A day trip to Sierra City and the Wild Plum Loop trail experience
December in the Sierra. As soon as you say it, you assume this article would be about incredible snow and winter recreation. However, over the past 10 years, there have been plenty of years where December has had plenty of dirt hiking opportunities in the Sierra. Today, I found myself in Sierra City over the Yuba Pass, the weekend before Christmas, and hiking along the PCT and Yuba River on a clean dirt and rock path and a warmish 50-degree day. If you are the kind of explorer that hibernates after Hiking season, this is your notice that great hiking can still be found in the Sierra Nevada in 23′.
Hiking the Wild Plum Loop in Sierra City
Distance: 4.4 Miles ~ Elevation Change: +925 feet
Just East of Sierra City is the entrance to Wild Plum Campground. A paved road that travels back across the Yuba River and a bit further up Haypress Creek. The Wild Plum loop is a connector trail that leaves the Campground on the east edge and travels up to the PCT, which then can be traveled north towards the Yuba River and Loves Falls Bridge and then you can backtrack back up the ridge to Chipps Mine Loop road down to the road West of the Campground to make the loop or continue along the PCT again to the Wild Plum loop connector and back to the Campground.
What to Expect:
This trail is almost 100%under tree cover most of the route, and the trail is considered a single-track route with some flow but is technical with lots of rock and terrain elements to overcome if riding for mountain bikers.
Our Experience on the Wild Plum Loop in 2023′
So, it is December 2023, and the snow has yet to be impressive in the Sierra. Given the opportunity to travel to Sierra City today from our offices in the Carson Valley, the two-hour drive North / Northwest out of Truckee and over the Yuba Pass (Highway 49) was stunning and wet as this week in the Sierra brought plenty of moisture.
My Buddy Tom and I had plans to meet up with the owners of Sierra Pines Resort early in the morning, learning about their efforts to provide exceptional base camp vacation experiences in the Sierra Buttes region. Then to catch a trail hike before heading back to Graeagle for another meeting in the afternoon with a new group called Everstoke Camp.
Cindy at Sierra Pines Resort suggested we might like to catch the Wild Plum Loop Trail and hike down to Lovers Falls before heading out.
This looked like a great area and I had done Research on the Haypress Creek area in the past, so we headed out after our meeting to try the trail.
Now, I make plenty of navigational mistakes while hiking, but sometimes I just need more signage, especially in a new area. With a map in hand, we may have made a poor choice right out the gate by walking West back down the road looking for the trail up to the PCT closest to the River instead of taking the Wild loop trail from the Campground up to the PCT. (In my head, it just seemed more logical to do the trial this way, I was probably wrong)
We searched for a trail for a bit, finally deciding that on the map that, an old mine road was probably the trail (no signage). We followed this rocky mine road (Later on +Alltrails, we discovered it is called The Chipps Mine road. Research sometimes helps) up approximately 900 feet; it was a pretty moderate route, with some navigational choices that needed to be made as the road splits several locations. Just keep heading up, as the PCT is your destination if you travel in this direction.
Finally reaching the PCT, we were again a bit bewildered at a four-way intersection with no signage, and our day was starting to slip away ( I wish I had had more time). I decided not to go to the falls as the trail was again back down the same mountain we had just climbed, and I was starting to worry about making it to my next appointment, so we headed North on the PCT to the other side of Wild Plum Loop.
PCT Hiking is always great
I have never hiked this region of the PCT and, as always, found myself enthralled at the trail and the beauty of the hillside that it chooses to cut through between Haypress Creek and the Yuba River. Nine hundred twenty-five feet above the Yuba River, the trail cut through dense forest and granite rock croppings and occasionally opened up with great views of the Sierra City Canyon and Sierra Buttes. The recent rains made the trail slick as it was covered with fall leaves, now on the ground, and a few spots of slight muddy conditions where we were not on granite shall rock surfaces.
Our First sign
According to the map, another single-track trail on the East side of this loop was back down to Haypress Creek and Wild Plum Campground. But based on my choices to date, I was skeptical. So when we came upon our first sign with the actual Wild Plum Loop name on it, I was a little excited.
The trail down was next to another season of creek drainage that was still running and provided an excellent place for a break. Eventually, we left the PCT and followed the Technical trail down to Haypress Creek via the Wild Plium Loop trail. The trail is full of switchbacks and technical elements for bikers, but it also has some nice flow. It reaches the Campground near the bridge at Haypress Creek and is easily followed back to the Parking area just outside the Campground.
I’ll be back
For me, this trail and area showed great promise for future hikes. I purchased a book called Feather River Adventure Trails, which has plenty of trail options (101 to be exact) in the region. I was pressed for time today, so this was more of an explorer exercise route, but When I come back again, I would reverse the route and climb up out of the Campground to the PCT, then head North to Lovers Falls before looping back down the Chipp Mine Road for the trip. This trail would be a great late spring route, as runoff in the creeks and green leaves on the trees would make it delightful.
