Bard Creek
Bard Creek was the first trail of the day. We met at Downieville and drove through Empire to a parking area just before the trail and then aired down there. The weather forecast was very good -- another warm and sunny fall day.
We drove by a sign that said not to believe your GPS, it was not a way to I-70, and it was a road only open to off-road traffic. Sure enough, not too much later, we were stopped at an overlook up on a cliff. It looked down over I-70, and we could see Georgetown, the lake, and the interstate snaking through the valley from way up high.
Bard Creek trail was bumpy at times but not difficult to drive. There were some cabins on the way up the trail. Most of the Bard creek trail has private property on both sides of the trail. On the way down Bard Creek, we did not see anyone else on the trail. But the trail is very narrow in a lot of sections and passing oncoming traffic proved to be challenging later on our return trip.
At the end of Bard Creek, we all turned around except for Matt who drove to the top of the hill and drove down the steep side of the hill back onto Bard Creek trail. On the way to the Democrat Mountain trailhead and our next trail, we ran into a full-sized truck that pulled into a camping spot so we could pass the truck. Then we came up to a Jeep making his way down Bard Creek in a tight spot on the trail but were able to pass each other after some negotiations. It was just a tight spot without much room to spare.
As we pulled up to the start of Democrat Mountain, two more Jeeps pulled up. They let us go ahead of them.
Reports from Other Days: 2
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Bard Creek. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
