Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts that include or are focused on Auburn, California, hiking, history, maps.
From my car at the Oregon Bar parking lot, to the point where I estimated the first tunnel was located, is a little over 2.65 miles. However, those 2 miles, along the river, over the river cobble, cliffs, and sand bars is some of the most challenging and strenuous terrain I have hiked over. There are points where bare rock juts into the river and you must literally climb up and over the slate or granite.
Large ugly street side utility boxes are a necessary evil for our automobile-centered communities. They control stop lights, cross walk signals and attract graffiti and posters like ants to sugar. The City of Auburn, CA has moved to embrace the refrigerator size utility boxes by having local artists paint micro murals on them. The results […]
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 […]
If you’ve ever served on any committee you know that the topics of conversation can veer off course to peripheral discussions. At the last San Juan Water District Drought Committee meeting one of the participants threw out for discussion the possibility of San Juan Water District building their own dam for water storage. While the […]
The Knickerbocker creek and waterfalls are pretty spectacular, if, you can get to them. These seasonal waterfalls through Knickerbocker Canyon are fairly inaccessible because of the steep terrain. Located in the Auburn State Recreational Area Park in Cool, Ca, Knickerbocker waterfalls in the rock lined canyon make for a challenging hike/climb to an area few people ever visit.
It feels like a miniaturized Yosemite when you first walk into Auburn Quarry Crags climbing park.
If you want to actually get to the base of the Birdsall Dam site, which was my goal, you have to be more adventurous. You must leave the Pioneer Express Trail and hike around the American River bottoms.
