This is a beautiful trail through the forest that is rapidly recovering from the Caldor Fire! Nice…read moreeasily accessible trail (all paved) skirts the edge of a large canyon, with views to the East and Southeast. Parking area is small.

Not a business but a great hike. You get cell reception at the highest point of the trail.read more

Shealor Lake Trailhead…read more One of the first initiation hikes for this lady in recovery and for that, a little 3 mile hike round trip fit the mold nicely. Easily accessible from Hwy 88 and is a good starter hike for the virgin outdoor walker. There are no facilities at this trail so be prepared although there is a decent sized lot below. The start of the trail meanders through alpine groves as well as large granite rock that dots this landscape in an alien way. Once at the saddle, it is barely under 7600 ft altitude and not very trying on the lungs but the view it affords you is spectacular. From one point you can see Silver Lake and amazing peaks of surrounding wilderness. Once at lake level, it is pretty calm and perfect for picnics and even a dip in the lake if one is so inclined. It was warm facing the sun and the granite rocks are just warm enough to lie on. The trek back is slightly elevated but still comfortable. Just don't veer off the path like I did and wear shorts. The manzanita bushes wreaked havoc on my bare legs in a crisscross pattern.

Such a beautiful and serene spot! While on ice house road you encounter a split where you can keep…read moreright for the millionaire trail parking or left for the bassi trail lot. If you keep right and park, it's a bit longer of a hike to the falls whereas if you keep left and drive up further, the hike is only about .5 miles. We intended on doing the longer hike but got confused and kept driving. Either way, it's nice that there are multiple options that lead to the same beautiful waterfall. We got to the falls around 9:30am and it was pretty empty but started getting very busy by 11am.

This is a very beautiful hike. I would definitely go in the springtime because the water is flowing…read morepretty heavily. A lot of picture spots in here as you hike up the river. When you get to the top, you see Bassey Falls, where people were laying out somewhere swimming others just enjoy enjoying lunch but overall it was a really nice day.

Great experience here! The mine was cool, a short and sweet self guided tour. Which I actually…read morereally liked. You can get through both the mine and the blacksmith demo in a little over an hour. Sometimes little attention spans can't handle a full days worth of historical education (myself included). Do not skip the blacksmith demo. The blacksmith we had was a great guy. Very knowledgeable and passionate about his craft. We very much enjoyed chatting with him, and we even bought 3 hand forged pieces he made. I forget his name but he was a totally cool guy. A retired fire captain with a ton of cool knowledge and fun stories. We loved him he was the highlight of the visit. We enjoyed chatting with the gal in the stamp room too.

My family and I trekked up the mountain to meet our friends at Gold Bug Park yesterday in…read morePlacerville. It was the first visit for all 7 of us and we had a great time! Our first stop was the mine cave that was very cold inside and educational - they give you a phone that plays audio with all of the historical facts while walking through the mine. It's about 15 minutes and we really enjoyed ourselves. The staff member who handles the cave tour was great with getting the 7 of us situated and explaining the rules. We also checked out the Blacksmith and the Stamping Mill - both were also very entertaining and educational. My daughter got to hammer a square nail into a tree truck - cool way to leave a little mark on the place. Gold Bug Park also offers Gem Panning which would did not check out, but we saw a couple of kids having fun while doing it. Entrance to the park is free, but the mine cave tour is $12 per adult, $8 per kid - 5 and under are free! Overall, we had a lot of fun! So many cool artifacts and history to explore. I thought every single staff member was knowledgeable, friendly and did a great job keeping our kids engaged! We would definitely come back to Gold Bug Park next time we are in Placerville!

This park is in downtown Placerville, CA. It's one of the prettiest neighborhood parks that I've…read moreever seen. Gorgeous aspen (or pine, one of those) trees surround the park. In its four acres is a lighted little league baseball field (home to the Hangtown League) complete with an electronic scoreboard and snack shack, play ground, picnic tables with bbq pits, and restrooms. The park is on Clark Street which is a narrow neighborhood gravel road. Drive cautiously because the street turns into hybrid part parking lot and street. On game days, the parking lot fills up quickly. When that happens, parking on Clark Street is scarce and the best bet is to park on Pacific Street and hike in. There are some handicapped parking spots located at the far end of the parking lot behind the little snack shack. From that end, there is a walking ramp that leads to all areas of the park including the walking path around the back field. So if you have folks in your group that would benefit from using the ADA ramps, it's best to unload from back there. Besides that access point, there are stairs, with hand rails, in the front parking lot. The parking lot has only one entrance and exit point. A big shout out to the Placerville Rotary Club for creating this park and helping to maintain it. Great community partnership.

