Continued...

The second day of an overnight trip in Eldorado County had me mostly driving through portions of the Eldorado NF that had been burned in the huge 2021 Caldor Fire. Large sections of trees had been killed in their entirety, a scattering of survivors in others, and much less damage in the deeper gulches. I had camped off paved Mormon Emigrant Rd that cuts across the vast burn area, near Old Iron Mtn. In the morning I head off on various forest roads, some paved, some improved gravel or dirt, in order to reach a few minor summits in the western portions of the NF. Later in the morning I moved further west into the county dotted with rural developments.

Lincoln Hill

This minor point is found above and east of the confluence of the North Fork Consumnes River and Big Canyon Creek. Forest Road 9N47 wraps around three sides. Where the road forks off FR62 at Gilberts, it crosses Big Canyon Creek, turns north, and is gated more than two miles from Lincoln Hill. Though locked, forest users have plowed a bypass around the gate which saved me some trouble walking - high-clearance needed for the bypass. I was happy to find that the road was clear of downfall and I could park SE of the summit and hike to the top in less than ten minutes. The dead trees still stand from the fire, with little undergrowth having sprung up in the past three years. The snags around here have been marked with small metal tags whose purpose I could not surmise.

Sunday Ridge

I returned to FR62, then west on paved Capps Crossing Rd into the community of Grizzly Flat. Firefighting efforts saved most of the town from the Caldor Fire, but the surrounding countryside has been devestated. Sunday Ridge lies in the northern part of the community, south of the North Fork Consumnes River. Nearly the entire ridge was burned, then salvage logged, leaving slash-strewn slopes over most of it. A homestead lies just east of the highpoint. I parked off Eagle Hill Rd and followed a logging road north starting at an unmarked, locked gate. When SW of the summit, I turned uphill to go cross-country through the slash, reaching the summit in 15min. The residence just comes into view at the top, so it was a quick tag before starting back down. There are views north, west and south from the summit.

Little Mountain

I spent about 45min driving through Grizzly Flat and then back into the national forest south of town. This area north of the Middle Fork Consumnes River was also badly burned, and there is much salvage logging still ongoing. A rough spur road, FR9N610, drops from the better road along the ridge down to Dogtown Creek. Little Mountain is across Dogtown Creek, sandwiched between it and Middle Fork Consumnes River. There is a fording across Dogtown Creek, but it doesn't look like it has seen traffic in some time and the exit on the far bank looked difficult. So I parked the Jeep and chose to cross the creek on foot, in this case my bare feet. The water was running pretty swiftly and some of the rocks slippery, so it was good to have trekking poles for balance. On the other side, I put socks and boots back on, figuring the hardest part was done with less than a quarter mile to go. Not so, however. The forest road was blocked by downfall that showed no one has driven it since the fire. Among all the standing snags, the underforest has grown back vigorously, up to chest level, making it difficult to see the ground with various branches, logs and rocks hiding underfoot. I waded uphill through this stuff, at least it wasn't stiff and prickly, watching for the poison oak that was less plentiful but more troublesome. I reached the summit after about 20min's effort, finding it among some granite rocks, fallen trees, brush and a lot more poison oak. Views were pretty weak, too, and I wrote this one off as pretty lame.

Mt. Aukum

I spent the next hour driving west and south through the county, now all paved roads well outside the NF. Mt. Aukum is a drive-up and the only one of the day's summits with prominence greater than 300ft. There is a telecom installation owned by American Tower at the summit and the Kehret Vineyards and Winery just below it on the north side. In fact there are dozens and dozens of vineyards and wineries throughout this part of the county and the adjacent Amador County as well. Signs all along the roads point to one group of wineries or another. I imagine it can get pretty busy along here on the weekends.

Coyote Ridge

This one is a near drive-up as well. Omo Ranch Rd goes over a saddle NNE of the highpoint. Gravel Coyote Ridge Rd then takes you along the ridgeline to the SSW. The summit area is large and flat, occupied by a collection of three homesteads. I started up the driveway of the one closest to the LoJ point and thought better of it when the home came into view. You could probably spend half an hour walking around the various yards to cover your bases that you touched the highpoint. I'll leave that to someone else.

It wasn't yet 10:30a when I finished with Coyote Ridge, but it was now getting too warm and I decided to head home before returning in a few days when it was forecasted to be much cooler...

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