Basically, we started right in front of our property, walked through Coloma, turned right on Mt Murphy Rd, crossed the Coloma Bridge, then turned right onto Bayne Rd across the River from us. Then we had to hop a fence where the trail head begins to the right of Mt Murphy. At first it looked as if we were gonna climb straight up Mt Murphy, but the trail veered to the right...
The hiking guide says the trail is "flat" - they lie! It's flat compared to the Monroe Ridge, but this trail was NOT flat. It continued to to climb along the side of Mt Murphy as we went along. The sides dropped off to the right pretty abruptly. In fact, all the rain we've had took out a couple of manzanitas along the way AND part of the trail!
We hiked through the trees & under the trees...
We even hiked over some trees!
I'm pretty sure I whined most of the way...but once I know what to expect, I'm a pretty good hiker. After all 4 miles really isn't that far, but the hiking guide & I have very different ideas of what "flat" means!
We could hear the stream below & every once in a while we caught a glimpse of it in the ravine below...
We had to scale down the muddy sides to get to the falls below the trail...
Then we stood on the boulder & Paul could see the upper falls up a little further. I stayed put while he went to explore it. I couldn't even see up ahead but I held my camera up over my head & got this shot of the upper falls (you'll have to look close)...
It was peaceful listening to the water & the afternoon sun was shining up at me from down stream...
On the way back I got a pretty good view of Trouble Maker from the other side of the River on Bayne Rd...
Gunsight (the center rock) was pretty exposed at this water level...
I love this old Coloma Bridge (built in 1915)...
The center of it gives you a great view of one of the calmest sections of the American River...up stream towards our house & Trouble Maker...
And down stream towards Sutter's Mill...
Would I do the hike again? YES! Now that I know what to expect, I'd do it again without even whining!
I need to work on hiking without whining or Paul may stop inviting me to go with him...I really do love to hike...& I absolutely adore him!
1 comment:
Your pictures make the hike look flat but--- We hiked to the lower Falls in Yosemite last year and I thought I would die. Everyone said it was pretty easy. I think the problem you and I have with the hiking guides is---A Failure To Communicate. But I was glad I did it. Looks like a lovely hike and what a nice way to spend your day with your hubby.
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