I’ve been wanting to visit Malakoff Diggins State Park for a very long time; back in 2017 I actually shared an episode of California’s Gold in which Huell explored the park and marveled at the sight of these cliffs and the machinery that created them. It’s one thing to view photos and quite another to actually stand in the pit created by the huge water monitors — it’s such a scene of environmental devastation, and yet with a bit of time nature has begun undo just a little bit of the damage.

We followed the Diggins Loop Trail through the once-barren pit; it’s now overgrown with manzanita and small willow trees. Although we were walking along the base of the cliffs for much of the way, it was still easy to feel disoriented, so we were glad whenever we spotted the occasional trail markers.