Cascade Trail Hike

It feels like spring is taking its sweet old time coming to the Sierra. When I woke up early on a Saturday morning and saw the blue skies and sun shining, I grabbed my phone, looked at the forecast, then started searching for hikes. I nudged my husband to wake him up.

"Ummm...do you wanna go on a hike today????"

And so begins another adventure. It took us a bit, however, to find and agree on a hike. Higher elevation routes still have plenty of snow, so we zeroed in on lower elevation areas and found a great 10-mile spring hike along Spanish Creek near Quincy, CA, which is about a two-hour drive. So as it was, we wouldn't be starting the hike until about 12:30 p.m.

We quickly got ourselves ready and packed up and headed towards Truckee, CA, then continued northwest on Hwy 89 towards Graeagle, CA. All of the creeks and rivers along the way were flowing heavy, so all signs were showing that the creek on our hike would also be flowing nicely.

In just under two hours, we reached Quincy and kept our eyes peeled for the turnoff to the trailhead. The parking lot at the trailhead had about 8 or 10 cars in it, one of which had Wisconsin license plates! The outdoor temperature was about 72º F with sunny, blue skies. It was perfect early-season hiking weather.

We hit the trail from the South Park Trailhead.

For the first couple of miles, it was more or less an alpine environment – the dirt trail was covered in pine needles, and the sweet, earthy fragrance of the hot pine trees was wafting through the air. It was bliss.

Then, a definite first for us: We happened upon a cemetery along the hike.

Naturally, we had to explore this a little bit. Most of the headstones we saw were from the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was especially sad to see two adjacent headstones for father who died in WWII and son who died in the Vietnam War. And even more sad was the headstone for a baby with a statue of a lamb lying across the top.

After we made the rounds, we meandered back to the trail and enjoyed the scenery and perfect weather.

Then, another first (we think): Off in the distance, I heard the rumblings of a train approaching. The house I grew up in was near active train tracks and we were close enough that it wasn't uncommon for wall-hung photos and decorative glass collectibles in the dining room hutch inside the house to shake and rattle as the trains rolled through. So, maybe I have a sixth sense for train sounds.

But I don't recall ever seeing a train while on a hike. (Back in the spring of 2021, we did venture to this same general area to the Feather River, seeking out notable historic bridges and railroad trestles. In all, we stopped and checked out 10 different bridges that day. It was a pretty memorable mini-road trip.)

While still in the somewhat alpine environment of the Cascade Trail, we saw some magnificent old growth ponderosas, sugar pines, and cedars.

The first two miles or so of this hike aren't that exciting, save for the cemetery and train sighting, and some big, beautiful trees. But around 2.5 miles in, we could finally hear some rushing water in the distance. And then we came upon seven consecutive switchbacks, all snaking us down closer to the water. As we were descending, I told my husband, "These are gonna be a real humdinger on the way out."

The trail also transitioned to less alpine, as the trees got smaller and there were far fewer pines and more deciduous trees. The trail also got a bit rockier. Some remnants from old mining operations, like this:

And other parts of the trail were more "naturally" rocky, and as we continued to approach the "cascades" section of this hike, the upside of the trail was also made of moss-covered rock formations.

And, I was stoked to find two awesome bridges at the cascades!

To say Spanish Creek was powerfully gushing might be an understatement!

And, in addition, I loved this this lush, green weeping rock!

We stopped to take several photos of the cascades. It was difficult to capture it all in an image.

We continued on the trail with the expectation of turning around at the opposite trailhead, but once we reached 5 miles in, it didn't really seem like we'd be missing out on anything if we'd turned around at that point. So, we sat on a couple of logs and had a quick snack before turning around and heading back to the South Park Trailhead.

Sure, we could have parked at the Cascade Trail trailhead and hiked in a much shorter distance to see the cascades, not to mention escaped the seven switchbacks, but we wanted (or I wanted) to make a decent hike out of it, so we took the "long way" instead and enjoyed all the beauty the trail had to offer, including big trees, an old cemetery, and a train.

And we were also treated to small patches of bright wildflowers along the trail.

In the end, we survived the uphill version of the seven switchbacks and made it back to the parking lot, which was nearly empty – except this time, we saw a truck with Minnesota license plates!

After the hike, we drove back to Blairsden, CA, and stopped for some much-earned dinner at a new little BBQ restaurant in this tiny town.

What a perfect day for a hike!

Cascade Trail hike
Total Distance	9.86 mi
Total Time	3:39:05
Total Ascent	1,063 ft
Max Elevation	3,724 ft