Gold Country, CA

From Tahoe we took the scenic 50 mile route through the Sierra Nevada mountains on Highway 50 to Leon's old stomping grounds, Pollock Pines, Ca. Highway 50 was first opened in 1852 and was the Pony Express route in 1860. We settled in at Ghost Mountain Ranch, an rv park in need of a little spiffing up.
We spent a delightful day exploring Coloma, (photos) an historical state park, where gold was discovered by James Marshall in 1848. Marshall and John Sutter were building a sawmill when the gold flakes were discovered in the south fork of the American River. It became a sizable town of 10,000 during the gold rush that followed before the town was mined out and many of the old landmarks still exist.

Placerville is another old gold town, 10 miles from Coloma, named after the placer gold found in the streams. It is in the center of the Gold Country. It served as a supply town for the surrounding gold towns during the heyday. We toured old "Hangtown," as Placerville was also called for the people that died by the rope. (Photos) There are many other gold towns along highway 49 that we would like to visit but we are not well adjusted to these August temperatures in the low 80s, (VBG) and most of the towns are along very slow winding roads.


After a visit to the Boeger Winery to pick up a bottle of wine, the day ended with a delightful visit and dinner with Inge and Don, Leon's former neighbors. Of course we had to sample a few wines to know which to buy. I especially enjoyed seeing Inge's creativity displayed throughout the house and yard. We could hardly see Leon's former home across the steet for the many pine trees growing tall on the front slope.

The hillside between Placerville and Pollock Pines is known as Apple Hill and there are numerous fruit orchards, berry farms, Christmas tree farms, and vineyards covering the hillside. Their busy time is October due to the apple harvest but we enjoyed roaming on a warm summer afternoon before meeting Bud and Sandy for dinner. It is a little warm in Pollock Pines, perhaps mid 80s, so we think we will head back over to south shore Tahoe.