California's Gold Country

Gold Country runs the Highway 49 corridor from Grass Valley down to Mariposa — oak, granite, and red dirt where the miners once dug. Elevation gives the grapes what the valley can’t: cool nights, long days, zinfandel that tastes like the hillside. Sutter Creek, Murphys, Plymouth — three-block towns where the tasting room is the saloon, the patio is the sidewalk, and the dog beside you is half the regulars. Trails pour off the Miners Route into the Mokelumne and Cosumnes river canyons. Come for the wine, stay for the walk, and leave your pack happily dusty in the back seat.