Subject: Our Journey's To Pilot Hill & Gold Country California 8/15/15
Date: 9/10/2015 5:29:12 P.M. Pacific Standard Time
From:LordOfThyNight@aol.com
To:ParanormalBuffalo@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSociety@googlegroups.com, paranormalghostsociety@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalGhostSocietyConnections@yahoogroups.com, TheParanormalGhostSociety@yahoogroups.com, SupernaturalFlorida@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalCalifornia@yahoogroups.com, ParanormalNevada@yahoogroups.com, Paranormalflorida@yahoogroups.com, sierraparanormal@yahoogroups.com, PGSPhantoms@yahoogroups.com

Every time I traverse the Sierra Foothills there is a sense of magic in the air. The difference between the foothills of California and Nevada is that these are less steep therefore you have miles of lower hills and back country. In Nevada they are very steep and after a few miles your already up in the high sierras.
 
Gold Country is a very special place it is full of old boom towns, miner cemeteries, historic ranches and structures that date back to the times of the gold rush days. I absolutely love the Pilot Hill, Coloma and Placerville area. This is the first region in California where gold was discovered which led to the gold rush boom.
 
As some of you are aware we work with all sorts of paranormal topics this trip was more directed at ghosts of the gold rush. Whether we caught anything will remain to be seen allot of times most places we visit are fairly quiet that does not mean time to time we do not get a good EVP, photograph or credible EMF Gauss readings.
 
 I use to do allot of my investigations at night years ago but by doing these during the day most of you get to physically see these locations and the scenery that surrounds them. But being on west coast is different then the east coast because these locations all offer so much beauty nestled in the foothills of the sierras in California.
 
Our journey would take us to the Cronan Ranch, Pilot Hill Historic Cemetery and finally Gold Bug Park. All three locations really go hand in hand. The American River area is something I hope to work with often the last time I was out in Pilot Hill we visited the very haunted Bayley Mansion and toured Coloma. Both are locations I hope to work with more in the future.
 
We would stop for breakfast in the morning then do our drive through the foothills which traverse the lower sierras for over twenty miles. This is what makes them so beautiful is that driving through them is a journey one filled with many gems and smaller communities. In this case one of those gems would be the Cronan Ranch which remains hidden along the American River.
 
Cronan Ranch
 
You would never have known this place even exist back in the foothills the woods are very dense and its nothing but countryside. Many of the roads back here are dirt roads and people live very far apart. On occasion you might come out to a vista point but for the most part its nothing but curvy roads through the woods.
 
When we arrived we parked at a cattle loading area this ranch dates back to the mid 1800's. I chose it for a number of reasons because it does connect with other locations we have done here such as Coloma and the Bayley House. You needed such ranches they were vital in the gold rush to provide local towns with livestock, meat and produce for the miners.
 
It was already heating up summers in this regions are brutal its hard to believe that so many pioneers came to this area to cool off because I sure did not feel it lol. Then again their is areas with shade and when we begin our hike through the hills whenever it became to hot I just went under a tree for awhile.
 
We learned about these yellow flowers that grow here I have not seen them anywhere else so I thought that was rather unique in itself. The one thing your going to notice is that whenever I go to different areas of the sierra mountains different types of trees and flowers grow in different parts.
 
When you hike around the ranch there are many trails they all go off in different directions some traverse over hills. Allot of mountain bikers like this place because of those hills and bike trails. We hiked down the main road that way I did not miss anything historic or get turned around back here.
 
Today the ranch is still active or at least a part of it as its a free range for sheep. We seen a few herds of sheep one of them was at least 120 to 150 sheep just running down the hill side. Its important not to get close to the sheep they are guarded by dogs I would find out this later on during our hike lol. In addition to the sheep there is quite a few large birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles that just circle overhead looking for small pretty constantly.
 
After probably a little over a mile you go up over this big hill then come down into this valley where this ranch looking complex exist. Its not really a ranch house or barn but rather a movie set. I had no idea because other sites were not accurate posting there photos or with the details of these structures. The set was designed for the movie called "Love Comes Softly" directed Michael Landon Jr. which boast what an early 1800's ranch would look like. The movie set is a little over ten years old right now pretty cool location.
 
