My stomping grounds
A couple of pictures from along the way....
You found a nice road, although the best time is several days into a multi-day storm.
https://youtu.be/uZ-5SoSBFVI Big waterfalls appear everywhere, including some which come down onto the road and top of your truck. The storm 2 weeks ago really did a number on it, to the point where I figured they would close it. Fire engines certainly couldn't get down it last week.
There have been fatalities on that road on a regular basis. Usually its drunk drivers returning from a beer-sodden day at the river, but last spring some poor sucker going for a rainy day tour had the road collapse underneath him, right next to Devil's Falls. 130' down into Shirtail Creek, where he landed on his wheels facing upstream and drowned, still strapped in. The water was barely over the hood, but it still took a week to get the body out.
The Russian mafia and/or associated hoodlums have also made their presence known recently, throwing another traveler off the roadside cliff after a dispute over who had to back up. Deadman's Curve, on Iowa Hill Road, is a spot used by the same group to dump old cars. Such wrecks are usually only removed if the insurance pays for it, which generally requires a very nice car. So the ravine has so many cars down in it, that the last time Rescue personnel had to go down they couldn't figure out which was the latest. (A buddy and I went back and painted big orange X's on the wrecks one day, but that's a whole 'nother adventure.)
The road was built to make a route between the gold rush towns of Colfax and Foresthill. The first couple attempts to construct it failed due to the rugged terrain and amount of financing required. Finally, a Chinese crew headed by "Captain Tom" (IIRCC) volunteered to do the job, and got er' done. They weren't paid, of course.
Now for what you missed. Indian village on the southern side of the confluence, at the bridge. Bedrock mortars and slicks. Legal gold panning there, too, just don't go up Shirttail Cyn past the state rec area boundary or there is a decent chance you will be escorted out at gunpoint. Massive, water-quality quartz crystals between the bridge and Yankee Jim's, on the hillsides and in the roadbed. Stop if you see white rocks! Geocache in Mexican Gulch, although not much in it since I keep muggling it. (I take that cheap plastic crap and leave beer.) Target shooting at Yankee Jim's diggings, although you'll need to walk in a bit away from the road. Walk 1/2 mile upstream from the Mineral Bar bridge and you'll find an excellent swimming hold called "bubbles," with a rare (for this area) slot canyon that can be climbed up almost all the way to Cape Horn.
Stay on the road around Iowa Hill; lots of gold claims and green claims, with associated paranoid guards. Don't gawk at people or houses you may find up there.
If you want to take your 4x4ing up a notch beyond n00b status, go up to Lowell Hill, out of Dutch Flat. Lots of mud, hills, and other OHV'ers who can rescue you. Which reminds me of another band camp story: the time I had to drive a 92 year old woman and her 75 year old caretaker out of the canyon, because they were too afraid to turn around or even drive anymore. GPS sent them the wrong way....
