South Yuba River State Park: Swimming Holes & Gold Rush History
Emerald-green waters carve through polished Sierra granite at South Yuba River State Park, where Gold Rush mining flumes and North America’s longest covered bridge frame California’s premier river canyon. Wind down Pleasant Valley Road into the steep, chaparral-covered folds of the Sierra Nevada foothills in Nevada County, and the dry pine heat gives way to a cool, thrumming rush of falling water. Where the road bottoms out, a colossal weathered timber structure spans the river canyon like a cathedral barn thrown across the water. Beneath its shingled eaves, the South Yuba River slides through sun-baked granite boulders into deep, crystalline emerald-green pools that look more like alpine cenotes than a foothill swimming hole. Stretching along twenty miles of rugged canyon, South Yuba River State Park is one of California’s most remarkable outdoor treasures. It is a landscape defined by dramatic geological carving, treacherous hydraulic gold mining flumes, and North America’...