North Fork Salmon River, California
I was attending a conference in San Diego and decided to head up to the Salmon River for a weekend of prospecting and hanging out with a good friend. The drive up seemed to take forever, but I finally drove the 780 miles north. It had been raining all that previous week, and we were warned of possible snow and freezing temps. On Friday, we finally caught a break in the weather, or at least enough to give us the 2 hours we needed to make it over the pass. We set up camp and immediately started a fire. The clouds broke for about an hour, but we knew it was going to be a long, cold, wet night at 3,000 ft...
 |
We did get rain that night, about 3" of it. My buddy laid in a 2" deep freezing puddle all night, but I was lucky and only got about a 1/4" of water in my tent. Lucky me! It's always tough to start the day cold and wet. The clouds were high and the rain had diminished, so we hung the wet tents up in the trees, had some hot coffee, and decided to head up into the hills to explore some public roads and trails. We camped right next to the river, and she was really moving after days of rain.
 |
We loaded up the Rhino, aka "The Mini", and took off up into the mountains. The weather remained cloudy and cold all day Saturday, and once we got up to 4,000 feet, the snow on the ground started to become a factor. The Mini had no problems with the snow on the trails, but the covering on the ground managed to keep us from getting off the machine and exploring. We snaked through the trails, wandering up another thousand feet. Now close to 5,000 feet, we took some time to soak in the marvelous sights of the mountains and rivers. What a view, the pictures don't even come close to the beauty of this region.
 |
We lucked out Saturday night with no rain, but the temps dropped into the 20's. Sunday morning broke with a crystal clear deep blue sky, and we knew we had finally cleared the wet weather pattern. Once again, we loaded the Mini and hit the hills to explore some of his mining claims. We put 8 miles on the Mini that day, winding up and down through the trails and dirt roads. The sun was bearing full light on the scenery, and again we were engrossed in the sights and sounds of this remote area. The tops of the mountains were still snow-covered, so this prohibited us from exploring as much as we wanted. Basically bound to the Mini, we decided to explore a couple of the (dozens) of unmarked trails and unimproved roads throughout the area. The trail network is incredible, most trails being well over a hundred years old from past mining days. The Mini easily navigated around fallen trees and stumps, but in some cases, the trails just disappeared into the forest.
 |
We finished up the trip back down in the river valley. She was still moving with a fury, but had definitely lost some volume over the past 24-hours. Even with double the normal flow, she still ran perfectly clear. All said, we had a great visit. The weather kept us from exploring the properties, but we managed to stay warm and fairly dry exploring the mountains, valleys, and streams. Fall is a beautiful time of year in all parts of this great country, but having now experienced the season in Northern California, I can say the beauty and serenity of this region is far beyond unique.
 |
