Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts related to different hikes I have taken primarily in California and around Folsom Lake region. Pictures and maps
A 2015 drought depleted Folsom Lake has allowed a rare opportunity to hike from the current Salmon Falls bridge over the South Fork of the American River all the way down to the old bridge which is usually covered by Folsom Lake. What makes this hike so special is that the South Fork of the American is flowing free like a river should.
It’s a relatively easy hike from the Squaw Valley High Camp up to the top of Granite Chief. A short tram ride from the floor of Squaw Valley at 6,240 feet deposits you at High Camp at an elevation of approximately 8,120 feet. From there it is a short two to two and a half […]
Virtually all visible signs of two dams on the Feather River along with thousands of feet of wooden flume and rock wall canal built in the 1890’s are hidden under the waters of the succeeding water project of Thermalito Lake in Oroville. Nonetheless, I was still drawn, like any amateur historian; to retrace the route […]
You don’t have to hike the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail to enjoy the high Sierra beauty it offers. A moderate hike starts right off of highway 88 at the Carson Pass and takes you through a variety of ecosystems. The round trip up to Showers Lake is approximately 10 miles and can […]
The South Yuba Trail beginning at Edwards Crossing outside of Nevada City is a popular hiking and swimming destination. To the west of the Edwards Crossing Bridge, built in 1903, is a short hike to the Spring Creek Water which is nice when the water is flowing. On the south side of the South Yuba […]
The North Fork of The Middle Fork trail is a short little hike right off Mosquito Ridge Road. It is so named because it parallels the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the American River. Because the Placer County Water Agency maintains a dam up-stream this part of the river should have flowing water virtually […]
The motivation for the hike into the burn zone of the 2014 King fire in El Dorado County was to hunt for morel mushrooms. My son, who enjoys mushroom hunting, had read morels flourish after forest fires. While we found no morels, we were able to experience the desolation and destruction by one of El […]
Even in the midst of losing my water, grabbing onto poison oak bushes to maintain my balance, and enduring intermittent leg cramps, stumbling down to see the foundation of the historic Birdsall dam and Knickerbocker waterfalls still wasn’t the worst hike I’d taken. My mistake was thinking that I was smarter and stronger than the […]
Even though I had visited the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area Peninsula Campground on many occasions, I had never really hiked the established trail system at this park site until December of 2014. The trails at the Peninsula Campground are nice and wide and easily accommodate hikers, bikers and horseback riders. Developed either from old […]
From the shoreline of Granite Bay Beach Park at Folsom Lake you can probably see where Mr. Reppert was buried in 1849 in an unmarked grave far away from home and family. The death and burial of this gold rush miner comes to us from a fellow traveler and miner who wrote about his experiences in the […]
