Visitors of the Lost Park

Plumas-Eureka State Park in The Lost Sierra…

Surrounded by the Plumas National Forest and golf courses amid pine trees, meadows, lakes and granite peaks is a California State Park rooted in history, and it hasn’t changed much in the last 100 or so years. Plumas-Eureka State Park is this quiet, gorgeous area in The Lost Sierra, about five miles up on Graeagle Johnsville Road (aka County Road A-14) from Highway 89 in Blairsden.

The Maidu people were here for thousands of years before the covered wagons came, making intricately woven baskets to store seeds, acorns and dried meat to get them through the winter. However, when word got out that there was gold to be found in California, the Native American population drastically diminished. In 1851, miners struck gold on a quartz ledge high on the 7,447-foot Eureka Peak. Soon after, 36 of the prospectors formed the Eureka Company, and other mining companies followed in its footsteps to try to get a piece of those rich metallic veins. Johnsville and Jamison City were formed to house the miners, and Eureka Mills was developed to process the gold.

In the winter, the residents were even more secluded because they were snowed in, so they started skiing down what’s now the Johnsville Ski Bowl. They’d make a set of 12-foot wooden “longboards” that could weigh as much as 20 pounds and shoot straight down the hill, carrying a large wooden pole that acted as a brake. The first official longboard races were held in 1861.

A century and a half later, the area still gets a lot of snow in the winter, the residents still get bored and the longboard races are still going on (the Plumas Ski Club puts on the Longboard Revival Race Series). The 5,000-acre area became an official California State Park in 1959 and is likely one of the only state parks with a ski hill.

However, Plumas-Eureka also has several hiking trails, picnicking areas, fishing out of Jamison Creek, a museum and a 70-site campground that’s only open in the summer. “Being surrounded by Forest Service land makes this park seem bigger than it really is,” says Park Ranger Tim Quandt.

Quandt has been at Plumas-Eureka State Park for years, and his grandfather Paul Quandt worked there before him (a memorial bench outside the museum states he lived from 1920-1985). The historical significance of the park and its keepers continue today.

“This is a multi-generational park. The same families come here every year,” Quandt says. Yes, the wintertime longboard revival races are getting more popular with out-of-towners, but the summer months are when most of the activity takes place at Plumas-Eureka.

It can be difficult to get a campsite reservation in the summertime unless you drop in midweek and happen to strike gold with finding a non-reserved spot. With all the golf courses around the park (like Graeagle Meadows, Plumas Pines and Grizzly Ranch), it’s common to see golf clubs perched up against picnic tables at campsites. The Jamison Creek day use area has restrooms, a historic house, a little trail along the river, picnic areas and places to catch trout. Hiking trails within Plumas-Eureka go up and around the ski bowl, Eureka Lake, Madora Lake and outside the park.

The museum and visitor center, open during the summer, have wildlife exhibits and gold panning displays. A giant stuffed mountain lion in a display case prompts a conversation. Quandt said a mountain lion killed a deer right next to a fellow park ranger’s car early one morning, then came back and carried it away. No one ever actually saw it.

Mountain lions are sneaky and quiet, Quandt warned, so his advice while out hiking in Northern California wilderness: “Don’t run, make yourself big and always be aware of your surroundings. Fortunately, there is a lot of natural prey around, so there are a small number of human attacks.”

Bears are less aggressive and thus easier to scare away, but unfortunately, they’ve also become habituated to human food and can be quite destructive trying to get to it. It’s why Plumas-Eureka is so tough on improper food storage; it carries a $1,000 fine. “I have taken coolers away,” Quandt says.

With the remoteness, babbling creeks and thousands of acres of forest, it’s easy to see why the fauna flourish here. “Nothing about this park has changed in the last 50 years,” Quandt says. “This park is California’s best kept secret.”