Highway 49 Gold Country
Auburn – Coloma – Placerville · near Auburn / Placerville · Gold Country & Central Valley
Road Cycling
At a glance
- Distance
- long
- Best season
- Spring & fall; hot in summer; wildflowers & green in spring
What is here
- Scenery
- valley
- Amenities
- Historic Gold Rush towns · Oak-studded foothill scenery · American River canyon crossings · Coloma (gold discovery site)
- Best for
- A historic Gold Country rolling ride
- Features
- Ride through Gold Rush history · Auburn, Coloma & Placerville · Oak foothills & river canyons · Rolling, scenic backroads
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Rolling hills with punchy canyon climbs · Hwy 49 traffic in stretches — use shoulders · Hot in summer — ride early, carry water · Winding descents into the river canyons
- Beginner friendly
- No
Road Cycling detail
- Ride types
- loop
- Road
- mixed
- Climbing
- 3
- Ride notes
- Rolling through the heart of Gold Rush country — Highway 49 and its backroads link historic mining towns like Auburn, Coloma, and Placerville through oak-studded foothills and the canyons of the American River's forks
- Stats note
- Rolling foothill riding through Gold Rush towns; American River canyon crossings
- Seasonal
- No
- Intl tip
- Some of the most characterful rolling riding in the Sierra foothills — Highway 49 and its backroads thread the historic heart of Gold Rush country, through oak-studded hills, vineyards, and the deep canyons of the American River's forks, linking historic mining towns like Auburn, Coloma (where gold was discovered in 1848), and Placerville. Rolling and punchy rather than sustained climbing, with lots of character and history. Hot in summer (ride early; spring and fall are best); carry water, use shoulders on trafficked stretches, control the winding canyon descents.
The guide
Highway 49 and the web of backroads around it, threading through the historic heart of California's Gold Rush country, make for…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Highway 49 Gold Country — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.8, -120.89