California Hiking-Fishing-Prospecting advise

[mamich]

Seeking some advice on taking a trip to the Sierra's. My son wants to do a hiking trip around the end of April out to the Sierra's and was gracious and thoughtful enough to invite his dear old dad to enjoy the time with him. He is finally finishing college after eight long years and wants to get back to nature for some R&R time. In doing some searching there is a ton of places to go but seems most are day in day out kinda trails so I thought asking the locals would be more beneficial. We would like to do some hiking into country with some fishing possibilities along the way, looking at trying to stay out 4-6 days at least spending time enjoying nature along with the chance of doing a little panning and prospecting but really looking for a great place to spend out away from it all. My concern is the weather or should I say snow pack, most of the longer trails in and thru gold country are higher altitude and I believe would make for some cold days and nights and not some enjoyable spring weather. So I'm reaching out for any ideas that some might have who know the area and the average weather during that timeframe along with any issues or concerns like wildlife. We have both spent time in the mountains of New Mexico so we aren't total strangers to backpacking and hiking but I know how important local knowledge is to a trip like this. Many thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[mamich]

That's great to hear Goldwasher, glad you've been able to get out and enjoy the early spring before more of the wet stuff comes in. Looking at the weather forecast seems like the rains will be back for the next couple of weeks.

 

[goldenmojo]

Thx goldenmojo, looks like a good hike to do plus lots of other trails in the area. That whole NF area looks like a great place to get lost for a week of pleasure. What's cell service like, if it's nill to nun even better!

Cell service is spotty at best when you get off the pavement. The town of Iowa Hill near Colfax is about 10 miles from the 1-80 freeway on the East side of the NF and they have no electricity over there. The local store/ watering hole runs on a generator.

 

[mamich]

That sounds great, we are looking at avoiding the day to day and just enjoying what God created. Bummer is I just looked at the fishing regs for California and seems like none of the rivers and streams open for trout fishing until the last weekend in April, we were looking forward to eating some fish by the campfire and kicking back.

 

[mofugly13]

The area on the South Yuba where I have a claim has year round fishing as far as I can tell. The regs only apply to the river downstream of a dam, which I am above. Maybe the area you’re looking might have similar