Merced River Trail 2/27/21
Nearly a year after we first entered COVID shutdown, Grandma H, Laura, Zephyr and I ventured to the Merced River Trail at the end of the Briceburg Road off of HWY 140. Normally, we breeze right past this location on our way to Yosemite and none of us had ever actually hiked this section of the river. It turns out that late February during a very dry year is actually an extremely perfect time to explore this old Yosemite Railroad grade that is half great gravel road and gentle single-track that picks its way around rockfalls that occurred in the past 75yrs since the railroad's demise. The trail goes all the way to the confluence of the N. Fork Merced for a round trip hike of about 5.5 mi, but seeing that there were so many newts to discover in Hall Gulch, we only made it to a recent small rockfall about 1.5 miles from the parking lot. I bet this area has spectacular wildflowers in really wet years!
Merced River Trail
Nearly a year after we first entered COVID shutdown, Grandma H, Laura, Zephyr and I ventured to the Merced River Trail at the end of the Briceburg Road off of HWY 140. Normally, we breeze right past this location on our way to Yosemite and none of us had ever actually hiked this section of the river. It turns out that late February during a very dry year is actually an extremely perfect time to explore this old Yosemite Railroad grade that is half great gravel road and gentle single-track that picks its way around rockfalls that occurred in the past 75yrs since the railroad's demise. The trail goes all the way to the confluence of the N. Fork Merced for a round trip hike of about 5.5 mi, but seeing that there were so many newts to discover in Hall Gulch, we only made it to a recent small rockfall about 1.5 miles from the parking lot. I bet this area has spectacular wildflowers in really wet years!