Rush Creek Falls

Grass Valley / South Yuba River State Park, California, USA

About Rush Creek Falls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Rush Creek Falls was one of the more unique waterfalling excursions that we’ve been on.

I say this because the trail leading down to the falls was said to be wheelchair accessible, and that it was the only such wilderness trail in the United States.

Rush_Creek_Falls_074_05202016 - Rush Creek Falls seen from the Rush Creek Ramp at Flume 28
Rush Creek Falls seen from the Rush Creek Ramp at Flume 28

The most picturesque waterfall on Rush Creek (pictured above) was probably on the order of 20ft or so.

However, the rest of the waterfall fell mostly unseen behind overgrowth beneath the former hydraulic flume at about 50ft or so.

In addition to Rush Creek Falls, we also witnessed waterfalls on the South Yuba River to further extend our time here.

The Heritage of the South Yuba Independence Trail and Wheelchair Access

In addition to scenery that reminded us a lot of the lush kind of scenery we’d typically find in Oregon, there appeared to be a lot of heritage concerning this hike.

Rush_Creek_Falls_065_05202016 - Walking on the hydraulic flumes that were repurposed for wheelchair access for the Rush Creek Falls
Walking on the hydraulic flumes that were repurposed for wheelchair access for the Rush Creek Falls

After all, throughout our venture, we saw remnants of a bygone era from the California Gold Rush.

In fact, keeping the level enough grade to enable wheelchair access would typically involve quite a bit of work and infrastructure to support.

I believe that infrastructure was already in place in the form of the work to support the transportation of water for hydraulic mining.

This ultimately facilitated the efforts of trail founder John Olmstead to make it wheelchair-accessible when he sought to repurpose the mining infrastructure for all-access outdoor recreational use.

Rush_Creek_Falls_084_05202016 - Context of the Rush Creek Ramp at Flume 28 and the main flume above crossing over Rush Creek
Context of the Rush Creek Ramp at Flume 28 and the main flume above crossing over Rush Creek

Olmstead’s work was later aided by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

We suspect that the name of this trail (the South Yuba Independence Trail) gained the name “independence” as a way to acknowledge the freedom of wheelchair users to enjoy the wilderness that would previously be difficult for them in most other places.

In addition, one of the first things that my mother and I noticed when we did the South Yuba Independence Trail was that the path was often split into two parallel paths – a lower ditch path and an upper path.

Since we happened to do the hike right after a rain storm had stopped, that lower ditch path tended to be flooded.

I wondered if that ditch was just there for heritage reasons since it might have figured into funneling the water towards the wooden flumes further downstream.

Rush_Creek_Falls_026_05202016 - An example of the parallel paths where the left ditch path tended to be flooded while the upper path was meant for wheelchair use
An example of the parallel paths where the left ditch path tended to be flooded while the upper path was meant for wheelchair use

Given all the water that was pooling in the ditch path, it seemed to bring out lots of these interesting little red lizards or salamanders or something.

Nevertheless, I’d imagine that wheelchair users would have to wait for the trail to dry before it would be possible for them to go on this excursion without getting stuck-in-the-mud so to speak.

Hiking the South Yuba Independence Trail

From the well-signed pullout parking (see directions below), we immediately had choices to make.

It turned out that the South Yuba Independence Trail went in two different directions – an Independence Trail West and an Independence Trail East.

Rush_Creek_Falls_095_05202016 - The West Trail featured a long flume section over Rush Creek
The West Trail featured a long flume section over Rush Creek

The West Trail to the right was the one that ultimately reached the desired Rush Creek Falls as well as plenty of mining relics (including a beautiful section known as Flume 28).

The East Trail featured sweeping views of the South Yuba River as well as an impressive Rock Arch.

For the purposes of this write-up, we’ll start with the detailed trail description of the Independence West Trail leading us to Rush Creek Falls and the scenic Flume 28.

It turned out that it took my mother and I over 3 hours to hike the entire loop on the West Trail (more on this later) as well as the brief out-and-back East Trail to Arch Rock.

