Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Hidden Falls Regional Park's first visitors walk down a paved portion of trail Monday after Placer County supervisors cut an opening-day ribbon. Ben Furtado/Auburn Journal

Visitors seek out Hidden Falls Park

By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

Runners, hikers, equestrians and cyclists flocked to Hidden Falls Regional Park's opening on Monday.

After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, some 200 people spread out onto a network of seven miles of trails at the 220-acre park near Auburn, soaking up some early autumn sun and the beauty of a park that some were describing as the crown jewel in the county's now-nine-year-old Placer Legacy open-space preservation effort.

"It's just so great for Auburn to have a new trail," said cyclist Cathy Haagen-Smit, before embarking on a mountain-bike ride. "This is particularly good with the new growth in North Auburn, where people can ride here from their homes."

Haagen-Smit admitted that she'd tested the trail out before the opening and found herself entranced by the evening vistas overlooking the Sacramento Valley.

"The sunsets are so unbelievable," Haagen-Smit said. "I can see mountain bikers enjoying an after-work ride here in the summer to enjoy them."

Gordy Ainsleigh, an ultra-running pioneer and current chairman of the Auburn Recreation District board, said he was delighted with a new county facility that provides people with the opportunity through cardiovascular exercise of having a better and longer life.

Eighteen years ago, Ainsleigh was at the forefront of an effort to convince the Board of Supervisors at the time to accept the free offer in a will of a 94-acre parcel in Meadow Vista for open space. But, with no open-space-purchase program in place, supervisors were advised by the then-county counsel that it would be an "attractive nuisance" liability danger and declined.

"This is an exceptional opportunity for people to add quantity and quality to their lives," Ainsleigh said.

Roger Perkins, an Auburn resident since 1959, said that while his horse-riding days have ended, he's looking forward to having a neighboring property owner guide him to the Hidden Falls that gives the park its name. The falls are about 30 feet high along Deadman Creek.

Former Placer County supervisor Rex Bloomfield rode a horse to try out the trails.

"It's probably going to be the cornerstone of the Placer Legacy program because it's close to population centers," Bloomfield said. "To date, it's probably our most successful project."

Construction cost about $1 million while acquisition of the property from the Didion family amounted to another $750,000. Access to the property is at the end of Mears Place, which is linked to Mount Vernon Road by Mears Drive, between Lincoln and Auburn.

The park lies in Supervisor Bruce Kranz's eastern Placer County district. Kranz said Monday that he considers the purchase a good acquisition for the county. A former state parks superintendent, he added that developing Hidden Falls is a "good first start" in completion of plans for a larger park on adjacent property totaling 961 acres. The county is considering linking the two parks together with a possible 25-mile trail skirting Coon Creek, which also lies on the property.

The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.