GREEN VALLEY
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 5.41 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,195 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 2,123 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,883 ft
- TrailRank
-
8
3.7
- Min elevation
- 1,898 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 4 hours 40 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1140
- Uploaded
- May 23, 2011
- Recorded
- May 2011
near Towle, California (United States)
Viewed 1001 times, downloaded 9 times
Comments (2)
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Great views, worth the effort, but you do need to be in shape. No facilities or fees at the unsigned parking lot which is the first left after Aquilla Rd. The dirt road is in good repair and you don't need a high clearance vehicle. Trekking poles came in handy due to the grade, loose rocks and leaves. Note when hiking out that the left turn back to parking from Aquilla, and the sign pointing it out, require attention to spot. 0.48 miles from parking there is an unmarked, but obvious, left turn on a very short spur to a rock outcropping with great views. This hike takes the more well known left fork near the bottom instead of the right fork in http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=801827 . The fork is 1.71 miles from parking and was marked only with an old shoe :-) After the fork you go past Joe Steiner's grave which is next to the trail. Next you pass through a patch of berry vines just before the meadow. The berry vines are still passable as of May 2015, but will take their toll on bare lower legs and I wish I'd brought a machete! Would also come in handy if you want to follow any of the old ditches. We did not find any water till we were almost to the river, so bring lots for the climb out. Our attempt to go down river to take the right fork back up was discouraged by the beach disappearing into cliffs and slimy rocks in the river.
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Easy to follow
Scenery
Difficult
I hiked this trail with two others. None of us had done this hike before. I found out about it when I met up with a couple on Stevens Trail in Colfax a few weeks ago. Green Valley Trail is steep and short, similar to Euchre Bar, a little east of this trailhead. Parking is very limited at the trailhead, and is not very obvious. Going on a Monday, we had the trail to ourselves. The tread is fairly eroded at various points, given the steepness of the trail. The views are about average for this stretch of the American River. Once we reached the bottom of the trail, we semi-bushwhacked our way east to a nice waterfall overlook, then found a use trial down to river's edge. We all liked that part of it the best. Would I do it again? Maybe. It's a really good conditioning hike, and there is some good shade on the trail, but there is some poison oak just leafing out, so I don't know how passable it will be a month or two from now.