Rush_Creek_Falls_142_05202016 - The East Trail featured a long bridge overlooking the South Yuba River and the Hwy 49
The East Trail featured a long bridge overlooking the South Yuba River and the Hwy 49

However, we suspect that the trail just to Rush Creek Falls and back could easily be done in less than 90 minutes.

This shorter out-and-back option was why we gave this trail a 2.5 in the difficulty rating (instead of a higher score) even though it wasn’t that strenuous physically given how flat the trail was.

And even if you’re not a wheelchair user, we recognized that this would also be a pretty family-friendly trail.

Indeed, you can spend as little or as much time as you’d like on this most memorable of waterfall experiences to be had.

Trail Description – the South Yuba Independence Trail to Flume 28

Rush_Creek_Falls_012_05202016 - Mom going underneath a low-clearance road bridge, where we had to really duck low to get across to the other side and start the Independence Trail West to Rush Creek
Mom going underneath a low-clearance road bridge, where we had to really duck low to get across to the other side and start the Independence Trail West to Rush Creek

So heading to the right from the sign boards at the trailhead, the Independence West Trail briefly followed the high-speed Highway 49 before reaching a pretty low underpass.

We had to bend over (not good if you have a bad back) and walk beneath the underpass before the Independence Trail West began in earnest.

After about a quarter-mile from the underpass, there was a trail junction where the descending path on the right was signposted for the Jones Bar Road.

Since we knew this was a flat trail, we kept going straight.

Rush_Creek_Falls_027_05202016 - Mom approaching some kind of old station sitting next to some gold mining relics along the South Yuba Independence Trail West en route to the Rush Creek Falls
Mom approaching some kind of old station sitting next to some gold mining relics along the South Yuba Independence Trail West en route to the Rush Creek Falls

At about 0.4 miles from the underpass, we reached a sheltered lookout for the South Yuba River Overook.

Here, we were able to get an obstructed view towards part of the South Yuba River.

Continuing beyond this mostly overgrown overlook, the trail then meandered for another 0.6 miles through more lush scenery with the odd bridge or shack.

Such structures were probably remnants from this place’s past life as a water channel for mining purposes.

Rush_Creek_Falls_041_05202016 - We encountered lots of these tiny red salamanders along the Independence Trail West en route to Rush Creek Falls given all the rain that had fallen just prior to our visit
We encountered lots of these tiny red salamanders along the Independence Trail West en route to Rush Creek Falls given all the rain that had fallen just prior to our visit

At roughly a mile beyond the underpass (though I swore it took us an hour to get here suggesting it was longer than a mile), that was when things got real interesting.

Trail Description – Flume 28 and Rush Creek Falls

The Independence Trail West then went from the split dirt trails and merged into a wooden flume section.

The flume was very extensive as it curved around and traversed the gorge carved out by Rush Creek.

There were bars placed horizontally overhead throughout the flume, which added to the heritage effect.

Rush_Creek_Falls_055_05202016 - Hiking onto the wooden flume section as we approached Rush Creek on the Independence Trail West
Hiking onto the wooden flume section as we approached Rush Creek on the Independence Trail West

It was almost as if we were in Adventure Land or Frontier Land in Disneyland or something like that.

And it was here that we were able to get views upstream towards smaller cascades on Rush Creek flanked by switchbacking wooden paths below.

At the same time, we also got views downstream towards more of Rush Creek’s cascades tumbling away from us while the scenery opened up to reveal the lush canyon further beyond.

While the cascades further downstream were numerous and would be very scenic, our views of them were limited due to the overgrowth beneath the flume and Rush Creek itself.

Rush_Creek_Falls_063_05202016 - Context of the flume over Rush Creek with hard-to-see cascades further downstream comprising the remainder of the height of Rush Creek Falls
Context of the flume over Rush Creek with hard-to-see cascades further downstream comprising the remainder of the height of Rush Creek Falls

It turned out that the best part of this Flume 28 section was on a spur wooden path continuing further upstream along Rush Creek.

Ultimately, this was where we were able to get a view of the cascade you see pictured at the top of this page.

