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Old Posted Sep 21, 2009, 6:39 PM
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California Gold Country, Pt 2

For Labor Day weekend, a good friend of mine and I spent the weekend driving down Highway 49 in the Sierra foothills from Auburn to Sonora, visiting many of the old historic mining towns. Most of these towns now are filled with restaurants and shopping, and the gold country has become more wine country.

"Part 1" I did a while back, featuring where I grew up

Gold Country:
Part 1: Auburn, Grass Valley Nevada City
Part 2: Coloma, Placerville, Nashville, Drytown, Amador City, Sutter Creek
Part 3: Angels Camp, San Andreas, Jackson
Part 4: Sonora

From google maps, a frame of reference where we traveled.



Coloma, CA

It's appropriate to start here as John W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma in 1848, starting the "California Gold Rush".

































The American River















Placerville (pop 9,994)

While 40 miles east, Placerville is today considered part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. County seat of El Dorado County.





















































































































Nashville, CA

Clearly nothing like the Tennessee version. My friend and I thought this was the type of place in which you would break down in a horror movie and get murdered. Luckily, that didn't happen.







It didn't really look that way to us



Drytown, CA (pop 200)

Named after the creek it's near (Dry Creek) not after any lack of drinking establishments. Reportedly the oldest community in Amador County (1850s).





















Amador City (pop 213)

Supposedly the smallest incorporated city in California.















































This was interesting and random novelty, especially since it was in disrepair.































Sutter Creek (pop 2,303)





























































































We finally arrived at our overnight destination, Sonora.



________________________________________________________________

Tour of California

1: Los Angeles, 2: Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, 3: Riverside, Santa Ana, Long Beach, 4: San Jose, 5: San Diego, 6: Fresno, 7: Stockton, Modesto, 8: Gold Country, 9: Eureka, Arcata, 10: Monterey, Carmel, 11: Santa Cruz, 12: Sacramento Pt One, 13: Sacramento Pt Two, 14: Roseville & Folsom, 15: Concord & Walnut Creek, 16: Tri-Valley, 17: Berkeley, Emeryville, 18: Fremont, 19: Santa Clara, Mountain View, Palo Alto, 20: Redwood City, Foster City, San Mateo, 21: Oakland, 22: Benicia, Vallejo, 23: Napa, St. Helena, 24: Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, 25: San Rafael, 26: Larkspur, Mill Valley, 27: Sausalito, Tiburon, 28: Hollister, San Juan Bautista, 29: Long Beach 2008, 30: Venice, 31: Santa Monica, 32: Sacramento Pt 3, 33: Solvang, 34: Alameda, 35: Knights Ferry, 36: California Zephyr, 37: Colfax, 38: Davis, 39: Oakdale, 40: San Francisco Pt 1, San Francisco Pt 2, 41: Chico, Redding, 42: Kings Beach, 43: Merced

Last edited by stepper77; Sep 30, 2009 at 10:40 PM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2009, 9:41 PM
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Nice! I love all the old communities nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Your "Tour of California" is becoming quite comprehensive!

Last edited by LAsam; Sep 22, 2009 at 6:26 PM.
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Old Posted Sep 21, 2009, 11:19 PM
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Nice pics! If you guys ever go spelunking in Angels Camp I highly recommend going through the Human Pancake.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 6:11 AM
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Really interesting thread.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 6:57 AM
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Awesome pics of some charming old mountain towns.

Is this on Jackson Highway near Rancho Murieta?
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 2:27 PM
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Neat!
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 3:08 PM
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The foothills are so nice, you can still really get the feel of the old days. Your threads are huge, but worth the wait....
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 3:10 PM
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Great pictures! All of these towns look really well preserved.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 4:46 PM
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Thanks for all the comments!

Yes, LAsam this "tour" that I started has really grown into something much broader than I originally imagined. But, I appreciate this forum for providing me the opportunity. Growing up, I've heard of all these places, but, probably wouldn't have explored as much of California as I have without photography. And I managed to rope one of my best friends into it in the process!

To fflint, that building was on Highway 49, on the side of the road, south of Jackson. I pulled this from the California State Parks website:

NO. 39 BUTTE STORE - This is the only structure remaining of Butte City, prosperous mining town of the 1850s. As early as 1854 Xavier Benoist was conducting a store and bakery in this building. Later Ginocchio had a merchandise business here. Location: On State Hwy 49 (P.M. 1.4), 2.6 mi S of Jackson

To Fusey, which cave are you talking about? We were going to go to Mercer Caves or California Caverns, but, ran out of time.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 4:55 PM
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So are you just exploring these places or documenting them?
It sounds fun, I grew up just down in the valley between Lodi & Stockton, and I can say that most people rarely ever venture up to these town, or just pass by on their way to Lake Tahoe or other ski areas.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 5:52 PM
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SLO-- the area around Aburn is beautiful and has some fantastic mountain biking. I forget the names of the trails but they were a lot of fun.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 6:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stepper77 View Post
To Fusey, which cave are you talking about? We were going to go to Mercer Caves or California Caverns, but, ran out of time.
California caverns. They even let you repel through the cave a few times.
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Old Posted Sep 22, 2009, 8:12 PM
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*cry*... you didn't get my home town of Jackson! I guess I'll have to wait for the next installment! Great composition though! And yes, for the record, "Pig Turd Alley" is a real street name in Amador City. When I lived in Amador City, I lived at number 2 God's Hill Road before the county came and renumbered everything...
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Old Posted Nov 19, 2009, 6:56 AM
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Coloma, the most random hometown on these boards probably.


This is also one of the best book stores around.
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Old Posted Nov 25, 2009, 5:03 PM
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I've always found the Gold Country to be very mysterious and alluring, just steeped in history. There's just "something" about that whole area. Thanks for the tour!
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