Malakoff Diggins (Diggins Loop)
North Bloomfield / Nevada City (Nevada County) · near Nevada City · Gold Country & Central Valley
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 2.6 miles
- Elevation gain
- 300 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Spring–fall · Snow possible in winter on the remote access road; summer hot
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- State park vehicle day-use fee ($10 summer / $5 off-season). Dogs leashed, not in historic buildings. The final miles are a narrow, winding, partly-unpaved mountain road.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Eroded hydraulic-mining cliffs (pink/gold/white pinnacles) · Preserved 1850s ghost town · Hydraulic-mining history · Hiller Tunnel
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- The final miles are a narrow, winding, partly-unpaved mountain road — allow 45+ minutes from Nevada City and don't rely on a low-clearance route in wet weather.
The guide
Malakoff Diggins preserves the scarred, otherworldly amphitheater left by the world's largest hydraulic gold mine — cliffs of p…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Malakoff Diggins (Diggins Loop) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.3706, -120.9086