Cronan Ranch - Jan. '25 

note - this page includes the NYD '25 walk in West Sac.

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In mid-January, eight walkers had a mid-week visit to Cronan Ranch, where most have been before. The Park is a 90-minute drive from Sac. via Auburn & south on curvy hwy 49 to Pilot Hill. 

The attractive 1,400 acre property has rolling hills with oaks, and views of the South Fork of the American River. At around 1,000 ft. elevation, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range begin.   

We tried a new route, called West Ridge to Satan's Cesspool (on AllTrails).

	south into winter sun		Frank & Dave		the property
		bare Oaks		first view of the south fork
	downhill to Pit Stop Beach, see note				Jean

note - Pit Stop Beach (and two other riverside restrooms in the park) cater to the needs of summer rafters, who put in at Coloma, 6+ miles upstream, sometimes in big numbers, sometimes drinking a lot, and they need a pit stop, and a wide beach for a lunch stop. 

My guess is that Cronan Ranch is funded by the Auburn State Recreation Area.   

	start of the return walk		Linda...		,,,and Kathy
		heading north w/ sun finally behind us		Dave
			(neighbors) Kathy & Jean		great open space walk
		almost back		Dave & Frank

The West Ridge-Satan's Cesspool walk is 11.1 miles (round-trip) with 1,800+ ft. of gain. We walked about 6 miles, turning around after lunch at the pleasant beach. We avoided West Ridge altogether, coming & going, lowering elevation gain.

Instead we had long steady uphill grades on the out & back walk, making this a great workout for flat-landers. 

Frank's group photo:

start of the walk

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NYD Walk

Ten of us met in West Sac to walk the Branch Line to Clarksburg trail (AllTrails) starting from the Nugget parking lot on Jefferson Blvd., heading straight south until reaching the banks of the Sacramento River, and back.

'Twas a cold, overcast morn & good to be out walking. The scenery went from urban subdivision to open space farmland. At the turnaround point, the Greenhaven area was across the River from us.    

During the walk the group exchanged NY greetings with other walkers.   

	heading south				persimmons
		big Oaks
	Sacramento River		heading north

It was an 8 mile round trip walk, and didn't seem to take long. Afterwards Diane and I enjoyed coffee with Surjit and Raj in Nugget.

T he hiking group has been going on New Year's Day hikes for maybe 5 or 6 years, and I'm pretty sure Rich B. started the trend. We realized years ago that NYD is a very low (freeway) traffic volume day = much easier drive.

Getting to West Sac was a minimal drive for all of us, a nice start to the hiking year.     

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