Gold Country - California - page 831

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
SWIMMING HOLE 101
Gold Country's rivers carved out precious metals as well as emerald pools perfect for
late-summer dips. Check out http://swimmingholes.org for spots.
On the South Yuba, 8 miles northeast of Nevada City on Bloomfield Rd, under the Ed-
wards Crossing bridge is a lively, popular pool. Just a mile hike downstream is the scenic
cascade of waterfalls known as Mountain Dog , perfect for a more secluded skinny dip.
For an even more remote spot, head to the Stanislaus River, to Parrots Ferry Rd 7 miles
south of Murphys, and then turn north on Camp Nine Rd. Near the end, where the river
splits, a half mile hike up the right fork will lead you to Camp Nine , a peaceful, limestone-
bordered pool and beach.
Some keys to swimming hole usage: always test rope swings and currents before jump-
ing in. Never dive. Pack in your supplies and pack out your trash. No glass. And always
stay at least 100yd from the water when nature calls.
Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park
An otherworldly testament to the mechanical determination of the gold hunt, Malakoff
Diggins ( 530-265-2740; 23579 North Bloomfield Rd; per car $8; sunrise-sunset ) is a place
to get lost on fern-lined trails and take in the raw beauty of a recovering landscape. The
gold and crimson stratified cliffs and small mountains of tailings are curiously beautiful,
and all part of the legacy of hydraulic mining.
In 1852, a French miner named Anthony Chabot channeled the Yuba through a canvas
hose to blast away at the bedrock. To reach the veins of gold inside, miners eventually
carved a canyon 600ft deep. To speed up the sorting process, they mixed the slurry of
gravel with quicksilver (mercury) to recover the gold, and then washed all the leftovers in-
to the Yuba River. When a few decades later, 20ft high glaciers of tailings and toxic waste
choked the rivers and caused deadly flooding, farmers and miners collided in the
courtroom. In 1884, the Sawyer Decision set a critical precedent: a profitable industry can
be stopped for the public good. No longer able to reap profits by dumping in the Yuba,
most fortune hunters moved on. North Bloomfield , the mining community at the center of
Malakoff's operation, still stands as an eerie ghost town within the park's limits.