Spontaneously we jumped in our Jeep this morning and headed out on an excursion mentioned in the book High Sierra Trails by Roger Mtichell: Kanaka Canyon Road. We turned right on Tyler Foote Crossing Rd off of Hwy 49 about 10+ miles north of Nevada City.
On the decent to the Middle Fort of the Yuba River there is an amazing engineering feat! In 1913, the roadbed was constructed with steel "I" beams and heavy metal bars driven into the side of the cliff to anchor mortarless stone retaining walls which in turn still supports the roadbed. This is a stunning, heavily forested one-lane road that can be driven even by Rich's F-150. It's slow going due to being cautious around corners. It is as stable today as when it was built. Very amazing and breathtaking. It's not for the faint of heart due to being perched on the cliff side on the upper portion about 2K feet above the river.
Once at the bridge, there is access to the river for a picnic lunch, swimming, etc. There was just one person at this spectacular site! A great place to stop.
Ascending on the opposite side, the road offers vast views of the canyons below and mountain ranges for miles, as far as you can see and is less stressful. We tooled into the town of Alleghany and left almost as quickly as we got there... 🙂 Interesting history long past however...
Returning we took a paved road, CR180 to Hwy 49, easy way out.
It was a nice day, an unexpected pleasure and is worthy of a club run. If we can't organize one and you have a free weekend day, it is time well spent off-road.
