Right In My Backyard!

Friday was another triple digit day in Sac Town.  Thankfully, best friend WizTech, affectionately, known to my kids as "Uncle Mike," decided to accompany me on another scouting trip up the mountain, where the high temperatures were in the eighties.  We wanted to explore Sardine Lake Lower.  According to Google Maps, we should take Interstate 80; but, WizTech decided to take State Hwy 49 instead.  Boy, am I glad he did!

We have never traversed this road before.  The road is rather winding, but the view is fantastic!  We left Sac Town around 6:15 AM and got to the first rest stop at 8 AM.  We decided to stop by this mom & pop store called the Indian Valley Outpost Resort.  The owners Dave & Karla are extremely nice and pleasant.  I promised to post their business card in my blog.  So here it is.

Definitely would visit again the next time I am around.

You can reserve a teepee like this for camping

Nice mom & pop store.

After coffee break, we proceeded onward.  Half an hour later (8:30 AM), we came by a day-use area next to the Yuba River with no one in sight.  We were very tempted to wet our lines, but we did not want to take too long in reaching our destination!

Convict Flat day use area.

8:45 AM - We came by a small town that if you blink you may have passed it :-)  It's best to view the video of the town here:

9:10 AM - We made a U-Turn to check out an awesome water/spring fall by the road.  Here is a picture and a video to show the spot.

Finally, by 9:30 AM, we arrived at Sardine Lake Lower.  What a beautiful lake.  It reminded me of Little Virginia Lake.  It is a small lake that is full of trout.  Although we arrived late, we got into action right away.  WizTech hooked the first fish within seconds of tossing his line out!  Unfortunately, we were spoiled.  These small planters did not excite us.  We tried to release everyone of them, but had to keep some because they swallowed the hook and were floating belly up when we released them :-(

Views of Sardine Lake Lower:

WizTech with a fish on!

Here's the video:

We left Sardine Lake Lower at 11:30 AM in search of Salmon Lake Lower.  We found the Salmon Creek and started hiking in to Salmon Lake Lower.  After a quarter of a mile hiking with our river sandals, we decided it wasn't very wise.  So we ate our lunch at Salmon Creek and headed back to the car.  We will have to plan a trip to Salmon Lake Lower at a future date.

Salmon Creek - No lake in sight....

We took these last two pictures at a scenic stop before heading back to Sac Town.  We left the mountain behind around 12:30 PM and arrived at WizTech's home at 3:00 PM.

It's incredible how vast and beautiful California is and I am so very grateful and thankful to be able to explore a portion of it.  I am in awe of God's wonderful creation!

Peace out,
-JU