A few days ago I posted a photo I shot at Folsom Lake showing a high curved rock wall. I took my initial pictures from a distance and didn’t have a chance to explore the wall more closely — but when I got home and started looking at the area on Google maps, something odd caught my attention. The screenshot […]
Fortunately, you don’t need to buy an expensive mansion overlooking Folsom Lake to take in the natural beauty found within the state park. Even on a dreary day in the middle of winter there are scenic views and colorful surprises just waiting to be discovered.
The North Fork of the American River, now part of Folsom Lake, looks much different these days than it did prior to 1955. Now bulldozed, covered with rocks and gravel, flooded or otherwise forgotten were once homestead cabins, farms, vineyards, and mines. All of these required water, and the North Fork Ditch helped move water from the city of Auburn […]
Yesterday we spent a few hours blissfully unaware of the national chaos as we explored an unfamiliar portion of Folsom Lake shoreline. The area of the North Fork between Granite Bay and Rattlesnake Bar has always been a sort of black hole to me — with small ranches and multimillion-dollar mansions lining this portion of the lake, it didn’t seem […]
I’ve known about the remains of the Rattlesnake Bar Bridge at Folsom Lake for several years; this month I was finally able to go out and see it for myself. Before Folsom Dam was built in 1955, quite a number of small communities and isolated dwellings — not to mention mining concerns — dotted both sides of the American River. […]
The water level is low; the people are few and far between; and if you keep your eyes open, you never know what you might see.
There’s a weird sort of beauty about Folsom Lake in the winter, when the water levels drop. It’s possible to walk around on the lake bottom in areas that would normally be invisible, under several feet of water, and some of the landscape is a bit otherworldly. I’ve been out to the Rattlesnake Bar area many times in the past, […]
