Auburn's Hidden Falls - The Practice Hike

Hidden Falls Regional Park in the foothills northwest of Auburn, CA, off Mt. Vernon Road, is one of the area's best hiking spots, but not too many people know about it. I use it as my training ground to get myself back into shape or if I want to get a quick nature fix. I wanted to prepare for a hike that was at least a 500 elevation gain in about a mile and got much more than I had bargained for. There's a network of looping trails, centered around two unmaintained dirt roads, the Pond Turtle Road trail and the Turkey Ridge Road trail. If you want to hike straight to the falls and back, it's easy. You follow the road trail about 500 feet down to the canyon to the Hidden Falls Access trail, and it takes you to a nice wooden lookout platform directly in front of the multi-tiered falls. In late February, the rush of a winter-full of water drops from the top of the hill and over each tiered set of rocks, as if it was skillfully crafted by an artisan. It's just the spot to stop and take a snack and meditate on the kinetic energy of falling water and its multiple pools of foam before finally settling into the calm pool at the bottom. Getting back should have been simple as well, until we decided to take an "alternate route" to mix it up a little. "Let's go back this way," is a good suggestion if you are well aware of where "this way" goes. We thought we were at the Poppy Trail, which is longer and less steep than the Pond Turtle Road Trail but winds up back at the parking lot. We, however, took the Blue Oak Loop trail instead, which started in the right direction, but looped back to where we started by the falls. By the time we figured out our mistake and started the loop back, we lost our daylight. Worried the authorities would lock the gate and trap our car inside of the park, my two companions ran ahead with the dog and left me trudging up the hill at my slow, asthmatic pace. Good thing I always bring a headlamp and know how to look for eyeshine in cougar country. We made it out in time, and I got much more of a workout than I had bargained for. As far as building up my stamina for the hike to come, I'm not sure it did the trick. But a nice gyro from Milo's in Rocklin hit the spot for a few hungry, tired hikers.





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