Hikers have late night experience near Spicer witnessed in Calaveras County, California

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As a new High School graduate in 1977, I planned a camping trip to an area near a boy scout camp (Wolfboro) I was familar with, with my new girl friend. As an Eagle scout and an athelete (I was recruited to play footbal at Cal) I wanted to impress my friend who loved the outdoors. The destination was around a dammed watershed called Spicers Resevoir. There was a dirt (logging road) turn off from Hwy 4, between Bear Valley and Angles Camp. We drove down this windy dirt road (some 7-15 miles), crossing over a little bridge that crossed a very shallow Stanislaus River (since it was very hot during this summer month), until we reached the end of the road at the dam. We packed about a mile down the river (?Green waters River) that ran out the bottom of the dam. Only one side of the river had a hiking trail. The other side of the river was a very steep and rocky (e.g. boulders) bank. This was in the middle of the week, and I knew from my scouting and other trips that very few people were see...