Hidden Falls

We arrived home from our UK trip on October 4^th, 2017 and only had 11 days in Sacramento before we would be back on the road. Not a lot of time to do much, other than squeeze in final visits with family, get ourselves organized, and of course, get in a hike! We decided to visit Hidden Falls Regional Park in Auburn, about 35 miles northeast of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Although not the most impressive time of year for waterfalls, we decided to check it out anyway, reserving the right to come back in the spring sometime when the falls are at peak flow. Hidden Falls has around 30 miles of nature trials for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, as well as picnic areas and swimming spots. There are observation decks for viewing the waterfalls and taking in sweeping views of the Sacramento Valley and the Sutter Buttes.

October in this part of California is the driest it will be all year, with natural landscapes leaning towards earthen tones of yellow and brown, and most all plant life looking thirsty and brittle. But somehow, when I am in this setting, it feels like home to me. I lived in this part of California for over 50 years, and there is something very familiar and comforting about this environment, a sense of home. We enjoyed our hike here, and found beauty in the unadorned rolling hills, with the spattering of green and the cool blue water all the more enjoyable for its scarcity.