While descending towards the banks of Rush Creek, we could look out through the taller sections of the flume and the brink of some of Rush Creek’s cascades further downstream.

The part that I’m dubbing the Rush Creek Falls was best viewed from a sheltered lookout at the dead-end near the top end of this upstream extension of Flume 28.

Rush_Creek_Falls_068_05202016 - Context of the sheltered lookout with a decent view of the uppermost visible tier of Rush Creek Falls
Context of the sheltered lookout with a decent view of the uppermost visible tier of Rush Creek Falls

This uppermost tier of Rush Creek Falls was probably on the order of 20-30ft tall with more smaller cascades both upstream and downstream from the main drop.

Once we had our fill of this spot, this would be the turnaround point of our hike, which would make the round trip distance a little over 2 miles according to our GPS logs.

Trail Description – optional extension of the South Yube Independence Trail into a loop

When Mom and I did the Independence West Trail, we made the mistake of thinking that this trail would loop all the way around to reveal more waterfalls.

Unfortunately, it turned out to not be the case.

Rush_Creek_Falls_097_05202016 - Passing by some more far-flung picnic tables and relics further away from the scenic flumes on the South Yuba Independence Trail West
Passing by some more far-flung picnic tables and relics further away from the scenic flumes on the South Yuba Independence Trail West

Instead, we wound up expanding the overall hike to nearly 4 miles.

This included a serious uphill section from the lower bridge over Rush Creek by the end of the unpaved Jones Bar Road back up to the Independence Trail West.

That extra hike turned our expected 60- to 90-minute hike into an unexpected 2.5-hour trek.

Indeed, the disappointing thing about our elongated hike was that there would be no more waterfalls to see.

Rush_Creek_Falls_108_05202016 - Hiking along the unpaved Jones Bar Road when we mistakenly completed the Independence Trail West Loop instead of just turning back from Flume 28
Hiking along the unpaved Jones Bar Road when we mistakenly completed the Independence Trail West Loop instead of just turning back from Flume 28

However, there was access to the South Yuba River, where a sign suggested that it was possible to panhandle for gold in that river.

Trail Description – the East Trail to a Rock Arch and views of the South Yuba River

Back at the trailhead, we then made a brief out-and-back hike on the Independence Trail East to check out what Arch Rock was all about.

Like the Independence Trail West, the East Trail also featured parallel sections of track.

The scenery really made a turn for the dramatic at about a half-mile from the trailhead where we traversed a cliff-hugging bridge.

Rush_Creek_Falls_140_05202016 - Mom passing through the Arch Rock along the South Yuba Independence Trail East
Mom passing through the Arch Rock along the South Yuba Independence Trail East

Along this stretch, the scenery revealed rapids and cascades on the South Yuba River down below as well as the Hwy 49 and the canyon’s contours surrounding this scene.

About 0.1-mile beyond this scenic stretch was when we finally reached the Arch Rock, whose span was big enough to allow us to walk through without ducking.

We wound up spending about 35 minutes on the East Trail before regaining the car.

Authorities

Rush Creek Falls resides in the South Yuba River State Park near Nevada City in Nevada County, California. It is administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: grass valley, south yuba river, state park, nevada county, northern california, auburn, sacramento, california, waterfall, wheelchair, independence trail, arch rock



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Nice story and photos of our Independence Trail February 9, 2023 7:52 pm by Gary Sumner - Very nice story and photos of the Independence Trail and Rush Creek Falls. Unfortunately, Flume 28 was completely destroyed in the Jones Fire in August of 2018. I was very disappointed to find that out, as I have lived in the area for over 50 years and enjoyed many hikes on the Independence Trail. I… ...Read More

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Nice story and photos of our Independence Trail February 9, 2023 7:52 pm by Gary Sumner - Very nice story and photos of the Independence Trail and Rush Creek Falls. Unfortunately, Flume 28 was completely destroyed in the Jones Fire in August of 2018. I was very disappointed to find that out, as I have lived in the area for over 50 years and enjoyed many hikes on the Independence Trail. I… ...Read More

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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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