Return to Cronin/Magnolia ranch

 December 28

Today I find myself back at Cronin Ranch with seven other hikers .

It is a drizzling this morning and the weather app states it is supposed to stop in 15 minutes. I don’t think it will. We head out down the muddy trail, but have smiles on our faces because even in the rain creation is beautiful.

Portions of the trail mimic small streams with large puddles that we have to navigate around

Today we are hiking in the opposite direction that I have hiked these trails before. It is really neat to see the way changing directions shows the trail in a whole different impression. Usually the river is to my back today. It is directly in front of me.

Normally, this is a dry stream bed today it flows over the trail, puddling up in the middle.

We go over and through gorgeous rolling hills. The weather did not clear up. It is still drizzly and overcast, but the scenery is amazing.

We drop back down to the level of the river. This is our turnaround point. On a sunny day we would stop and relax alongside the river for a bit, but with the drizzle, we’ve decided to just turn around and head back. The river still is beautiful, however.

Looking across the river, the hillside has cloud banks nestled in its shallow valleys

Hiking back, we normally take a mid slope trail today we dropped back down to the river to a trail. I have not been on before, but it parallels the water and gives beautiful glimpses through the trees and berry bushes

This bright green shrub is known as the Scottish broom. It is an invasive plant that roots deeply and is very hard to eradicate.

The trail passes by some beautiful moss covered rocks and trees. Their greens very in color and are spectacular

I’m always intrigued by the rocks that just seem to appear from the earth in no particular order and sometimes all alone.

There are beautiful clumps of deer grass growing alongside the river. They are slightly brown due to the cold weather. It will be interesting to see how green they turn in the spring.

The river is backdropped by beautiful hillsides rising from the waters edge on the opposite shore.

Another large arrangement of moss colored rocks shows off more beautiful greens

We continue alongside the river with more awesome views of the water and rapids

After a very gentle uphill climb, we reach the main trail which delivers us back to the parking lot and at the end of a beautiful 7 mile hike. 

Hidden Falls regional Park

 December 18

Today’s hike is in hidden Falls regional Park located in Auburn. Driving here we left a heavy layer of fog and had a bright sunny skies however, as we dropped back down into the parking lot at the park we entered back into high level fog, resulting in an overcast sky. We have six of us hiking today. All the regular members of our group.

The trail starts off down hill. There is a large flock of turkey hens on the trail with us. They headed up the hill as we approached.

We soon reached the bottom of the switchbacks alongside a beautiful creek flowing well with the recent rains.

The moist atmosphere around the creek is producing some beautiful foliage. We have the green Toyon plant with the red berries. It is often known as the Christmas Berry.

Many of the rocks are covered with a vibrant green moss. The rocks are surrounded by ferns and dew covered grasses.

Soon we drop down to the main river flowing through the park. This was an area where gold mining was done years ago.

The trail leads to an overlook of the hidden falls. It is a beautiful viewing platform just above the river and waterfall. The water from these falls flows into the main river we were just alongside.

We double back and headed upstream of the main river to an attractively styled large bridge leading us to the other side of the river. 

Another short side trail takes us to another scenic overlook of the bridge and river as it cascades through the valley.  

After leaving the second overlook, we walked parallel to the river mid slope of the hillside. We have regular and beautiful views of the water below us.

We come to another small footbridge crossing a feeder stream. 

The short distance later we come to another larger vehicle sized bridge two once again cross the river. This was a good place to stop for lunch. 

After crossing this final bridge, we height through more oak foothills. I came across a few large mushrooms next to the trail.

At one point, we were able to look back across the river and see the first waterfall we had come to. due to the distance, it doesn’t photograph very well, but I think it shows up a little better in my video.

Midway through our hike, we had joked about the skies, remaining overcast, and that we would probably get full sun when we returned to the parking lot; and wouldn’t you know, our last quarter mile was indeed in full sun. I began to take a video showing my full shadow, but my phone battery died when I turned it on.

Today’s hike was 8.9 miles with only 682 feet of elevation change.