery because you’ll wind up several hundred feet down a canyon.

After three miles, you get your first good look at the South Yuba River.

Crossing Humbug Creek.

Just past Humbug, looking for Gollem.

The trail starts about a thousand feet above the river and descends to river level about four miles in (so you’re going downhill upstream and uphill downstream).

At four miles you cross Humbug Creek. Its source is a mile upstream where it exits a 7800’ tunnel dug by miners in the 1870s, an example of how nuts the miners were in those days.

The trail is washed out at this point and we had to walk our bikes for a quarter-mile. The vegetation for most of the ride is typically California semi-arid, but when you get down to the river you suddenly feel like an extra on the set of "Lord of the Rings."

Also, despite the trail paralleling the river, there’s a lot of up and down, especially a lot of up going back.

The trail winds along the river for about twenty miles, with occasional side trails climbing out of the canyon. We only rode five and half miles in and had a nice lunch in the sun. It was so nice to do a ride where we weren’t racing back to get in before dark.

 

LINKS:

MTB Singletrack.com

Topo Map

Humbug Map

The scenery is wet and lush along the river, and a lot drier everywhere else.

Our lunch spot, five and a half miles in.