Bring the Kids: Find a Historic Mining Bridge!

Middle Fork American River in Tahoe National Forest

Fishing, Hiking, Camping

Mosquito Ridge River Access Trail  

 Find a rare gem, a miners' suspension bridge flooded out

and hidden across the river!

 

Mosquito Ridge River Access is a 3 mile round trip hike on a recently maintained trail climbing over the ridge and traversing down into the canyon to the Middle Fork American River. An old mining suspension bridge is downriver hanging in the trees! Several fishing campsites line the river.

 

The campsites are scattered along the river bank, each with a fire ring and flat space for tents.  Another treat is a short distance upriver there is a very tall waterfall across the canyon.  I bushwhacked uphill beyond the campsites to get a better view of it. 

The river is low this year (2012) and its difficult to get to water through tangles
of blackberry vines. 
Without heavy traffic, user paths have grown over.  Bit of a machete hike there!

Along the recognized trail to the campsites there is a fork to your right
heading down into the canyon 
that also leads down to the river. 
 

 

 

A classically built rock wall that supported the old bridge abutments that no longer have a bridge to support!

To see the bridge remains, walk downriver along the rocks from the abutment 
to this area where the river narrows.  It's also a nice place to catch some sun and picnic.

Where is the old metal bridge then?  Look across the river into the vegetation!



Watch your step when you get to the river because there are still cables like this one anchored into the rocks that can most inconveniently trip you!

Upriver view from below the bridge abutment.

The kids can have fun looking for lizards and salamanders!

Or other wild things!  These prints were near our tents in the morning, but nothing was disturbed.  Good advice to bear canister your foods though.

 

 

Below is a topo map of the trail you can enlarge by clicking on it.  Another fine place to camp, especially in colder weather, is on the ridge.


 In winter or spring the ice remains on vegetation down in the canyon. It is a thick frost that looks more like snow at a distance! You may sleep warmer at the top, and your short hike to the river might be more enjoyable.

Driving Directions:

• Take Foresthill Road at Highway 80 onto
• Auburn Ravine Road.
• Turn right onto Mosquito Ridge Road.
• Follow it into Tahoe National Forest, continuing until you see the sign on the right for Mosquito Ridge Access Trail.  There is a large dirt turn out for parking on the left and the trail heads uphill on the right.

For more possible hikes for you:

Trails by Areas:

Happy Trails!  Thank you for coming by!



Grizzly Flat in El Dorado National Forest

 "MACHETE HIKE" is s term describing these bushwhacking hikes we come across.

Disclaimer: We did not carry a machete, but it would have come in handy!

This area is between Grizzly Flat and Fioni Meadows, (southeast of Placerville).  We turned right on the first forest road after crossing the Cosumnes River, 9N59, and parked beside the road about a quarter of a mile in. Some photos courtesy of Ken.

From there we hiked down to the creek, back up the steep area to the left of the fallen tree photographed below. The ground was extremely soft; our feet sank about a foot into the ground. 

Photo by Ken

Photo by Ken

Photo by Ken: This little guy was camouflaged as a rock on a boulder!  Ken's sharp eyes caught him and out came the camera! 

Photo by Ken

Courtesy of Ken

 We climbed here to the left of the photo.  It was very steep and soft and the wood was quite loose.

That's Ken!

 We were pleasantly surprised at the number of wildflowers blooming, and had fun capturing the minute bugs hidden in them.  Above is a spent dogwood, and below are bleeding hearts.

 A golf ball sized mushroom breaking through the debris and soil.  There was quite a bit of trash and at first I really thought it was a golf ball!

The debris was thick and caught on my gaiters and hiking poles.

 We hiked 7.54 miles, not counting my bushwhacking up to the waterfall, and turned back when we reached the private property boundary of Leoni Meadows.

There was not a trail, so we just crossed the forest and walked on a lot of this kind of tread.  Good hiking boots with support made it easier on our ankles! 

We read that there are mining remnants along the river, so one of our goals to to see some history!  The river area was so overgrown into the water that without taller gaiters, or a machete, or both, staying near the water became impossible.  The banks were too steep to keep climbing up and down from flat tread to the water.  We ended up hiking through the forest and away from the water.

We crossed the Cosumnes River back and forth using the fallen tree bridge.  A mining campsite made a nice resting area for a few minutes at at the end of the day. The weather being finally sunny and in the high 60's in that area made for an excellent outing day, so gather your boots and water and get some fresh air!

Peachy Hiker's Table of Contents

Happy Trails!