There was picnic benches so we decided to have a nice break at the movie set while I did my thing. I did get some EMF readings here and take some EVP not sure why but the ranch is very old so you never know. The movie set is made to look very old but its not even though the wood is aged.
 
There was a ranch house,outhouse,barn,cabin and a few other collapsed wood buildings. The windows were all gone and it was deplorable. I am sure it was in better shape at one time but its not looking good. Allot of the wood is broke,boards on the ground, brush growing around it and half of whatever was standing is on the ground. Granted this was a movie set so it was not built to last and so in a few more years nothing will probably stand. The curtains were sun bleached and blowing in the wind the place actually had a creepy look to it rather then something you would see in a Little House On The Prairie movie.
 
After we enjoyed the movie set and resting under some old cottonwood trees we headed once again on the trail. There was a dry creek we came across we seen a bunch of cattails but no water just as the hillsides were brown. That was my only regret is that I should have came in the Spring because the ranch during this time is very green and full of wild flowers. But in August with the lack of rain and intense heat everything is brown even some of the trees were already losing leaves.
 
On our journey we went through some wooded areas but for the most part the hike is very grueling due to the lack of shade. Most of the trees reside further back up on the hillsides not near the old wagon road so your very exposed to the sun. We also seen something movie in the brush its hard to say what it was maybe a bobcat or something. The wildlife does not like to stick around to long due to the herding dogs that guard them. If you really pay attention when hiking around the area you can hear the American River flowing from afar as its a very quiet peaceful location.
 
We would hike down to the American River now there are multiple ways to reach it and trails. We decided to veer off to the south then go into the woods descending down on the river. We found this private little opening in the woods along the river where my kids could swim and we could have lunch at. Someone nearby however was shooting there shotgun like crazy which became a little annoying. I seen about four Kayakers braving the white water although the rapids were not to strong there were areas that were moving along.
 
There is allot of wild berries that grow back here in along the river enough to sustain bigfoot, bear or even humans for that matter. One can see why the Mormons and early pioneers of the gold rush spent some time camping on the river in the 1800's at this location. They had water, berries and an abundance of wildlife that they could hunt for if they needed to eat. I also went into the water for a dip the river was low but still at this location it was at least 75' across to the other side with some exposed areas of land you could walk out to.
 
Our hike back was rough the water cooled me down but I became over heated because by the afternoon the sun was out at full force. There was no other water along the way most seasonal creeks run dry and the river was facing our backs. Every time we found a tree we would rest under it at one point in time one of the trees had a snake coiled on up.
 
By this time of the day the sheep were spread out everywhere no longer in herds. I had heard hollowing thought hey maybe coyotes or wolves but it was actually the canines guarding the sheep. Some of the sheep were high up on the hills cooling off under trees. I seen this one sheep from afar thought it was a deer had the sun in my eyes. As I begin to stop and take video one of the guard dogs came running at me lol. He did not attack but he was coming and trying to scare me off even though I was on the trail so for those who come up here to sight see just make sure you do not stick around to long to take photos.
 
I was pretty happy to see the jeep and fill up on ice cold drinks it was about 102 degrees. I brought the cooler so it was loaded with all sorts of food and drinks. I like to make a day of it when it comes to our investigations even if we do not find anything paranormal I operate a para-adventure urban exploration type of site so this will make a nice addition and give you a look into the sierra foothills first hand. I have heard of allot of UFO and Bigfoot sightings in the foothills which sounds very reasonable considering how vast, remote and woodsy they are anything could hide back here I know the sheep did later on during the day.
 
Our last stop would be at the cattle loading area where I seen a lizard on a fence. You know its hot outside when the reptiles are coming out to sunbathe. I loved the ranch I just wish there was more history to see. I read somewhere there are some old outhouses but I never seen any. There are allot of trails including a ravine, big hills, big valleys and creeks. This was a big ranch at one time and an old one. Its strange how the original Bacchi family sold it in the 1800's and today they purchased it back making use of this land. I wish there was more wildlife on this trip but due to drought its definitely not the ranch the pioneers once knew.We then would head on off just a little ways down the road from here to a place known as Pilot Hill Cemetery.

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