North Fork American River (BLM Wild River)

About North Fork American River (BLM Wild River)

The North Fork of the American River runs 2,000 to 2,400 feet below the rim of its canyon above Colfax, and the Bureau of Land Management counts recreational gold panning among the most popular things people do there, along with whitewater rafting, hiking, swimming and fishing. Congress made the 38.3 miles from just above Heath Springs down to 1,000 feet above the Colfax-Iowa Hill Bridge a Wild River on November 10, 1978; the Tahoe National Forest manages the upper 26 miles, the BLM the lower third, and the state lists the stretch as a Wild Trout Stream.

The hard part is reaching the water. The BLM names two ways in: the lower end of the canyon near the Colfax-Iowa Hill bridge, reached from the Canyon Way exit of Interstate 80 at Colfax, or a strenuous trail down from the rim. One of them starts at the Alta exit, about 30 miles northeast of Auburn, where Casa Loma Road leads to the trailhead near Iron Point and a steep two-mile walk drops to the river at Euchre Bar, with a suspension footbridge a little downstream. The Forest Service rates the trail most difficult and warns that water is often not available along it.

At the river the Euchre Bar Trail runs for more than five miles along the North Fork. Its upstream end follows the Old Dorer Ranch Road past old mining ruins and abandoned Gold Rush equipment, through private property where you need to stay on the trail. Plan a panning trip for summer or fall: the Giant Gap whitewater run is Class V and possible only in spring and early summer. The BLM page sets no equipment rules for this stretch beyond naming panning, so ask the Mother Lode Field Office before you carry more than a pan into the canyon.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System notes that the richest placer deposits on the American River were exhausted long ago, yet amateur and professional panners still visit, and the upper canyons hold more than 1,500 Gold Rush and Native American sites. Downstream, the Stevens Trail, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was a toll path between Colfax and the mining town of Iowa Hill, completed by the miner Truman A. Stevens and in main use from 1870 to 1895. It was all but forgotten until a Sacramento-area Boy Scout rediscovered it in 1969, and its bridge over the river is gone. Above it, at Cape Horn, Chinese railroad workers cut the rail bed into the rock 1,300 feet above the North Fork in 1865 and 1866.

Clubs and places nearby

• Nevada County Gem & Mineral SocietyClub · 14 mi
• South Yuba Recreation Area (BLM, Edwards Crossing)Free public dig · 15 mi
• Auburn State Recreation Area (American River)Free public dig · 22 mi
• South Yuba River State ParkFree public dig · 23 mi
• South Fork American River at Greenwood Creek (BLM)Free public dig · 25 mi
• Dave Moore Nature Area (BLM, South Fork American River)Free public dig · 26 mi

Where to buy gear nearby

• Harrington & Baldwin Mining Equipment & SupplyShop · 15 mi
• Pioneer Mining SuppliesShop · 24 mi
• Action Mining SupplyShop · 25 mi
• The Hidden Gem Rock ShopShop · 30 mi

Access

For Euchre Bar, take the Alta exit off Interstate 80, about 30 miles northeast of Auburn, and go south on Casa Loma Road to the trailhead; the river is a two-mile walk down. For the lower end, take the Canyon Way exit at Colfax to the Colfax-Iowa Hill Road and the bridge over the river.

Technique

Recreational gold panning, as the BLM describes for this river. The BLM page sets no other equipment rules: for anything beyond a pan, ask the BLM Mother Lode Field Office first. Everything you bring has to go down and back up a steep canyon trail.

Sources

• Bureau of Land Management: North Fork American River
• National Wild and Scenic Rivers System: North Fork American River
• Tahoe National Forest: Euchre Bar Trail and Trailhead
• Bureau of Land Management: Stevens Trail Trailhead