This weekend, I visited Sac, with my mom & brother for a family vacation. I was really looking forward to was a bike along the American River and a chance to drop in our lines during the salmon run. After entering the bike path at Old Town at about 8:30 this morning, we went down to the river near Discovery Park, and as we headed up the bike bath, we discovered that salmon aren't the only migratory species along the American River - hidden amongst the trees and bridge underpasses, is a huge population of homeless people. We biked further up the trail, which is nearly unmarked, and crossed a bridge, hoping to try our fishing luck on the other bank. We dropped into a pretty little beach area, and started setting up our rods, when a young woman approached us, apparently out walking her dog and having and intense conversation on her cell phone. As she came closer, it was apparent that the dog was a stray, named ""Vee"", and she didn't have a cell phone. We moved further up the beach, hoping to have a few minutes of peaceful fishing, but she followed us up the river. After about 5 minutes of milling around us, she insisted that there was a dead body under the bushes, and wanted my brother to leave me on the beach alone while he followed her to ""check it out"". We reeled in our lines, told her we'd ""check out"" the body from above the bank, and peddeled outta there. She and her dog actually followed us up the bank, onto the trail, and when we last looked back, was crossing the bridge after us. Now, home in So. Cal, I am just thankful we weren't hurt or robbed, because it was a scary situation. PS - there was no dead body by the river. The city/county of whoever maintains the trail needs to get some lifeguards or patrols down there. Its like the beginning of a bad horror movie titled...""the river people""...and this is coming from a girl who lives in Echo Park.
Cons: Extreme Homeless Problem
more