North Fork Stanislaus River

Hike Review

• The parking lot was right next to the river, so we basically walked down a set of stairs before we were presented with a wide flat rock that we set our picnic blanket on.

• When we sat on the rocks, I realized that these were the same rocks that I had hung out with Mike, Andi, Harmon, and the twins with 10+ years ago.

• There weren’t too many people and everyone generally stuck to their own area.

• There was no trash, which was great.

• The water was freezing cold. I still hung out in the water up to my calves/knees, but I was the only one.

What I Learned

• There were signs everywhere stating that people should be careful and not to swim, as the water flow was too fast and that it was dangerous. Next to us were these two kids who didn’t heed the sign and fell into the water. They had trouble getting back on the rock, so I helped them by pulling them up. I was surprised that their parents didn’t change their clothes immediately as I would have worried about hypothermia.

Friends

• Ben, Joyce, Carson, Helen, Cheng, Max, and Wesley joined us. We had a great time dipping our feet into the ice cold water, eating snacks, and (for Carson) collecting rocks in a box.

What Happened?

 

After lunch, it was just way too hot at our campsite, so instead of hiking the North Grove at Big Trees State Park, we instead went down to the river. Once there, we were able to chill out and cooldown, all while eating some delicious Korean snacks that we brought. After a few hours, we realized how late it was, and headed back to our campsite to cook dinner and start a campfire.

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