The Cronan Ranch contains 12 miles of trails for hiking, biking,
horseback riding, geocaching, fishing, bird watching and other
recreation. The Park is open daily from sunrise to sunset year
round. There is a wide variety of terrain to choose from, including
gently sloped to challenging hills (Scoobert's favorite),
oak woodland and gentle riverfront trails. Each season offers a
diverse experience. Spring wildflowers on the ranch are not to be
missed. Summer offers golden hills and hot temperatures. In fall,
the ranch is full of changing colors and winter rains bring hills
of green.
The cache is hidden in one of the two structures that you can
see on the horizon from the parking area.
I think they were used for feeding livestock. If you have any
better information as to what they were used for please share.
The cache is a sandwich sized Rubbermaid container.
Please be sure you put the lid on tight before replacing the
cache.
The cache is NOT in, under or stuck to the large white tool box
currently next to these structures.
Cultural History
People have lived on this land for centuries. Early on, Native
Californians migrated up from the hot Central Valley in the spring
and summer to fish, hunt and gather plants to eat. These first
families camped near the river until it became too hot and then
moved east on up to the cool conifer forests for the late summer
season.
During the Gold Rush beginning in 1849, parts of the South Fork
American River were mined for gold. One of the early miners was
William Bacchi who left his home town of Canto Ticino in 1851 to
come to America. For most, the gold rush fever did not last long
and by 1856, Bacchi had acquired land and cattle in El Dorado
County marking the beginnings of the Bacchi Ranch.
What is today called the Cronan Ranch was first acquired by the
Central Pacific Railroad through a Federal land patent in 1887.
Michael Cronan acquired the property from the Central Pacific
Railroad in 1891. The ranch was grazed by the Cronan family until
1918 when it was sold to George and James Murphy. The Murphy family
used the ranch for a time and then sold the property to Byron and
Francis Bacchi in 1945 for inclusion in the Bacchi Ranch. Although
this portion of the Bacchi Ranch was sold in 2004 to create the
Park, the Bacchi Ranch remains active today on nearby lands.
The land for this park and river trail corridor was purchased by
the American River
Conservancy, BLM and other partners over a period of 16 years
and placed into public trust to be used for recreation and wildlife
conservation. The purchase was made possible through generous
donations by individuals, private foundations and government
agencies, including the Wildlife Conservation Board and the
California State Resources Agency. Ultimately, the Cronan Ranch
Regional Trails Park will connect with the South Fork American
River corridor trail that will run from Greenwood Creek to Salmon
Falls.
On May 17, 2005, the 1,414 Cronan Ranch was turned over to the
Bureau of Land Management and officially became the Cronan Ranch
Regional Trails and Park.
Trailhead and parking for Cronan Ranch are available in the
vicinity of N 38° 49.621, W 120° 59.353.
The American River
Conservancy have an online
Trail Map for the Cronan Ranch area.
Please log your find or no find online so I will know how the
cache is doing.
If you feel my coordinates are off please post your coordinates
with your log.
So I can make adjustments if necessary.
No more boring log entries.
Hey folks how about leaving a log entry that tells me something
about finding this geocache or about your day of geocaching? We are
all guilty of the old cut and paste but how about something more
than "Good cache TNLNSL TFTC" on 10+ caches in one day? We cache
owners like to hear about your experiences. It gives us a feeling
of being there when we can't be, how the cache is doing, and it
lets us get to know you in a virtual kind of way. That doesn't mean
it has to be long just not boring.
Remember the cache owners and anyone with a watch on the cache
will read your log, how about making it interesting.
We Thank You.