Devil's Falls -An American River Adventure

(with apologies to all: we both forgot our cameras on this adventure and all we have are cell phone pictures)



click on map to enlarge

The American River in Northern California is formed by snow melt and rain in the Sierras. Many tributaries flow into what becomes 3 major forks -the South, Middle, and North forks. These eventually come together behind the Folsom Dam and form Folsom Lake. After Folsom, the American River flows into the Sacramento River (at Sacramento, CA), which then flows on to San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. (for a complete description, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_River )
;-)
Because the river originates high in the Sierras (at over 7,000 feet) and flows to Sacramento (elevation 100 feet) there are many beautiful water falls along the way. Most are obscure in that few are reachable by paved roads. On Wednesday (yesterday), Joss and I ventured to Devil's Falls on the North Fork of the American River. It is about 6 miles from Interstate 8, South-East of Colfax, CA. -about 30 miles from Roseville. The 1st mile of Yankee Jims Road is paved; the remaining portion of the road is not. Not only is it dirt and gravel, it is one lane wide and is essentially carved along a very high and steep cliff. Definitely NOT for the fainthearted. The going is very slow, but the vistas are incredible. Luckily it is not heavily traveled. In most places, if you were to meet a vehicle coming the other way, ONE of you would have to back up to the nearest spot that would be wide enough for two vehicles (that would be the vehicle heading downhill). We were fortunate that we didn't find ourselves in that situation. In fact, we saw just two other vehicles on this road and, at the time, one of us was parked at a rare wide spot.
:-)
About 1/2 miles from Devil's Falls, the road crosses the river on an old rusty bridge that doesn't look terribly safe -about 200 feet above the water (my estimate). We looked at the bridge, then at each other, took a deep breath and slowly crossed. Whew!
;-)
There is a wide spot in the road adjacent to the falls where we were able to park and enjoy our picnic lunch. The falls were pretty -but less than spectacular, as they probably are in late Spring, early Summer. We decided to return to the bridge, park on the other side, and return to the falls on foot. It was a great decision. In addition to the healthy 1.2-mile walk, we were able to enjoy many more vistas than when in the car.
:-)
The map, above, shows the key points along the way. The numbers and arrows on the map correspond to the numbered photos. (1) Devil's Falls, (2) Jossy on the sun-splashed, rusty old bridge, (3) A long, straight stretch of the North Fork -looking downstream, several hundred feet above the river.