Salt Springs Reservoir

I love spring hiking. The long days, abundant greenery, full streams… But access to Sierra trails are limited in May. Many of the smaller backroads are closed due to snow and will not be open – depending on the year – till June or later. And most access points that are available mean snow hiking or skiing.

Considering this, I decided to venture to a place I hadn’t been to in years but that I knew had good access and was low enough in elevation that there wouldn’t be any snow hiking. Salt Springs Reservoir in the Mokelumne wilderness. Getting there is kind of tricky. The shortest route from hwy 88 is closed right now due to snow and the longer route along Tiger Creek is long (25 miles), windy, not particularly well marked, but open all year. There are PG&E power stations along the road so access is kept open year round but the road conditions are mixed from smooth pavement to dirt/gravel to bad pavement that you wish was dirt. It is probably because of this that here wasn’t many people there.  That said, though, it is a pretty drive, especially this time of year.

Along the trail, plenty of water

The reservoir at the road end is the trailhead to a single trail that leads to the far end of the reservoir and officially stops there. Elevation is fairly low for a Sierra wilderness at around 4000 feet and the trail if fairly level and easy going, about six miles or so. The reservoir was lower than I had expected, but I figured they had been emptying it prior to the spring melt. Reservoirs can be pretty locations… when full, but when the water level is 50 feet lower than high water, not so much. The trail though, as it meanders along the reservoir through oak forest and grassy open areas is very pretty, especially now. Plenty of flowers, green grasses and lots of water… some of it flowing down the trail. During the summer months I’m sure all this is quite dry, brown and hot. Also of note… plenty of poison oak. Pretty easy to spot, as it is mostly leafing up, but you do have to pay attention to where you sit.

Near camp along the Mokelumne

Since this was quick weekend trip of three days, my main plan was to hike past the trail end a ways and find a suitable campsite. Then the next day explore up the North Fork of the Mokelumne and see what that was like. I had been along this trail a couple of times in the past but had not ventured much past the trail end. Initially I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to press on up canyon with a pack on. At this elevation it can get extremely brushy and thick with poison oak and without  a proper trail or at least a well formed informal trail, quite a slog. So when I came to the end of the formal trail I followed an informal trail – sometimes marked by small rock cairns – till I came to a nice site along the river and camped there.

In full Spring flood

The North Fork of the Mokelumne was in full flood and spectacular. I remember on a previous trip actually crossing this river by rock hopping but now that would be impossible. The flow was high, fast, deep and loud. Getting close to the river was like being next to freight train at full tilt. The power was amazing. Near camp was a section of river that cascaded down 40 feet, hit a rock wall and shot up 15 feet in a white frothy mass, finally emptying into a large pool with whole tree trunk swirling around, then splitting into two parts and moving off toward the reservoir.

The weather was nice hiking in but with mixed overcast and a little rain that night. The next day was partly cloudy for most of the day and some light drizzle late afternoon. Seemed like typical Spring weather for this area.

Looking downstream

Hiking up canyon the next day I followed an old/informal trail that was marked, but not well marked. Overall, easier travel than I thought it might be, but you had to pay attention to those small rock cairns because certain sections were brushy or impassable off that trail. Nice canyon hike though. Typical Sierra stuff… exposed granite in spots, lots of mazanita and oak. Hiked three or four miles up canyon and the trail was followable with those rock cairns and the occasional blazed tree (though old blaze). A smattering of old fire rings and camps here and there. But the trail marking seemed to get a little more haphazard the farther along you went.

The last day was a lazy morning and then a hike out following the trail back out to the trailhead. The weather this morning was light drizzle with bouts of hail, but nothing that really required donning rain gear. The only problem was those pretty moss covered rocks which abound here at this elevation, are super slick when wet. So what was easy coming in, required careful foot placement to keep from twisting an ankle or sliding into a patch of poison oak.

When I stopped at the trailhead initially there where several cars in the lot so I expected to see some campers or hikers on the way in, but the trail seemed lightly used and I saw no one. When I came out, mine was the only vehicle, so I’m guessing they were fishermen fishing near the dam.

Overall the trip was quite nice. I don’t make it out enough here in the Spring – I should change that.

Tags: Backpacking, Canyons, Rivers