Lake Wildwood - Nevada County, California

Visited on 3/9/2019, Jeff and I loaded up our dogs, Summer and Skye for a day adventure one hour north of our Ranch up to Nevada County, California.  This was a scattered rainy cloudy day, so we didn’t expect much, but just wanted to get out of the house and explore the South Yuba River area of Northern California.   We visited four lakes, two actually located in Nevada County and two in Placer County.  Our second stop was Lake Wildwood just east of Englebright Reservoir.  Lake Wildwood is a planned private community of approximately 3,000 homes and an 18-hole golf course home to about 5,000 residents around a beautiful 300 surface acre lake.  Lake Wildwood is fed by alpine streams from the Sierra Mountains at an elevation of 1,200 feet and is located off of Hwy 20 just west of Penn Valley, California.  Lake Wildwood is a private community with access to the Lake for home owners only.  Jeff and I were able to drive across the Anthony dam and witness the unique occurrence of the water rushing over the semi-circle shaped dam.  The water cascades over into this tub shaped intake and then on into the river.

Bridgeport is located just about 5 miles north of Lake Wildwood and there is a great little State Park at the Historic World's Longest Wooden Bridge.  The Bridgeport Covered Bridge is located in Bridgeport, Nevada County, California, southwest of French Corral and north of Lake Wildwood. It is used as a pedestrian crossing over the South Yuba River. The bridge was built in 1862 by David John Wood. Its lumber came from Plum Valley in Sierra County, California. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1972 and pedestrian traffic in 2011 due to deferred maintenance and "structural problems. The Bridgeport Covered Bridge is the longest clear span of any surviving covered bridge in the world. It is 210 feet long.

These were the tolls of the day to cross the wooden bridge at Bridgeport, California back in 1862. That is cheap for sheep!!!