Sacramento Running News

All the gates open at Nimbus Dam. Photo by John Blue (click to see a high-res version)

Is the parkway still flooded?

Discovery Park is still quite flooded, and will likely be so at least through this weekend.

The parkway near Discovery Park is generally taking on water when the river at the I street bridge is at 19-feet or higher. The USGS is predicting the river to be at over 21-feet through this weekend.

The tough part is that even after the river is below 19-feet, it takes another couple of days for the water to drain out of the park.

The good news is that the parkway is now clear and dry at the 20.5 mile mark and the detour signs are gone.

As I’ve noted previously (here and here), Discovery Park is under water. Unfortunately, the River City Marathon and half marathon planned for this coming weekend was supposed to finish in that park.

The word is out that the event has been re-routed, and the marathon is now an out-and-back between Negro Bar State Park and William Pond Park.

The half marathon will now be run from William Pond to finish at Negro Bar State Park.

See the event  website for details.

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This morning, I had the opportunity to run on the upper Parkway (upstream of Hazel Ave to Beals Point) and found it to be in quite good shape. State Parks folks were out keeping an eye on things and there was only a small amount of debris on the roadway.

The only standing water worth noting is just on the west edge of Negro Bar.

I felt that the most dangerous section was along the bluffs just downstream from Negro Bar. The new, cement retaining wall has already been put to work this winter, but you should still be alert to rocks and debris falling down on the trail while the hills are saturated from the endless rain.

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All the gates are open at Nimbus Dam (on the American River at Hazel Ave)

In case you weren’t already aware, the rivers are running quite high. As a result, much of Discovery Park is underwater, making the American River Parkway impassable at that point.

There are reports of flooding at the 0.5 mile mark (near the archery range), just past the 1 mile mark, and along the creek where the trail passes under Northgate Blvd. (between the 2 and 2.5 mile marks).

I am also getting reports this morning of flooding on the upper end of the Parkway, near mile marks 20.5 and 21, or Sunrise Blvd. (An alert reader tells me there is a well marked detour at this point.)

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American river at the Guy West Bridge, photo by John Blue

Earlier this month, I had passed on reports of increased river flows but was irritated about the lack of context available in those reports.

What did it mean to us Parkway users?

Once again, the Bee and the Bureau of Reclamation have alerted us to increased river flows. This time I can warn you that it is likely to flood Discovery Park.

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Rumors abound that the Recreation and Parks Commission is looking to generate more fees from Parkway users.

One potential source of revenue that has been identified by County staff is “training groups” that regularly use the parkway.

The proposed fee structure appears to be approximately $1 per person, per day–on top of existing parking fees. Here is the agenda item regarding fee schedules that was approved at the February  Recreation and Parks Commission meeting.

I suspect they are targeting the larger training groups we see on the parkway. It will be interesting to see them try to collect the fee and differentiate between “training groups” and “groups of people that get together to train.”

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The American River at the Guy West Bridge

It looks like the local flood control guys are worried about this storm coming through and are increasing flows from Folsom Dam.

It remains to be seen whether this will impact the trail or the upcoming Shamrock’n Half Marathon.

The Sacramento Bee has some info.

Here’s the press release from the Bureau of Reclamation.

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Rumor has it they are finally enforcing the parking restrictions at the Aquatic Center.

Some time ago, I reported here that the Aquatic Center, would begin restricting parking access to Aquatic Center users (i.e., not the runners and cyclists). And then nothing happened.

This past weekend, there was an attendant turning people away from the parking lot. There doesn’t appear to be much logic associated with the move since the lot is generally half-empty whenever I’ve been there. One runner noted that last weekend, “My wife and I felt bad for the girl they made sit out there to protect their empty parking lot.”

What to do? Get a Golden Poppy Pass, you free-loader, and then park at Nimbus Flat, right around the corner. You should do this anyhow, then you can park at any lot along the river upstream from Hazel–and support the State Parks System that you use all the time.

Running around Lake Natoma is going to be tricky for a couple of weeks while the county installs retaining walls along the north side of the lake.

Managers at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area announced that the paved bike path along the north side of Lake Natoma will be temporarily closed due to construction activities along the trail from January 24-27 and January 31-February 3, 2011. The trail closure will be in effect on those days from 7:00 AM until 4:30 PM. The specific section of the trail to be closed is the portion of the trail along the Orangevale Bluffs, from the intersection of the Main Avenue access spur to Negro Bar.

It appears that the trail will be open during the weekend. Here is a map of the closures.

You can still run between Hazel Avenue and Beals Point by using the south side trail and crossing the  Historic Truss Bridge in Historic Folsom.

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The “Lake Loop” will be considerably longer than 11-miles if you run it this weekend, as the Hazel Bridge will be closed.

You should still be able to cross Hazel on the South side of the river. Check here (PDF) for more information and plan accordingly!