Thanksgiving '09

This year we rented a cottage in gold country in the northern Sierra. The resort we stayed at was in Downieville on the Yuba River. It's a really cute historic gold mining town: with a population of 325, it's the county seat of Sierra County. We passed on the opportunity to pan for gold in the river right outside our cottage since the water was so cold. But the guy running the resort had all the gear (pans, a sluice box, and even a now-banned dredger) and said that guests collect flakes of gold on a regular basis.


We considered bringing the canoe here to Bullard's Bar Reservoir on the way up, but it's a good thing we didn't. The water was very low which makes for ugly scenery.

But there was fool's gold everywhere!!!

This Steller's Jay visited us each morning. I don't know if he was scared or just showing off, but he kept puffing up his feathers for us. These birds are pests from the crow family and are always scrounging around for food at campsites and picnic areas.

We went for a hike, partly on the Pacific Crest Trail and otherwise just relaxed. We saw lots of bear tracks and mistletoe as we followed along the Yuba River. There was snow on the trail but nothing major.

Views from our hike.

Crossing route 49 on the PCT between Sierra City and Sierraville. Everything's very Sierra-ish here.