Above The American River

My first trip into California gold country took me to the dead end of Sagebrush Road high above the South Fork of the American River, the sight where in 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California and changed the West and America forever. I wanted to explore this rugged truly Western landscape and how dense the immediate surroundings can be along side great expanse of vistas, the difficulty of this terrain and how the river is unseen from this vantage point. Arduous country yet magnificent. 


"The South Fork of the American River changed world history in 1848 when California’s first gold was discovered in its stream bed at Sutter’s Mill. This discovery triggered the California Gold Rush of 1849, sometimes referred to as the largest human migration for a single purpose since the Crusades." 
(Source: http://www.theamericanriver.com/rivers/south-fork-american-river/)

"Most of the watershed consists of high, forested mountains and steep-sided valleys that receive up to 40 in (1,000 mm) of annual precipitation, except for the westernmost section which consists of drier foothill country."
(Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Fork_American_River)