American River

It was a great idea: Spring break, take a day off, ride the 64-mile out-and-back Jedediah Smith Trail along the American River, before the Central Valley weather gets too hot.  What could go wrong?  At one end, after a frustrating 30-minute search for the park and for an open road into it, we discovered that Discovery Park was closed.  (We later learned that it was closed because of flooding.)  At the other end, along Lake Natoma, we encountered a very serious "trail closed" concrete barricade (see picture below).  (We later learned that the slide damaging the trail happened about a year ago, during the heavy rains of winter 2016-2017.)  So, in the end, 64 miles turned into 42 miles.  Still, it was a beautiful day and an enjoyable ride.