South Yuba Recreation Area (BLM, Edwards Crossing)

About South Yuba Recreation Area (BLM, Edwards Crossing)

About 10 miles northeast of Nevada City, the canyon of the South Yuba River is shared by three managers: the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and California State Parks. On this stretch of the South Yuba Wild and Scenic River the BLM allows gold panning by hands and pans only, and it spells out what that means: no sluice boxes and no tools.

The Eureka pin sits at Edwards Crossing, where North Bloomfield Road crosses the river on a one-lane, three-hinged metal arch bridge with a 4-ton limit. A footbridge stood here in 1855, Nevada County bought the crossing in 1889, and before any bridge a ferry worked the river near Illinois Bar. From a quarter mile downstream to half a mile upstream of the bridge the river is a high-use, day-use-only area: you can leave a car overnight, but you cannot camp. On the north side of the bridge, the half-mile Spring Creek Trail leads to a waterfall that pours into the South Yuba.

The 15-mile South Yuba National Trail follows the canyon in and out of Forest Service land, from near the town of Washington down to North Bloomfield Road, open to hikers, riders, runners and mountain bikers but closed to motor vehicles. Several of its crossings began as toll points. Purdon Crossing was called Middle Crossing until a toll bridge replaced the ferry in 1854, and a half-through truss bridge from 1895 still carries traffic; Illinois Crossing, once Illinois Bar, had its own toll bridge in 1855. Purdon and Edwards are 4.5 miles apart on the trail.

Upstream, Humbug Creek comes down from the old Malakoff Diggins hydraulic mine and meets the river at the BLM's Humbug Creek Picnic Site, 4.5 miles east of the campground. A 2015 watershed study by the Sierra Fund found Humbug Creek listed as impaired for sediment, mercury, copper and zinc, and heavy rain carries mercury left from old gold recovery down into the South Yuba. Wash your hands after a day of panning.

The BLM's South Yuba Campground, with 16 sites, is about a mile from the river and roughly a mile and a half of dirt road past the Edwards Crossing bridge. It closed for the season on October 15, 2026, and the BLM plans to take reservations on Recreation.gov from summer 2027. The trail crosses private land in places, and during the spring runoff some of the swimming holes along it are not safe.

Clubs and places nearby

• Nevada County Gem & Mineral SocietyClub · 10 mi
• South Yuba River State ParkFree public dig · 12 mi
• North Fork American River (BLM Wild River)Free public dig · 15 mi
• Union Flat Campground (North Yuba River)Free public dig · 21 mi
• Auburn State Recreation Area (American River)Free public dig · 29 mi
• Plumas-Eureka State Park (Jamison Creek)Free public dig · 33 mi

Where to buy gear nearby

• Harrington & Baldwin Mining Equipment & SupplyShop · 8 mi
• Action Mining SupplyShop · 17 mi
• Pioneer Mining SuppliesShop · 30 mi
• Adventures in ProspectingShop · 33 mi

Access

From Nevada City, follow Highway 49 to North Bloomfield Road and drive about 10 miles to the South Yuba recreation lands at Edwards Crossing. The one-lane bridge there has a 4-ton limit; the BLM campground is about 1.5 miles beyond it on a dirt road. Around Edwards Crossing the river is a busy day-use area: no overnight camping, but overnight parking is allowed.

Technique

Hands and gold pan only: the BLM allows no sluice boxes or tools in the South Yuba Wild and Scenic River. Pack it in, pack it out.

Sources

• Bureau of Land Management: South Yuba Recreation Area
• Tahoe National Forest: South Yuba Trail
• California State Parks: South Yuba River State Park brochure (2018)
• The Sierra Fund: Humbug Creek Watershed Assessment (April 2015)