If you want to go

Where: South Fork American River; Marshall Gold Discovery State Park Location: Coloma, Sierra foothills north of Placerville, El Dorado County Activities: Rafting, 3-mile to 20-mile trips available on South Fork American; gold panning/instruction, gold discovery tour in Coloma Cost: Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, $8 parking, Gold Discovery Museum $6 per person; sample rafting price: full-day, 20-mile float on a weekday out of Chili Bar on South Fork American River, $99 per person. Many pricing, trip options. Contacts: Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, 530-622-3470, www.parks.ca.gov; Coloma Visitor Information, www.coloma.com; Adventure Connection Rafting, 530-626-7385, https://raftcalifornia.com.

HOW TO GET THERE

From San Francisco: Take Interstate 80 east over the Bay Bridge and drive 80 miles to greater Sacramento area. Continue on I-80 Business/US-50 East (signed for I-80 Business/Sacramento/South Lake Tahoe) and drive 5.3 miles to merge with U.S. 50 East. Take U.S. 50 East and drive 32 miles to Shingle Springs and exit for Ponderosa Road. Take exit for Ponderosa Road, and go 0.3 of a mile to South Shingle Road. Turn left and go 0.2 of a mile to North Single Road. Turn right and drive 4 miles to Green Valley Road, and continue straight for 0.6 of a mile to Lotus Road. Continue onto Lotus and drive 6.7 miles to Highway 49/Coloma Road. Turn right on 49 and drive 0.5 of a mile to Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park (visitor center/restrooms on right; gold panning demonstrations on left).

Note: Don’t let all the turns scare you; this is both the the prettiest and shortest route (by 15 minutes) to Coloma, far preferred over driving to Placerville and turning north on 49.

Distances: 8 miles from Placerville, 46 miles from Sacramento, 112 miles from Concord, 128 miles from San Rafael, 132 miles from downtown San Francisco, 164 miles from San Jose.