A collection of travel and adventure stories

Windy Point Trail Hiking

Description and Directions >>

Description:
Windy Point trail is located in the foothills of the Sierras in Northern California. The trail offers views of and descends to the North Fork of the American River. The trail length is 5 miles roundtrip with a 1,275 elevation change.

Activities:
hiking, sightseeing

Directions:
From Sacramento, take I-80 East. Exit at Colfax and turn immediately right (west) at stop sign onto Canyon Way frontage road. Turn left (south) in 0.4 mile onto Iowa Hill Road. Follow 3.1 miles into the canyon and bridge. After crossing the bridge, continue up road toward downtown Iowa Hill. Trailhead parking is on right side (west) 0.8-mile south from Campground. No signs - nothing marks the trail except four boulders blocking the old miners roadtrail. Parking at the turnout will serve for a few cars.

Story Date 4/2/2000
Publish Date 4/15/2004

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala: Windy Point trail is located near Colfax, CA and descends down to the North Fork of the American River. This is an excellent hike to take in the springtime.

The views on this hike were magnificent. It was springtime, and the California poppies were in full bloom. The flowers formed a yellow-orange blanket across the hills...very beautiful. As we hiked down the trail, we caught glimpses of the river below. The trail winds through oak forest and over a couple streams. We finally reached an area where we could hike down to the river's edge. Here, we saw a few kayakers paddling the river. They found a large boulder that they would launch their kayaks from (more like jump). Each would haul their kayak up the boulder, get in and launch off the edge of the rock into the river. It was pretty interesting to watch.

The one big drawback to this hike was the abundance of poison oak along the trail. It was almost impossible to avoid. In fact, most of us ended up getting poison oak rashes after this hike (my husband and his friend got it pretty bad). If it weren't for the poison oak, I would probably go back on this hike many times in the spring. I just couldn't believe the amount of blooming flowers.