Gold Country - California - page 830

A useful and friendly resource for trail and campground information, covering the area
from here to Lake Tahoe. They sell topographical maps.
Getting There & Away
Nevada City is served by the Gold Country Stage ( 530-477-0103;
www.goldcountrystage.com ) , which links it with Grass Valley (adult $1.50, 30 minutes)
hourly from 6:30am to 5:30pm weekdays and 7:30am to 4:30pm Saturdays. Kids and
bikes ride free. Check the website for connections to Auburn and schedule changes.
Amtrak bus connections are in Colfax, 15 miles south.
South Yuba River State Park
Brisk swimming holes are fed by rushing rapids in this 11,000-acre plot along the South
Yuba River, a combination of state and federal lands. This area has a growing network of
trails, including the wheelchair-accessible Independence Trail , which starts from the
south side of the South Yuba River bridge on Hwy 49 and continues for a couple miles
with canyon overlooks. June is the best time, when the rivers are rushing and the wild-
flowers are out.
The longest, single-span, wood-truss covered bridge in the USA, all 251ft of it, crosses
the South Yuba River at Bridgeport (not to be confused with the Eastern Sierra town of the
same name). It's easy to spend a whole day hiking and swimming in this wild area, where
crowds can be left behind with little effort. The Buttermilk Bend Trail skirts the South
Yuba for 1.4 miles, offering river access and bountiful wildflowers around April.
Maps and park information are available from the state park headquarters (
530-432-2546; www.parks.ca.gov ; 17660 Pleasant Valley Rd, Penn Valley; 11am-4pm daily Mar-Nov,
Thu-Sun Dec-Feb) in Bridgeport, or from the Tahoe National Forest Headquarters in Nevada
City. The South Yuba River Park Association ( www.southyubariverstatepark.org ) is an-
other great resource.