Amador Gold Country
Volcano / Fiddletown / Shenandoah · near Sutter Creek / Plymouth · Gold Country & Central Valley
Gravel & Bikepacking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Spring & fall
What is here
- Terrain
- foothills
- Amenities
- Shenandoah Valley wineries · Historic Volcano & Fiddletown · Rolling foothill backroads · Gravel-event terrain
- Best for
- Rolling wine-country gravel through historic hamlets
- Features
- Shenandoah Valley wine country · Timeless Volcano & Fiddletown · Rolling foothill lanes · Gravel-race-friendly terrain
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Summer heat · Rolling climbs · Some traffic on wine-country roads · Poison oak
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Gravel & Bikepacking detail
- Ride types
- day-gravel · race
- Surface
- mixed
- Remoteness
- 2
- Riding
- Quiet paved-and-dirt lanes through the Shenandoah Valley wine country and the timeless hamlets of Volcano and Fiddletown — rolling, historic, gravel-race-friendly foothills
- Terrain note
- 800–3,000 ft rolling foothills; mixed lanes; hot summers
- Camping
- No
- Intl tip
- Amador's rolling foothills — the Shenandoah Valley wine country and timeless hamlets of Volcano, Fiddletown, and Sutter Creek. Quiet paved-and-dirt lanes through zinfandel vineyards and barely-changed Gold Rush towns. Approachable and scenic (great for newer riders), with excellent winery stops. Best spring/fall; hot summers; punchy rolling climbs. A laid-back, atmospheric, wine-soaked Gold Country ride away from the crowds.
- Trip lengths
- day
The guide
Amador County's Gold Country — the rolling foothills around the Shenandoah Valley and the beautifully preserved hamlets of Volc…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Amador Gold Country — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.44, -120.63