Historic Mining Trail, Foresthill, Tahoe National Forest

North Fork of Middle Fork American River Trail

 * Click on a photo and all can be viewed in sequence enlarged.

Distance:  Less than 4 miles RT
Difficulty:  Easy to Moderate
Driving Directions:  Take Foresthill Road at Highway 80 and Auburn Ravine Road.  Turn onto Mosquito Ridge Road.  Follow it into Tahoe National Forest, continuing until you cross the curvy bridge (hard to miss!) and park on the left side of the road.

The trail head is posted right after you cross the "curvy bridge". Park on the right and cross the road.  The trail heads uphill and then will meander downwards to the river. 

Near the top you get a view of the canyon. 

The rocks reflect the historical mining nature of the area. 

Current miners have active claims so you will see both newer equipment and old remnants.  Since the claims are current, don't bring your gold pans.

This is one of the historic remnants I mentioned...the old rock walls built to guide the water for mining.

There is a confluence of a stream with the river that is just beautiful!  The wet rocks are colorful, as if kids got to paint them!

There are some mining campsites along the trail with campfire rings.  Another perk is this natural swimming hole!  Very enticing!

Downriver of this trailhead is an antiquated suspension bridge called the Tillotson. 

It is no longer maintained and has no floorboards.  It's about five or six feet wide and was used for miners hauling equiment by pack animals across the river. 

 I will post more about that later!

The trail is an easy to follow "recognized trail" so I am not posting GPS tracks. 

Happy Trails!