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    Hoyt Crossing

    4.5 (13 reviews)
    Closed 7:00 am - 8:00 pm

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    Riverfront.
    Carrie K.

    Great hike in Nevada City! Trail follows the river from above with lot of tree covering. Trail is narrow only wide enough for one person. Soil is loose and fine so I'll bring hiking shoes for better grip. Many side trails down to the water which are quite steep so hiking shoes would be give more stability. You can hike as far as you want then would be hiking back to trailhead. There is a small parking lot and small picinic area. Beautiful scenery!!

    Hoyts crossing bridges  Beautiful Yuba blue
    Genevieve B.

    My favorite place to go when it's warm. I call it the fountain of youth. Beautiful blue water and warm rocks not too crowded and beautiful clean nature!

    The water is crystal clear!
    Zuleim G.

    This spot takes my breath away! The warm is warm from late July to early August. The hike is very short & do-able!

    The prize at the end of the hike
    Nc R.

    Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Coming from Sacramento, you often forget how much natural beauty surrounds you. Less than 2 hours and you can hit Tahoe, the beach on the west coast.. or take a 90 minute jaunt the South Yuba River. Please read this before going because it will have tips and some suggestions. First off.. DO NOT LISTEN TO GOOGLE MAPS. It tries to take you across the river and down the backside. It took a good 20 minutes of driving around before we noticed it. The directions tried to put us in private property and dirt roads. Just google South Yuba River Bridge or Swimming hole 49. That will take you to parking. Speaking of parking, there is only a couple of spots near the bridge itself. So if it is full you have to find enough room on the road to park. Nothing is to far out but it will add another 5-15 minutes to your hike. Now on to the hike. As soon as you cross the bridge, you will see a small trail to your right. This is your Hoyt Crossing Trail. The start of the trail is some stairs. This hike is awesome. You hike along the river always hearing the rushing of the water. The hike is shaded for the most part so it's not to bad on hot days (we went when it was over 90). The hike is about 20-30 minutes depending on fitness. When we asked the ranger how far it is, he told us about a mile. I would say on a scale of 1-10 for difficulty (1 being walking a flat and 10 is ascending to Mounat Olympus to battle the gods), I would give it a 5. Other hikes to compare on my scale. Hidden falls (Auburn hike) 6. Steven's tail (Auburn) 8. Secrets hidden beach (Tahoe) 7. Camelback mountain (Arizona) 9.5. People did complain about the hike due to its narrow path, step drop off and sometimes step stairs. We tracked it with two packs and two dogs on leash and it took us a little under 25 minutes. The swimming hole itself. This is a nude beach. It was founded as a nude beach and functions as a nude beach. As previously stated, we talked to a ranger about it and he was open. The only rules are no alcohol or glass. So the nudity is totally normal, welcomed and encouraged. When you finally reach the beach there is a sign that states that clothes, glass, and alchohol are prohibited. So the bottom line is... This is a nude beach. Now with that being said, there were plenty of people there with all kinds of variations of clothes (or lack there of). When you first get to the beach it seems more clothe friendly. It was memorial day weekend at it was busy. I would say 25% nude. 40% topless and the rest in bathing suits. If you climb a little further you can reach an area that is blocked by rocks. There is where the wife and I set up camp. This area was 90% nude and 10% topless. All different sex, backgrounds, body shapes, and colors were at Hoyt. Since it was the start of the season, the water current was a little strong (still swimable), the water could and pretty high. As summer goes on you will see a drop in the water levels. This brings out the different "pools" in this area. There are some pretty cool falls that act as slides further north east. The water was a little cold but easy to get use to. The water was beautiful and was framed by a gorgeous backdrop of trees and rocks. Another pro tip. Bring water shoes. This is not a sandy beach. This is full of rocks and pebbles. Most rocks in the water were slippery. We saw several people slip on rocks and hurt themselves. TLDR cliff notes. Pros- Beautiful 25 minute hike Beautiful river and water with perfect background Being naked in nature is awesome and expected Cons- Rocky beach Not 100% buy in with everyone getting naked Booze is prohibited (even though people were still drinking).

