| Rucky Chucky Roundabout 50Km Foresthill, CA March 22, 2003 by Linda Hurd |
| Being sandwiched between the Foresthill Divide and Georgetown Divide along the canyon of the middle fork of American River in Northern California during the first weekend of Spring is far from being torturous, but returning toflat Houston was mental torture. The case of "Sierra foothill homesickness" passes after about a week, as it always does. I appreciate the three days of trail running in the foothills of the Sierras during the brief visit. The trip to California was spur of the moment.. Springtime is meant to be enjoyed. THURSDAY (3/20): After arriving at the Sacramento airport on Thursday a little after 12noon, I drove up to Auburn. I was on the trails by 2:15pm and ran from the Auburn Dam Overlook to No Hands Bridge and then back up to Auburn High School via Robie Point on the WS100 course. There is a waterfall that I passed by along the trail that is always dried up by September during the RDL/SNER races. From the highschool , I followed the train tracks back to Auburn Dam Overlook where the rental car was parked. |
| "A Rucky Chucky Weekend and a Mountain Lion Sighting" |
| FRIDAY (3/21): Friday was a rest day. I drove up to the snowline on Foresthill-Auburn road (to see how close I could get to Robinson Flat) and drove some around the remains of an old mining town named Yankee Jim located between Foresthill and Colfax before heading back towards Auburn. I took a short detour down Drivers Flat Road to see the Rucky Chucky River Crossing. |
| Part way down the dirt road I was unsure if the Ford Escort rental car could navigate a steep section with deep ruts. So I parked the car on the side of road, and ran down about 3/4 of a mile to check out the road. On the way back up, a station wagon passed me going down the road. I figured if that car could make it down the road, so could the Escort. |
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| So I returned to the car and carefully drove the car down the remaining distance to the Ruck-A-Chuck River Crossing, which was plentiful with WS trail signs. There it was, Rucky Chucky... the turnaround point for the 50km on Saturday and the river crossing in WS. The waters of the Middle Fork were refreshing to the touch . The driver of that station wagon was standing on the granite rocks along the river when I arrived. It turned out he was also signed up for the 50k on Saturday, and he was also registered for his first WS100 in June. The runner, Alan Deubner, had come from near Anchorage Alaska but also called the Seattle-area home . We had a pleasant discussion for about 30 minutes regarding our WS training plans. I told him that Sunday I was planning to run a section of the WS100 course on the other side of the river, and he said he would like to go on the run too. So we set a tentative meeting time at the Firestation in Cool for Sunday morning. Then I drove back to the Sacramento-area to visit one of my friends from Intel days who was in the process of moving into a new house. |
| Photo 1: Ruck-A-Chucky Sign at entrance to Auburn State Recreation Area on Drivers Flat Rd. |
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| Photo 4: A view of Rucky Chucky about midway down Drivers Flat Road. |
| Photo 2 : Golden Poppies |
| Photo 3 : Lupine |
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