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Scenic Mother Lode: Strike it rich on three Gold Country drives that take you off the beaten path - Travel - Recreation - California

Lora J. Finnegan

* Creeping along in commute traffic, the glare of brake lights hot red, you can easily succumb to daydreams. If you breathe enough truck exhaust, it isn't hard at all to imagine the simple pleasure of winding along an empty two-lane ribbon of asphalt: The windows are down, the sun is warm on your face, and the sweet scent of meadow grasses--or sage, or pine forest, if you prefer--washes over you like a benediction.

There's no better time and place to live out that fantasy than spring in California's Gold Country. State 49 is the backbone of your escape--linking three very different drives that bring you to a covered bridge, green hills and wildflowers, and a ghost town. Pick one route and make a day of it, or do all three over a long weekend. Sneak out midweek and you'll have the Mother Lode pretty much to yourself.

1 The covered bridge loop

DRIVE LENGTH: About 40 miles (loop).

CONTACT: Nevada City Chamber of Commerce: (800) 655-6569, (530) 265-2692, or www.nevadacitychamber.com.

ATTRACTIONS: Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park. (530) 265-2740. South Yuba River State Park. Guided walks from March through May. 11 A.M. Sat-Sun. (530) 432-2546.

NEVADA CITY DINING: Cirino's Restaurant. 309 Broad St.; (530) 265-2246. Citronee Bistro and Wine Bar. Closed Sun. 320 Broad; (530) 265-5697.

Rough & Ready, Tyler Foote Crossing, French Corral: The names hint at the colorful character of this loop drive. Start in Grass Valley, wind west through hills bursting with Scotch broom and poppies, then continue past the sleepy burg of Rough & Ready (once so independent it seceded from the Union) before turning north to Bridgeport. For a slow but scenic alternative, take Bitney Springs Road to Pleasant Valley Road.

South Yuba River State Park skips across its namesake river over a 20-mile stretch upstream from Engle-bright Reservoir. The heart of the park is at the bend in the river called Bridgeport, where a restored covered bridge--built in 1862 as a toll bridge for wagons and livestock--stretches 229 feet across the river. Docents note that it's the world's longest single-span covered bridge of truss-and-arch construction. For a reliably good wildflower hike, take the Buttermilk Bend Trail, where poppies, soapwort, and Indian paintbrush provide a bountiful showing. The trail climbs 1.4 miles (one way) alongside an old mining ditch overlooking the South Yuba as it dashes over pale gray granite boulders far below.

Continue driving north and east and you'll bump over narrow dirt roads (follow park signs) to Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, where some of the Gold Rush's most extensive hydraulic mining took place. The mining left its mark: a dramatic gorge of ocher cliffs that you can see from the road or explore on hiking trails. A museum chronicles the gold history; ranger-led walking tours explore clapboard hotels, stables, and a drugstore--the remains of North Bloomfield. From there, North Bloom-field Road takes you back into Nevada City. (It's steep and part gravel; check road conditions with park rangers.)

In Nevada City, window-shop along Broad Street, then enjoy dinner at one of the town's many restaurants. Cirino's offers Old World Italian cuisine; for elegant Mediterranean fare, try Citronee Bistro and Wine Bar.

2 The big trees and famous frogs drive

DRIVE LENGTH: About 45 miles from Copperopolis to Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

CONTACT: Calaveras Visitors Bureau: (800) 225-3764, (209) 736-0049, or www.visitcalaveras.org.

ATTRACTIONS: Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Plenty of good hiking trails. $2 per vehicle, camping $12 per night. (209) 795-2334 or (800) 444-7275 (camping reservations). Chatom Vineyards. 11-5 daily. 1969 State 4, Douglas Flat; (209) 736-6500. New Melones Lake. 320 campsites. $14. (209) 536-9094.

ANGELS CAMP DINING: Camps Restaurant at Greenhorn Creek Resort. 711 McCauley Ranch Rd.; (209) 736-8181. Crusco's Ristorante. Open Thu-Mon (closed for vacation most of June). 1240 S. Main St.; (209) 736-1440.

"They were the first discovered and are the best known," John Muir wrote of the giant sequoias at today's Calaveras Big Trees State Park. "Thousands of travelers from every country have come to pay them tribute." (For more on the trees' discovery, see page 20.)