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    Review Highlights - Hoyt Crossing

    I will say though that to get right up against the river you have to either reach the beach part of the trail (0.

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    Lake Carr Campground

    Lake Carr Campground

    5.0
    (2 reviews)
    4.5 mi

    - $15 per site per night. $5 for additional vehicles. Cash or Check deposited in an enveloped and…read moredropped off in a bin at the entrance to the campground. - Sites include: Picnic table, Bear Box and Fire Ring. - Camp Fires: As of July 20, 2020. Fires are permitted only in the fire ring. Plenty of wood around to collect and burn. *** Camp Fires are not allowed if you are dispersed camping. *** - Bathrooms: 4 portable bathrooms next to spot 1 in the front and a vault bathroom with 2 stalls by spot 9 &10. When we arrived on Friday, they were cleaned and stocked with toilet paper. By Sunday, they were a stinky mess. The Carr lake campground was great. Spot vary in size. Some of the spots in the front had lake access. The spots in the back have a lake view. You can still access the lake from the spots in the back, but its a pretty steep decent. The spots in the middle do not have lake access but some are pretty private and have lots of shade. Spot 8 has the most privacy and a good amount of distance from the neighbors. Spot 8 is also by a creek. This drowned out the noise other campers made in the evening. Carr Lake was very pretty. However, the main event is Feely lake. Access to Feely lake is between Spot 8 and 9. It's a larger lake with stunning views. A lot of backpackers were heading to Island Lake which is about a mile from the Carr Lake Campground. Due to the Covid related closures around the state, more people than usual are heading to the outdoors. This meant that this usually secluded area was not packed with day hikers and backpackers. The parking lot was at capacity by mid day Friday and people had to park on the side of the road as far as a half a mile away. I recommend that you stake your claim as early as Thursday or very early Friday.

    Lake Carr Campground is a true gem for those adventurous enough to brave the road up there…read more Quick Campsite Stats: Number of Sites: 11 Cost: $15 per day, honor system by envelope (cash or check only) Amenities: - Pit Toilets, but generously stocked with toilet paper. - Metal fire rings with a grill - Picnic table at each site Does not include: - Water (unless you purify the lake water, plenty of that around) - Trash cans (you must pack in what you pack out) Pets Allowed? Yes! Elevation: 6,663 ft Reservations Required?: No. All first come, first served as far as I could tell. Owned and operated by PG&E Getting There (the hard part): It's a good 30-40 minute drive north of Hwy 20 up Bowman Lake Road (Forest Road 18) to where it splits off to Forest Road 17. From there you will see a giant log with "CARR" spray painted in white with an arrow to the right (pretty awesome, I know). Now you're in for three miles of rocky dirt road... and I mean rough. A road full of rocks ranging from the size of grapefruits to dodge balls... so take is slow and steady. I will warn all sedans or low-clearance vehicles to be extremely careful. I saw many cars bottoming out (a mini cooper and prius among them). Towards the top of the road, you'll need to navigate around some big boulder-like rocks embedded in the road. Here is where most low-clearance vehicles gave up, pulled to the side and decided to walk the rest of the way. I have a two-wheel drive Honda CRV. I decided to give it a whirl and made it up to the parking lot by some miracle. Entry to the Campground: Surprisingly the parking lot was already packed at 4:30pm on a Friday! Who are all these people brave enough to make it up that road? I was impressed. I wasn't quite sure what to expect campsite wise considering it was 4th of July weekend and I was hoping to snag one of the first come, first served sites. I wasn't too optimistic, but I threw on my backpack and decided to take a look around. You want to head to the top of the trail (i.e. the road barricade). There you will see a wood bulletin board of sorts with the campsite rules and a place to leave your nightly fee ($15). You put your cash/check in an envelope and tear off the receipt at the bottom. Put the envelope in the slot on the green post and take the receipt to your campsite of choice. Clip it under your campsite number and voila! Note: The PG&E people are checking to make sure you've done this word to wise, but I have no idea if and how they would "cite" you if you didn't pay. It's kind of the honor system. Surveying the Campsites Right after you walk past the bulletin board there are a number of campsites up off to the right. Some of them were already taken by the time I got there, so I walked on down the road, but I heard from some other seasoned campers that one of the first campsites was one of the best out of the eleven. I continued down the road and saw some absolutely stunning ones! I was thrilled to see a few were empty and available. On 4th of July weekend!! I couldn't believe my luck! After I checked out all the real estate I decided on my beauty, campsite number 8... I think? Can't remember exactly. Also recommended is the very last campsite past the bathrooms (farthest from the parking lot). Totally spectacular lake view. I was jealous. Most of the campsites do not have lake access. You're behind some seriously thick brush with no paths to the lake, but I believe the campsites at the very beginning and the very end do have lake access. Something to keep in mind. Not a deal breaker at all though considering Feeley Lake is just a hop skip and jump up the road and even MORE beautiful! :) The bathrooms are clean, although to get there you have to cross part of a river... a stream really, but might be hard to do in the middle of the night unless you have one of the campsites nearest to the bathrooms. Think hopping from stone to stone or just wading through up to your ankles. The campsites grew fairly crowded as the day went on but I observed there were still two or three out of the eleven campsites that were unoccupied throughout the weekend (I was there Fri-Sun). The crowd level was just enough to feel safe and not too much so that you felt it was cramping your solitude time. If you do end up campsite-less for some unfortunate reason, disperse camping is allowed and I saw a ton of people do it along the Round Lake Trail and Crooked Lakes Trail. This is something I will do next time for sure, as the scenery gets even more spectacular the father down the trail you go, espectially up towards Penner Lake. I will definitely be back here as it is one of my new favorite spots in the Tahoe National Forest. I hope this is helpful! :)

