Emerald Pools (South Yuba)
Lang Crossing (Bowman Lake Rd, off Hwy 20) · near Nevada City / Truckee · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Swimming & Hot Springs
At a glance
- Temperature
- 55–68°F
- Cost
- FREE · No fee at Lang Crossing trailhead
- Season
- July–September (snowmelt calms and pools 'warm' slightly) · Deadly flows in spring
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
- Safety
- Snowmelt-fed and genuinely cold; spring flows are dangerous — this is a mid-to-late-summer spot. Polished granite is slick; water shoes help. Limited parking fills early on weekends.
Swimming & Hot Springs detail
- Nickname
- The Granite Jewel Box
- Type
- swimming-hole
- Temp
- cold
- Clothing optional
- No
- Directions
- I-80 to Hwy 20 (exit 161), north past Camp Spaulding, right on Bowman Lake Road to the bridge; park in the lot on the right. Short, flat trail to the Upper Pools where Jordan Creek meets the South Yuba; Lower Pools ~0.75 mi downstream at a waterfall's base.
- Pools
- Crystal-clear, genuinely emerald pools carved through polished granite in old-growth pine forest — Upper Pools at the creek confluence, Lower Pools below a waterfall, with light cliff-jump options and warm granite slabs for drying out.
- Intl tip
- Ninety minutes from Sacramento, two hours from the Bay — pair with Nevada City (the Gold Country's prettiest town, in the MTB guide) or a Hwy 49 Yuba day. The surrounding Bowman Lake Road corridor hides more granite pools for the exploratory.
The guide
The Emerald Pools are exactly what the name promises — Caribbean-clear, green-glowing pools threaded through polished white gra…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Emerald Pools (South Yuba) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.313, -120.656