North Yuba River Hiking Trails (and biking!)
There are some great North Yuba River Hiking trails close to our meeting location and camp. So its a great place to spend some extra time before or after your rafting trip. However, some of the higher elevation trails might still have snow when the best rafting is happening. The closest is the North Yuba Trail which is accessed just north of our camp and crosses the river from Rocky Rest camp and continues the entire way upstream into Downieville.
Indian Valley & Downieville Areas, Highway 49
- Tahoe National Forest Highway 49 Recreation.
- Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship – 208 Main St., Downieville, CA 95936. (530)-289-3010. Shuttles to the Downieville Downhill. Downieville bike shop and purveyors of fine sierra singletrack! Excellent resource for current trails info – not just for bikers, but hikers as well!
Sorry but have not converted the tables of trails below to be mobile friendly, but including them anyway. Hopefully we will work on that at some time!
North Yuba River Hiking Trails (& Mountain Biking): Indian Valley Area, Highway 49
| Trail name | Length | Degree of difficulty | Trailhead location | Season of use | Amount of use | Notes |
| Canyon Creek | 3.5 | Easy | Highway 49, 10 miles west of Downieville at the North Yuba River Bridge | Year round, wet in winter season | Light | 2 miles west of TWT Yuba camp
|
| North Yuba | 7.5 | Moderate | Highway 49, 7 ½ miles west of Downieville, Rocky Rest Campground | Year round, wet in winter season | Moderate | Trail head from Rocky Rest camp next to TWT camp, across footbridge over river |
| Fiddle Creek Ridge | 4.0 | Moderate to difficult | Highway 49, 8 ½ miles west of Downieville, Right on Cal-Ida Road for 1/4mile | April to Nov. | Light | Just west of TWT Yuba Camp
|
| Halls Ranch | 5.5 | Difficult | Highway 49 5 miles west of Downieville, Indian Rock Day Use Area | April to Nov. | Light | 3 miles east of TWT Yuba camp |
| Brandy City Pond | 1 | Easy | Highway 49 8 ½ miles west of Downieville, Cal-Ida Road for app. 7 miles | April to Oct. | Light |
|
| Devil’s Postpile | 0.1 | Easy | Highway 49 8 ½ miles west of Downieville, Cal-Ida Road for app. 15 miles | June to Oct. | Light |
North Yuba River Hiking Trails (& Mountain Biking): Downieville Area, Highway 49
| Trail name | Length | Degree of difficulty | Trailhead location | Season of use | Amount of use | Notes |
| 1st Divide | — | Easy | Upper Main Street Downieville by PG&E barn. | Year round, wet in winter season | Moderate | |
| 2nd Divide | 4 | Moderate | Upper Main Street Downieville for 2.7 miles | April to Nov. | Moderate | |
| 3rd Divide | 3 | Moderate | Upper Main Street Downieville for 4.4 miles | April to Nov. | Heavy |
|
| Downie River/ Rattle-snake Creek | 7 | Difficult | Upper Main Street Downieville for 0.5 miles to Gold Bluff Road 04 | May to Nov. | Moderate | 4 X 4 access road. |
| Empire Creek | 2.5 | Difficult | Upper Main Street Downieville for 7 miles | June to Sept. | Light | 4 X 4 access road. |
| Lavez-zola | 5.1 | Moderate | Upper Main Street Downieville for 7 miles | June to Oct. | Light | |
| Chimney Rock
|
4 | Moderate | Saddleback Road 0.2 miles from Downieville for app. 13 miles | June to Oct. | Light |