1/5/2019: I wrote several reviews for James Marshall Monument and Coloma State Park; however, all…read moremy reviews mysteriously disappeared! Yah~YELP! Where ARE my reviews, eh? THEREFORE, I searched ALL the YELP! photos I posted: I found a few photos dated 1/5/2019 as PROOF I did write my reviews for both locations. Disappointingly, ALL my photos AND reviews for James Marshall's Monument and Coloma State Park event MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED AFTER 2019! UNHAPPY! Anyway, in June 2022, I attended a Military Funeral I personally arranged at James Marshall's Monument for my deceased Army friend who passed away plus, instrumentally preventing his family from spending an egregious, heinous sum for funeral expenses, i.e., I contacted the Coloma State Park's Head Supervisor Ranger on my friend's family's behalf. Blessed, the Head Park Ranger Supervisor contacted my friend's family a couple days later who only had to pay $75.00 for reserving James Marshall's Monument location for my friend's Military funeral! The location presided a PRIVATE, dignified, Military funeral which involved the US Army Color Guards who fired off a 21-Gun Salute for my deceased Army friend, ample parking provided for all attending the Military Funeral, conveniently located picnic tables for food/libations setup, and more importantly, an easy, short stroll to James Marshall's Monument where the 21-Gun Salute was presided. My friend's family were so grateful to Coloma State Park's Head Park Ranger Supervisor for allowing presiding a Military funeral which was quite a distance from the Coloma State Park's American River parking lot. Reiterating, reserving the James Marshall's Monument location for my friend's family and all who attended my friend's Military Funeral, it was so PRIVATE, awesome, easy, uncomplicated set up due to the picnic tables for the food and libations were conveniently adjacent to the clean restrooms, and overall, a gorgeous, tranquil, serene, appropriate location presiding a somber, dignified, Military funeral. Finally, presiding a Military Funeral at James Marshall's Monument for my friend's family will always be remembered and revered. Best of all, all who attended my friend's Military funeral have ALL returned exploring James Marshall's Monument--again, James Marshall's log cabin, checking the construction updates for both St. John's Catholic Church and Emmanuel Church, Sutter's Mill, gold panning the American River, sent snail mail from the Coloma Post Office, ate at my friend, Noah's Argonaut Cafe, and hiked all the trails, too! BTW: Since I'm 100% Service-Connected Vietnam Veteran possessing a Veteran's Distinguished Park Pass, reserving James Marshall's Monument would be NO FEE for me! FYI: Resource Building For PHYSICALLY Applying For A Veteran's Distinguished Park Pass Resource Building 1416 9th Street Sacramento CA 95814 (916) 657-4380 https://www.mapquest.com/us/california/resources-building-375367030 www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=30958​ Contact CA Park Pass Sales Office: (800) 777-0369 ext. 2 Send email: parkpassinfo@parks.ca.gov

Awesome historical stop. This cute 1800s old town brings the California Gold Rush era to life with…read moreover 20 historic mining buildings. You can still see a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, a cafe, event venue (Gold Trail Grange), museum and a charming little post office that is actually still functional. It's a great spot for all, kids enjoy the fun gold-panning activities, adults interest to learn the Gold Rush history, walking trail, picnic and hanging out by the river. We also walked around the Mt. Murphy Road Bridge, this bridge offers great views of the South Fork American River and the white-water rafting, please watch out for cars, the bridge is narrow! Highly recommend stopping by this place.

