Rural Mysteries of the North Fork Polygon

New Years Eve Flood

Sunday, December 31, 2005, 8:00 A.M.

Some prophets believe that a flood on New Year's Eve is a cleansing event that portends positive changes in leadership in the coming year.

Coyote Creek: On the last day of the first half of the first decade of the new millennium, Coyote Creek leaped from its banks and flooded the Crother Road Bridge between Applegate, Meadow Vista, and Weimar:

1. Looking up-creek from a flooded driveway near Crother Road (JPG, 153 KB).
2. Flooded driveway 100-yards up-creek from Crother Road (JPG, 155 KB).

3. Looking down-creek towards the flooded Crother Road Bridge (JPG, 191 KB).
4. Flooded Crother Road Bridge from across Placer Hills Road (JPG, 168 KB).
5. Flooded Crother Bridge from Placer Hills Road (JPG, 138 KB).
6. Another view of Crother Lake (JPG, 146 KB).
7. More water flowing across Placer Hills Road near Crother Road (JPG, 117 KB).

Bear River: Field Correspondent Dave-bro posted pictures of the Bear River at Milk Ranch Campground in Colfax.

1. Looking Down-river
2. Picnic Area
3. Looking Up-River

American River: The Auburn Journal posted a picture of the North Fork of the American River at the Confluence during the height of the flood.

The North Fork of the American River even returned to its original channel below Auburn, escaping the confines of a mysterious tunnel that diverts water around an ancient "ghost dam" that was once imagined to exist at this location.

Here's a picture from February 1986 of the river's periodic return to its original channel:

Rural Mysteries of the North Fork Polygon