    Photos
    Feeley Lake right next to Carr... who needs lake access to Carr when you have this 100 yards away! Gorgeous!
    Feeley Lake right next to Carr... who needs lake access to Carr when you have this 100 yards away! Gorgeous!
    Lake Carr Campground
    Last campsite at the end of the road by the bathrooms. Sweet setup. They told me they were here at 11am Friday morning to grab this one.

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    Last campsite at the end of the road by the bathrooms. Sweet setup. They told me they were here at 11am Friday morning to grab this one.
    H2O Adventures

    H2O Adventures

    5.0
    (798 reviews)
    34.0 mi

    Absolutely.... Don't hesitate to go with H2O adventures. They are professional, knowledgeable, and…read moremake you feel super comfortable with some humor sprinkled in between! Even the stop for lunch was incredibly delicious and refreshing ! Devin our guide was awesome, he makes you feel at ease because of his knowledge, attention to detail and his humor! Extras: we surfed some waves, jumped off rocks, rode the bull (sat solo on the bow of the boat and held on for dear life!), floated outside the boat, all on the MiddleFork. It was very exhilarating. You get enough class 3 & 4 rapids and time to relax and enjoy the surroundings. (I'm sore in some places and it's the day after, and I'm a fitness instructor). Best stop before heading to Lake Tahoe! If you stay overnight, the little town of Auburn has some great history. Fun to walk the town.

    Rafting was our favorite activity in our 10 day trip to California and I'm thrilled we chose H2O…read morebecause I researched the crap out of all the possible companies since it was our first time! Plus we were lucky enough to have Shelby as our guide which we were all so thankful for because she's simply the best! It was just me and my two daughters, age 17 and 19, in the raft with Shelby for an all female boat and it was a blast! We didn't tip once and no one fell out because Shelby is freaking AMAZING and a ROCK STAR GUIDE!! It was our first time white water rafting and she made us feel so comfortable and confident in our abilities! Whether it's your first or 100th time rafting, you won't be dissatisfied with H2O!

    Photos
    Chili bar
    Chili bar
    Rafting
    Rafting
    Rafting

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    Rafting

    Hoyt Crossing - lakes - Updated August 2026

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