Friday, October 12, 2012

Grass Valley, Nevada City

Dakota relaxing on a giant boulder at the Yuba River

As I made my way east the landscape became thick with pine trees along mountain tops.   The feeling of entering into another dimension came upon me.  It is beautiful and magical in these parts.  Both Grass Valley and Nevada City have a great northern exposure buzz to them.  Both small town's sit in the the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.   I spent the night in Grass Valley, then made my way to Nevada City the next day, to get an overall perspective of the area.  Nevada City seemed more my style, so I choose to explore this area first.  There is a way cool coffeehouse in town called The Mekka.  Full of lounge chairs, vintage couches, funky eclectic furnishings, and a way cool vibe.  It was a meeting place for many young travelers.





One of my many offices along the road of life. 
 

Just outside of the main town area are many small shopping plaza's, including a couple organic health stores, and a huge Coop called Brior Patch.  Lots of good energy there, with local musicians playing music in the front cafe area.

So I'm sitting in my van just outside of town after feeling the local vibe a little.  When a person rides by on his bike and stops.  I strike up a conversation with him and he gives me his scoop on the area.  I then ask him about any local water holes near by.  He tells me of this river just through the woods and over the hills.  To the Yuba I Will Go !!!!!!!

I finished up my conversation with the guy on the bike and went on my way.  I was excited to check out this new water hole and see what kind of people I would meet. 
In a short time I was driving down a dirt road along side the river.  It looked awesome.  I saw many cars parked along side a dirt road and lots of people playing in the river.  Now I've been to many rivers in my life, but never like the Yuba. It was spectacular !  The streaming water and the many land features that surrounded it.  Enormous granite boulders where everywhere, in the river, along side the river, and up the canyon walls.  The boulder filled river sets at the bottom of a deep canyon with thick forest covering the canyon walls.  Its breath taking.


FastForward........

So here I sit at a cafe a few miles away from this breath taking place.  I've lived on the Yuba for the 2 weeks now.  Its been like a never ending forest festival living on the river.  It has been a time of reflection. It has been a time to heal and rest from the last 7 years of going non-stop. Its was exactly what I was looking for at the moment.

This is a very special place indeed. A place where all the elements come together and many people gather. It is off the beaten path. To get to this part of the Yuba you must travel down a dirt gravel road for several miles. Steep declines, large rocks, uneven ground, and roads running along steep ridges that drop off a long way down. Its best to have a off road vehicle for this type of travel, but many, including me, chance the drive for the wonderful Yuba experience.

The Yuba has 3 forks that feed into the feather river.  north, mid, and south fork. I spent most of my time on the south fork. It has a nice flow of running water, filled with rainbow trout and many other types of aquatic creatures. There are hundreds of dragon flies zipping around the river from dawn to dusk and all night long you catch a glimpse of bats flapping overhead. I saw many deer jumping about and even goats rock hoping.  The water is crystal clear streaming around and over large granite boulders. The trees are a mixed variety of mostly large oak with an occasional giant redwood towering over a hundred feet tall. The night sky revealed the universe overhead and gave you the feeling as if you were amongst the stars.  The water wasn't the only thing flowing either.   There was a constant flow of new travelers coming and going from the Yuba.  All types of people, but all types, who love being outdoors in nature.

The Yuba River a magical place.


  






In the next couple blog posts I will be writing about the Yuba River and the experience I had while living there.  It is one of those places I will being going back to, many times, throughout the rest of my life.

Peace be with you

JaySun & Dakota the wolf !

     

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