These big trees are still worthy of tribute and make a fine destination for a backroads drive. Start off on State 4, which enters Calaveras County just east of Stockton, a handy back door into the Gold Country from the Central Valley.

Rolling first through grassy, oakstudded foothills, you'll pass swaths of poppies, goldfields, and buttercups bordering the road near tiny Copperopolis. Fast-growing Angels Camp is well worth a stop for its restaurants, shops, and sidewalk markers celebrating leggy champions--like Rosie the Ribbiter--from past competitions of the frog-jumping contest inspired by Mark Twain's famous story. From here you can detour south on State 49 to New Melones Lake to camp, hike, or rent a boat for fishing (bass, trout, kokanee) or waterskiing.

Continue east on State 4, and the highway skirts the wine country sprouting around Murphys. Chatom Vineyards is right on the highway and is a good stop for picnicking and tasting some estate-grown Zinfandel.

The highway continues to climb, and by the time you hit the giant sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, the altitude is high enough that patches of snow may remain along the trails that wind through the Sierra redwood giants. The most popular walk is the interpretive trail into the North Grove to the massive Empire State tree, with its base circumference of 30 feet. The 6,000 acre park has six picnic areas and 129 campsites.

Schedule your return so you hit Angels Camp in time for an early dinner. There's traditional and contemporary Italian fare at Crusco's Ristorante, in a 150-year-old stone building, but catching the sunset from the veranda at Camps Restaurant over a meal of, say, seared ahi tuna is the perfect way to end the day.

3 The ghosts and old roses loop

DRIVE LENGTH: About 65 miles (loop). CONTACT: Mariposa Visitor Bureau: (209) 966-3685, (866) 425-3366, or www.homeofyosemite.com. ATTRACTIONS: California State Mining & Mineral Museum. 10-6 daily; $1. 5005 Fairgrounds Rd., mariposa; (209) 742-7625. Lake McClure. Day use $5.50, camping from $14. (209) 378-2521. Mariposa Museum and History Center. 10-4:30 daily; suggested donation $3. 5119 Jessie St., (209) 966-2924. Northern Mariposa County History Center. 10-4 Wed-Sun. State 49 and State 132, Coulterville; (209) 878-3015. MARIPOSA DINING: Charles Street Dinner House. California cuisine in a former home more than 100 years old. Closed Mon-Tue. 5043 State 140; (209) 966-2366. Grizzly Grill. Family fare beneath an old tin ceiling. 5024 State 140; (209) 966-4242.

Gold mining was hard, dirty work," explains Peggy Ronning, curator at the California State Mining & Mineral Museum, as you step into the musty mine shaft. "Miners inhaled noxious gases, endured cave-ins and explosions," she adds. "But at least the mine was a democratic place--everybody had a terrible, dangerous job."

The museum is located in Mariposa, which had some of the Gold Country's richest strikes. Mariposa has been a county seat since 1850, and its stately courthouse, dating from 1854, is California's oldest such building in continuous use. The Mariposa Museum and History Center is a fun stop for kids, who can poke into displays of a miners' cabin or a schoolhouse and watch a noisy five-stamp mill pound ore-bearing rocks.

From Mariposa, you head north on State 49, then west on Bear Valley Road through a land rich in foothill shadings: Oak groves alternate with flaming yellow mustard, shooting stars, and fairy lanterns. The sleepy town of Hornitos is pretty much a ghost town today But it still has a few residents, along with its Spanish plaza, a granite jail, and a steepled church on a grassy hill, where grave-stones tell tales of tragedy and early death. Drive on past Lake McSwain--look for scraggly osprey nests where the road crosses the rushing Merced River. Take Merced Falls Road to Lake McClure for a cooling dip, some fishing, or a picnic by the water.

Coulterville, on the National Register of Historic Places, was another mining center. Walk by the stately old Hotel Jeffery at State 49 and Main Street; it's said that Theodore Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson slept here. (Sadly the hotel just closed.) The Northern Mariposa County History Center, in the old Coulter Hotel, has more mining artifacts. Pick up the free Antique Rose Tour brochure, which will guide you on a walk past the still-blooming beauties of old Coulterville--and work up your appetite for dinner back in Mariposa.

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