Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
We did a local trip last weekend. It's our annual pilgrimage to see the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which comes to the Yuba Theater every year. I caught my first Banff Mtn Film festival in 1986 in Telluride, and was delighted to learn they visit the nearby historical town of Downieville.
It's been three months since our last trip, so we were eager to get out. We left Friday after work, hustling to make the 7pm show. It's only 50 miles, but you cross all three forks of the Yuba River. We saw bush lupine in full glory down in the lower reaches of the canyons, but kept on truckin'.
Downieville is a summer time mountain bike destination, but during the winter the population is about 200. The film festival is a good economic shot in the arm for the locals, I suspect. The theater holds 180 people and the festival is a sell out every year. We saw eight films each night, from four minutes long to forty, featuring kayaking, skiing, biking, and just normal folks getting teary eyed over Yosemite. This year over 360 films competed to a select group of 80 winners, of which a smaller group goes on tour. I recommend catching the show if it's in your area.
The USFS campgrounds are mostly unlocked along the N. Fork of the Yuba, so after the show it was an easy drive to pick out a campsite in the nearly empty campgrounds. Light rain fell during the night, and we were thankful our tenting days were behind us.
The next morning we took a quick trip up to Sierra City, at the foot of the Sierra Buttes. Downieville is small, but Sierra City is even smaller. I love the old buildings there.
The Busch Building 1871, Sierra City
The Buckhorn has a fantastic patio, which will open in a month or so.
We caught breakfast at Coyoteville, and plotted our day. SR wanted to tour old Henness Pass, the original route from Marysville to Reno. Our plan was to go to Goodyears Bar on the N. Yuba and drive up Mountain House Road, the old toll road climbing nearly 2000' from the river canyon to the high ridge. From there we could visit Forest City (former pop. of 5,000') and return west to Camptonville. The historical route was used to supply the gold miners, and was the main route until the 1920's when highway 49 was built.
We met a friendly cat at Goodyears Bar. She came right over and jumped in my truck to visit Callie, then followed us on our walk along Old Toll Bridge Rd.
The rain had really pumped up the moss.
We took a look at the little museum.
More to come . . .
It's been three months since our last trip, so we were eager to get out. We left Friday after work, hustling to make the 7pm show. It's only 50 miles, but you cross all three forks of the Yuba River. We saw bush lupine in full glory down in the lower reaches of the canyons, but kept on truckin'.
Downieville is a summer time mountain bike destination, but during the winter the population is about 200. The film festival is a good economic shot in the arm for the locals, I suspect. The theater holds 180 people and the festival is a sell out every year. We saw eight films each night, from four minutes long to forty, featuring kayaking, skiing, biking, and just normal folks getting teary eyed over Yosemite. This year over 360 films competed to a select group of 80 winners, of which a smaller group goes on tour. I recommend catching the show if it's in your area.
The USFS campgrounds are mostly unlocked along the N. Fork of the Yuba, so after the show it was an easy drive to pick out a campsite in the nearly empty campgrounds. Light rain fell during the night, and we were thankful our tenting days were behind us.
The next morning we took a quick trip up to Sierra City, at the foot of the Sierra Buttes. Downieville is small, but Sierra City is even smaller. I love the old buildings there.
The Busch Building 1871, Sierra City
The Buckhorn has a fantastic patio, which will open in a month or so.
We caught breakfast at Coyoteville, and plotted our day. SR wanted to tour old Henness Pass, the original route from Marysville to Reno. Our plan was to go to Goodyears Bar on the N. Yuba and drive up Mountain House Road, the old toll road climbing nearly 2000' from the river canyon to the high ridge. From there we could visit Forest City (former pop. of 5,000') and return west to Camptonville. The historical route was used to supply the gold miners, and was the main route until the 1920's when highway 49 was built.
We met a friendly cat at Goodyears Bar. She came right over and jumped in my truck to visit Callie, then followed us on our walk along Old Toll Bridge Rd.
The rain had really pumped up the moss.
We took a look at the little museum.
More to come . . .
)
