RUMSEY, Calif. — Cache Creek is surrounded by oak-studded hillsides and steep canyons. It’s not the only waterway rolling through Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, but is one of the most scenic.
If you want to see it, you can rent a raft from Mark and Brandy Burns, owners of Cache Canyon River Trips.
“We’ve been rafting this river since the early 90s and loving the river ever since,” said Mark Burns.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is one of the newest national monuments in California. It was designated by President Obama in 2016 in order to preserve the more than 330,000 acres of fragile wilderness.
“It’s pretty undeveloped out here. No utilities, no cell phone reception,” said Burns.
It would be difficult to see the entire national monument in one visit. Roads are limited or underdeveloped, and the monument’s boundaries touch seven different counties: Napa, Yolo, Solano, Lake, Colusa, Glenn and Mendocino.
Cache Creek runs through the south center of the monument allowing you to see a large majority of the landscape, wildlife and the rapids.
“There’s a 60-70% success rate going down it. Something like 40% end up swimming it,” said Burns.
Jokes aside, Cache Creek is a safe, family-friendly place to float. The water is warm and it’s perfect for the first-time rafters. On the popular day trip, you will encounter a series of Class II and Class III rapids. For all the novice rafters out there, that basically means you will get wet.
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At some point you'll want to take a lunch break, and a great spot to pull over and scarf down a sandwich is below the old, abandoned Girl Scout cabin built during the Great Depression.
“During the era where they had the works projects, I think during the Second New Deal where they basically employed a lot of unemployed people to a lot of public works projects, so they built the Girl Scout cabin,” said Brandy.
The crumbled remains of the Girl Scout cabin show the extreme conditions at Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. In fact, the monument was named after the Berryessa family, tenacious ranchers who were killed or kicked off the land when California became a state. The Snow Mountain Wilderness is a 7,000-foot-tall mountainous area full of wildlife.
“You’ll see turtles, bald eagles, blue heron, bear and deer,” said Burns.
Over 150 million years of geology shaped the rocks, canyons and soil in the area. The land was home to numerous Native American tribes, gold miners and homesteading families. Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument was not just protected to preserve natural history, it was preserved for the public to experience.
GET BACK TO NATURE ON THE BACKROADS: In celebration of California State Parks Week 2023, ABC10's John Bartell hits the backroads and takes a look at some of his favorite state parks.