South Yuba River - Purdon Crossing to Edwards Crossing - Part 1

For Day 5 of this year’s California swimming hole marathon, Cade and I went looking for new swimming holes on the South Yuba River near Purdon Crossing. The original plan for today was to go to Emerald Pools (also on the South Yuba River but further upstream). We had briefly stopped by Emerald Pools on our first trip in 2017, but we didn't have time to give it a proper visit because we were on our way back from Island Lake, which had taken up most of our time that day. However, we have been getting iced out by cold swimming holes all week on our current trip, so I decided to nix Emerald Pools for this year, since it is just downstream of a dam and has water temperatures in the mid-50s, or at least it did the last time we were there. We have been to a couple of areas on the warmer section of South Yuba River near Nevada City, including Mountain Dog near Edwards Crossing, and our favorite swimming hole on the South Yuba from our previous visits, Lemke’s Lagoon, which is near the Highway 49 crossing. Since we know the South Yuba has crystal clear water and water temperatures in the mid-70’s, I decided it would be the best bet for finding a swimming hole that was pleasant for taking an actual swim, rather than just jumping in and getting out really fast. Plus, on the past two trips, we have ended up not doing our original plan on day 5 and doing something underwhelming in its place, so I figured we might as well continue the tradition (minus the part where the new plan is underwhelming). We had not checked out the Purdon Crossing area (which is upstream of the Highway 49 crossing and downstream of Edwards Crossing), and I had marked a few points of interest (POIs) upstream of the Purdon Crossing bridge. I found a picture of a pretty enticing-looking swimming hole when I looked up Purdon Crossing online, and it matched up with the Google Earth view of my first POI (going upstream from the bridge). The second POI was just a short distance upstream of that one, so I decided we would check out those two POIs for today and only proceed farther if neither one was to our liking.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, today was a little more laid back than the first four days of our trip, but it was also the first time this trip that the water temperature has been pleasant enough to take an actual swim. Although there were no waterfalls or rock scrambling adventures today, it was nice to be able to swim, bask in the sun, and enjoy some new swimming holes on the South Yuba River. Even though we were already familiar with the aesthetic of the river before today, it was cool to find another swimming hole like Lemke’s Lagoon with jumping cliffs and a deep bottom. At first I thought it sort of cheapened things to discover that Lemke's Lagoon is not a one-of-a-kind swimming hole, but I think it really just goes to show that the South Yuba River is not a one hit wonder. The South Yuba is basically God’s gift to swimming hole aficionados, so I would definitely be up for scouting out more great swimming holes the next time we return to the area.
___

Update: We returned to this area in 2021 and 2023 and explored more points of interest along the upstream half of the trail between Purdon and Edwards Crossing. Check out Part 2 and Part 3 of our explorations.