Quads burning like never before, I took off my hat as I inhaled the undeniably clean, fresh air at…read morejust under 10,000 feet. Looking down at the other mountain peaks made me realize that if I had ever used the word "breathtaking" to describe anything else before, I was surely mistaken. Just a few ways to describe the view and the feeling of accomplishment after hiking Horsetail Falls and scaling Pyramid Peak = awe-inspiring, hair-raising, heart-stopping, and overwhelmingly thrilling! Simply amazing. I just can't believe that I did it! (sigh) There are many ways to get up to Pyramid Peak and if you like, you can drive half of the way up on the backside but my favorite way is one of the hardest ways to get to the top. You have to start at the bottom and hike all the way up. You can park by Twin Bridges right off of Hwy 50 and pay a small fee for parking. You will also need a day permit unless you choose to backpack and stay overnight, in which case you'll need an overnighter permit. The first half of the hike is the Horsetail Falls trail. Depending on which variation of that trail you choose, there will be moments of a gradual climb and moments of practically rock-climbling. On a hiking scale, this trail has been rated a level 5 (very difficult) in some areas but there are definitely more moderate alternatives. Tips: - If you want to make it to the top of Horsetail Falls to proceed onto Pyramid Peak, and back to the base before sunset, you better hit the trails no later than 7-8am in the morning. - Take into strong consideration the people that you're hiking with. This will determine pace and possibly cause your group to split into two once at the top of Horsetail Falls. One group will choose to journey up to the top of Pyramid Peak (another couple of hours of hard-core hiking and climbing) and another group will stay behind to re-coop. Every time I've hiked this peak, we have split into two groups. - Wear GOOD hiking boots (that are well broken into), dress light (bring a windbreaker or trash bag for the wind & snow at the top), and bring a water bottle and water filter. - Do not hit this trail without wearing serious sunscreen and a good hat. Everyone gets burned at the top! Also, if you know that you're going to do this hike, do yourself and everyone else a favor by physically preparing for it. You are going to be hiking and climbing ALL day! The Horsetail Falls hike will take at least 3-4 hours (sometimes 5 hours depending on your group) and the Pyramid Peak stretch will be another couple of hours. Then, you have to hike back down and while it is faster, it's much harder on your knees. Regardless of the shape that you're in, this hike WILL humble you. It's not for those who wake up one morning and decide - I am going to do a killer hike today! If you do that, you will pay the price and probably not see the top of Pyramid Peak. The first time a group of us hiked Pyramid Peak was several years ago. We opted to drop-in through Echo Lake, took a boat ride across to the western side, and backpacked down towards the top of Horsetail Falls, which is also the base of Pyramid Peak. After whipping-out our sleeping bags, we crashed. Needless to say, no one had trouble falling asleep. In the morning, we ate and hit the trails! I'll never forget that first Pyramid Peak Hike. If you don't want to carry a windbreaker with you, a trash bag is a great alternative. It gets chilly towards the top of the peak (wind + snow), so you can turn the trash bag into a pullover. Quick and easy! And when you head back down from the top, the trash bag turns into a great butt cover for sliding down the snow! It's awesome! The following years, we decided to camp in the Sierra's before heading to Horsetail Falls. Since we had a big group, our goal was to hit the trail by 7ish. I've done this hike more than a handful of times but I learn something new every single time. Additionally, I discover new scenery that I didn't notice the year before. Some years, I was in decent shape and other years, I thought I was going to collapse from exhaustion. It's a crazy hike but also, wonderfully rewarding! As my military Dad often said to me when I was growing-up - No pain, no gain! It builds character! It'll put hair on your chest! Uhhhh, I can do without that last one!

Very Beautiful and worth it, I went here with a group of…read morefriend around May and this has a very breathtaking view of waterfalls, the hike was not difficult, about 7 miles up and down wear long pant, and good hiking shoes, some part is very slippery choose a nice sunny day, it is so worth it to enjoy a day away from the city with beautiful scene and fresh air

The Mormon Emigrant Trail is 30 miles of scenic drive that begins at Sly Park Dam and ends at State…read moreHighway 88 near Silver Lake. It was originally named Iron Mountain Road, but that was changed in the 1980s to commemorate the journey of members of the former Mormon Battalion. Gayle and I have been driving between the Bay Area and Genoa for years. That has usually involved taking US 50 or CA 88. Taking the Mormon Emigrant Trail road allowed us to "split the difference" and take advantage of a really stunning section of road. And once you arrive at CA 88 (heading to Nevada), the scenery just gets better. The only downside is that this is a seasonal road and it appears that Cal-Trans provided minimal services on it. One practical consequence of that is once the first good snow hits, the road is as good as closed. But within those other 3 seasons, it's one great ride.