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In more detail ...
Open House
and Reception
An invitational reception
will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 7 in the Visitor Center. Reservations are
required because of limited space, but all are welcome to call 432-2546 to
check availability. You will meet the ranger staff and volunteers from each
park activity, and learn about the programs offered at the park, including:
Wildflower Walks, Living History, Gold Panning, Bird Walks, Covered Bridge and
Historic Barn Tours, Visitor Center Operations, Park Trails Preservation, and
Park Greeters. You can also join a special tour of the Historic Barn and
its wagon collection.
Volunteer
Cross Training
New volunteers for the
California State Parks Gold Sector, which includes Empire Mine, South Yuba
River, and Malakoff Diggin's Parks, now receive cross training for all three
parks. Classes will be held at Empire Mine from 8:45 a.m. to noon on
Wednesday March 17, Thursday March 18, and Friday March 19. Call the
Gold Sector Office at 530-273-3884 or South Yuba River SP at 530-432-2546 to make reservations.
SYRSP-Specific
Volunteer Training
Classes for activities
specific to the South Yuba River State Park will be given in the Visitor
Center on three consecutive Saturdays:
March 20, March 27, and April
3,
from 9 a.m. to noon. These classes are very informative and given by
invited experts in each area of docent activity: Bridgeport history, birds
and animals, gold rush history, trails, river ecology, wildflowers,
interpretive techniques, and more. Each participant receives a notebook
filled with unique information about the park which docents will interpret for
visitors.
Wildflower
Walks at Bridgeport
Wildflower Walks will be held
on Saturdays and Sundays from March 6 through May 16 at the South
Yuba
River
State Park, Bridgeport. Meet at
11:00 a.m.
in the north parking lot near the Buttermilk Bend trailhead. The
guided walks last about 1 ½ hours and are free to the public.
Wear good walking shoes and carry water.
Dogs cannot be accommodated on the walks.
A profusion of flowers vary throughout the season on this gentle trail.
We recommend that you look at the grouping of wildflowers
by dates of first bloom (early, mid-season, and late) so you don't
miss seeing your favorites.
Click here for pictures and descriptions
of wildflowers in the park. Click here
to see a video slide show of these wildflowers.
Group tours may be arranged
during the week for a small fee. For
more information contact the Ranger Station at (530) 432-2546.
Spring and Fall Bird Walks at Bridgeport
Bill Cortright, bird walks coordinator at the park, will lead
several bird walks on the following dates in 2010:
Sunday, Jan. 24
at 8:00 a.m.
Saturday, Feb 27 at
9:00 a.m.
Saturday, March 20 at 8:00 a.m.
About 5 additional walks are planned but not yet scheduled.
Meet in the north parking area (north side of the river and east side
of Pleasant Valley Road). Bring your binoculars, water, and a good pair of walking
shoes. Each walk will be less than
2
hours on easy trails. Call
432-2546 with questions.
Bill will be scouting out the birds beforehand and expects to see,
and hear, the Canyon Wren, Phainopepla, Spotted Towhee, American Dipper,
Hermit Thrush, Acorn
Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Ruby Crowned Sparrow and many other familiar and
not-so-familiar birds.
Click here for pictures and
calls of a few birds found at Bridgeport.
Basket
Weaving Classes
(Watch this page for specific dates in Spring and Fall)
Spring class: Saturday, TBD
9 a.m. to noon in the Visitor Center
Two
or three times each year Judy Nichols gives a pine needle basket weaving class
in the Visitor Center at Bridgeport. Judy is an accomplished artist
whose baskets have been featured in exhibits in Reno (on display at the Gene
Speck Silver Art Gallery) and elsewhere. A donation of $20 to the South Yuba
River Park Association is required for materials. Space is limited: call Judy
at her home to reserve a spot, 274-3608.
Click here for a
picture of Judy in Maidu costume with her work.
Spring
Festival / Living History Day
Sunday, April 25, 2010, 10:30 a.m. -- 4 p.m.
Each
year special events are added to living history conversations with
folks in period costumes. In 2008 and 2009 a "mountain man" encampment
was set up near the Visitor Center. These living history players
staked their tents the evening before the event and lived throughout
the night and day just as hunters and trappers did during the Gold
Rush era. They cooked by campfire, chatted with visitors,
displayed their tools and guns, and even threw a hatchet or two
into a log slab target and shot arrows. We hope they will join the
festival again in 2010.
Three musical groups will play all day as they circulate around the
bridge, barn, and visitor center areas. As always, the park history
players will tell stories of Wood's bridge, the Kneebone barn, and the
Virginia Turnpike which passes through the bridge an on to Kneebone cemetery. The
barn will be open to allow visitors a close look at eleven gold rush era wagons
and a hay press, some as old as 150 years.
All the while, others will
demonstrate blacksmithing, pine needle basket weaving, and the old Kneebone
Shell gas station, and tell stories at the cemetery. Of course the gold
panning troughs will be in full swing with real gold for all who learn panning
techniques. Horse-drawn wagons will carry visitors along the Virginia Turnpike
and across the covered bridge (if it is safety certified in time). Hot dogs, ice cream, and other goodies
will keep tummies happy.
Click here
for pictures of the 2009 Spring Festival. Click here
to see the announcement of 2008 activities, thumbnail pictures of representative
works by the artists, and thumbnail pictures from a previous year's Living History
Day. Click here to
see a video slide show of 2007 Living History Day activities and representative art
works displayed in 2008.
Bridgeport
Fall Festival
Sunday, October 25, 2009, 11 a.m. -- 4 p.m.
As in years
past, docents in
period costumes play rolls of Bridgeport historical characters as they tell of
their lives and adventures during the Gold Rush era. This was called the
"Ghosts of Bridgeport Pageant" and was accompanied by horse-drawn wagon rides over the bridge, blacksmiths, basket
weaving, gold panning, hot dogs, ice cream, tours of the bridge, barn and
historic wagons, and music all day. Starting in 2008 activities have
been expanded to include all the above plus games for children of
all ages. Call the park at 432-2546 for the latest word on events.
Click here for photos
from the 2009 festival.
(Posted February 22, 2009)
Click
here for a KNCO interview about events in spring 2009
Auto Tour
of the Historic Virginia Turnpike at Bridgeport
: Click to read the announcement and view past auto tours, and then spread the word about this
unique opportunity for park visitors.
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