May 18, 2021
Day 8: Placerville to Jackson
I had breakfast a block away at Mel's Diner and was packed up and out of my room at 9 AM. But there was one problem. My bike was locked in the conference room and nobody was at the front desk to unlock it. I left a message and a woman came just before 10 AM to unlock the room. I got on the road shortly after 10. That's not terrible because today's distance and climbing is moderate. But it will give me less time to explore today's 5 gold rush towns.
Getting out of Placerville CA 49 climbs 300 feet with 10% grade. I remember that steep grade from 2010. Fortunately the remainder of the day has grades no steeper than 7%.
After the steep climb in town it's all downhill to Diamond Springs. In 2010 I turned east at Diamond Springs to follow the Western Express bike route across the Sierra Nevada mountains. Today I stay in the foothills on CA 49 south.
I hoped to ride a couple miles on the El Dorado trail but the only access road had multiple No Trespassing signs. So I stayed on busy CA 49.
El Dorado is the first of today's 5 gold rush towns. The words literally mean "the golden" but the best translation is "the gilded one". The population was several thousand during the gold rush. Today's population is 4000 but it looks smaller. I saw only a handful of gold rush era buildings.
Traffic was heavy for the first 6 miles from Placerville to El Dorado. Afterwards the traffic was more moderate, with single vehicles passing me instead of lines of vehicles passing me.
I enjoyed the scenery on today's route. The landscape is still mostly oak trees but the trees are more in clusters, allowing more open views. I saw only a few vineyards and farms. Houses are rare outside the towns.
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Nashville is a tiny farm village in the valley of the Cosumnes river. It surely had some gold mining along the river, but it's not big enough to count as one of today's gold mining towns.
Today I cross only one river. The Cosumnes river is smaller than most of the other rivers I crossed. 1000 foot descent before the bridge but only a 250 foot climb after the bridge.
Plymouth is today's second gold rush town. It has only a handful of gold rush buildings still remaining.
Plymouth had a successful gold mine but remained a small town during the gold rush. Today's population is 1076 and growing. Now it's the gateway town to a winery region known as the Shenandoah Valley.
Shortly after Plymouth is a descent to 650 feet elevation, the day's lowest elevation. But there is no river in the valley. Most of the remainder of the day is uphill, gaining 1000 feet before a short descent to Jackson at the end of the day.
Traffic increased noticeably after the CA 16 intersection. Fortunately after 3 miles I escaped busy CA 49 for several miles by taking the historic alternate through Amador City and Sutter Creek. It's the original road.
Today's 3rd gold rush town is Amador City. It's a small isolated town and most of the old downtown buildings survive. I was impressed and would like to spend more time there someday.
Amador City had very productive quartz ore gold mines. The population was 4000-6000 in the 1850's. Today Amador City is an incorporated city with 185 residents.
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On the edge of downtown Amador City I stopped to look at the Keystone Mine ruins. I have seen many gold rush towns with fancy buildings, but few actual mines. The sign says the mine operated from 1851 until 1952. Tunnels reached a depth of 2680 feet (817 m). The mine employed 100 men and produced $24,000,000 worth of gold.
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I passed the main entrance to the Lincoln Mine which is a currently operating gold mine, resuming production in 2014. The original mine opened in 1851 and has opened and closed many times over the years.
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Today's 4th gold rush town is Sutter Creek. It's the most impressive of today's 5 gold rush towns. It would be an interesting place to spend the night but the lodging is all more than $200/night. So I will just see it for a few minutes and continue on to Jackson. I wish I could spend more time here.
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Sutter Creek was obviously a prosperous town during the gold rush. It's so well preserved that it deserves to be a popular tourist destination.
I continued the steady hill climb after Sutter Creek. The summit is just north of Jackson, today's destination. The summit has an open view to the the southwest but I still can't see the Sierra Nevada in the distance.
Jackson is the 5th and final gold rush town on today's route. It's a good example of a gold rush town but I liked Sutter Creek better.
Jackson is a growing town, population 4840. The population was probably similar during the gold rush. Fortunately the historic downtown is mostly intact.
National Hotel and its steakhouse are closed, appear to be closed for the duration of the pandemic.
I arrived at the Best Western hotel at 5:10 PM after looking around town for a few minutes. My $113 room includes breakfast! The large room includes all the usual amenities. The hotel is only 3 blocks from the historic downtown area.
Dinner options were limited because most restaurants in town are closed on Monday and Tuesday. The only place open was Denny's in front of the hotel.
Today was sunny with a high of 77F (25C) and a gentle south wind. Perfect.
Traffic was heavy when I wasn't on the historic alternate. CA 49 has a shoulder maybe 1/3 of the time. The late start caused me to get into Jackson during the 5 PM rush hour. The traffic wears me down.
Distance: 34.6 miles (55.4 km)
Ascent/Descent: +2552/-3128 feet (+778/-954 m)
Average Speed: 8.0 mph (12.8 km/h)
Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 296 miles (476 km)
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