Day 4: Downieville to Nevada City

May 14, 2021

In the morning I wandered the town looking for breakfast. None of the restaurants were open. At the coffee shop I got 2 boiled eggs and 2 small oatmeal cups. Not a very robust breakfast for the biggest climbing day of the trip. Today's route has no restaurants and few stores.

Finally on the road at 9:30. Way too late. The first few miles going downstream were hillier than expected. Twice the highway climbs high above the river, then descends close to the river. That pattern is a lot of work but it usually has good views. Everything looks good when the morning sun is on your back.

CA 49 close to the North Fork Yuba river.

CA 49 high above the North Fork Yuba river.

I stopped at a riverside National Forest campground just to see the views. It has a nice trail bridge across the North Fork Yuba river. It was the last campground with pines. Downstream the trees rapidly change to oaks.

Foot bridge across the North Fork Yuba river.

Today's roadside waterfall. Telephoto with the real camera.

Today's ride is all about river canyons. I climb out of 3 river canyons today. An 800 foot climb begins immediately after crossing the North Yuba river. Once again the grade is only 5% which makes the climbing comparatively easy. Traffic was light. Mostly tourist traffic.

CA 49 crossing the North Fork Yuba river. 800 foot climb begins here.

After the summit CA 49 descends more gradually but it's a huge 1600 foot descent to Oregon creek.

I took a long stop at Oregon Creek Recreation Area. It's a popular water recreation site. You cross the covered bridge to get to the recreation area. The sign says the covered bridge was built in 1860 but nearly all of the wood is new. Only the giant diagonal timbers are original.

Oregon Creek covered bridge. Only the big diagonal timbers remain from 1860.

I parked the bike and walked the trail 1/4 mile upstream along Oregon creek to a tiny waterfall that makes a nice remote swimming area. I enjoyed hearing the sound of moving water.

Pedaling out of the recreation area, CA 49 promptly crosses Oregon creek and begins a relentless 700 foot climb to the day's second summit. Once again the grade is only 5%. Easy.

CA 49 crossing Oregon creek. 700 foot climb begins here.

Near the summit is the town of North San Juan. It's an old gold mining town but not very many historic buildings remain.

I started to have traffic in North San Juan. Traffic got gradually heavier as the day progressed, as I got closer to the CA 20 expressway and the Sacramento metro area. It's all recreational traffic. I'm glad I did this segment on Sunday when there are no trucks.

The next river is the South Fork Yuba river. Getting from Oregon creek to the South Yuba is a 700 foot climb and 800 foot descent. Today's ride is a constant roller coaster.

Beginning of the descent to South Fork Yuba river.

I had a good view of the South Fork Yuba river during the descent. From 200 feet above it appeared to be nearly dry.

Hardly any water is visible in South Fork Yuba river when viewed from high above.

Up closer I could see the river. The flow is quite low for May. Nevertheless, the swimming hole was popular on an 85F afternoon. The bridge in the photo is the old highway which is now used as a pedestrian path.

This is a popular swimming hole in the South Fork Yuba river.

The final climb is the biggest. A 1200 foot climb from the South Fork Yuba river to Nevada City. Most of the climb is 5% grade but it's 6% near the top.

The landscape around the river is oak savanna, below 2000 feet elevation. CA 49 climbs into pines once again near Nevada City, which is 2500 feet elevation.

Back in tall pines climbing to Nevada City.

I arrived in Nevada City at 6 PM. It was a long day.

Nevada City is probably the most amazing gold rush town in California. At least it has the most and the fanciest old buildings. It's the only gold rush town that I had seen before the tour. That visit to Nevada City motivated me to someday see all the gold rush towns.

Nevada City's population was 10,000 in 1850. Now the population is 2800. It hasn't shrunk as much as many gold rush towns.

Water cannon on display in a park. Once used for hydraulic mining.

One notable thing has changed since my first visit. Now one block of Commercial street is permanently closed to traffic. I like that.

Commercial Street has a pedestrian block.

Nevada City is a popular tourist attraction but there isn't much lodging in town. All the motels are 5 miles away in Grass Valley, near exits on the CA 20 expressway. The closest lodging I could find was Outside Inn which is 5 blocks from downtown. That's fine. The walk is interesting in itself.

This is definitely the first time I've ever stayed in room 3 1/2. The room is small and basic but not cheap. $257 for a 2-night stay that includes Saturday night.

Home for the next 2 nights is Outside Inn room 3 1/2.

Room 3 1/2 is named the "Outside In" room.

Dinner was at a quiet Chinese restaurant. It's Friday night and all the popular restaurants had waiting lists. I'm too tired for that.

I'm exhausted after the day's extreme climbing and 4 consecutive days of non-trivial climbing. Fortunately this is the only "3 river" day of the tour. Future days will cross only 1 or 2 rivers per day. I'm glad to have the rest day in such an interesting location.

I'm also a bit shell-shocked over the heavy traffic. I didn't expect the traffic to build quite this soon. The afternoon had heavy traffic on a narrow winding 2-lane road with no shoulder. Not every motorist was courteous.

Today was sunny with a high of 85F/29C (about normal) but the weather will be much cooler tomorrow.

Distance: 44 miles (70 km)
Ascent/Descent: +3760/-3966 feet (+1146/-1209 m)
Average Speed: 7.5 mph (12 km/h)

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 194 miles (312 km)

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