10 AUTUMN adventures
There are few California spots so perfect for enjoying autumn’s pleasures than the Gold Country. In the rolling hills of Tuolumne County, aspens turn golden and dogwoods take on crimson hues. Plump pumpkins nestle on the vine and harvest festivals abound. Plus, there are ghosts — and we’re not talking the trick-or-treat variety.
Here are 10 autumn adventures to get you started, from leaf-peeping hikes to haunted trains, spectral spirits and some delicious bites, too.
1 Gold Rush ghosts
Witches, superheroes and ruby-slippered Dorothys are a common sight in October. But ghosts come calling year-round at Columbia State Historic Park. Take a ghost walk ($10) — the next one is Oct. 21 — with historian and author Carol Biederman and enjoy an afternoon of haunting tales and spooky sightings in this perfectly preserved Gold Rush town. You might even catch a glimpse of the flitting phantoms of a dastardly 19th-century landlord and his short-lived tenant, or the dapper Fallon House Theatre owner in a top hat, wreathed in cigar smoke in a clearly no-smoking-allowed venue.
Fall brings other special events, too, from Gold Rush Days on Saturday and Nov. 11 to candy canemaking demonstrations at the park’s Nelson’s Candy Kitchen every weekend from Thanksgiving through Dec. 24. There’s a lottery, if you’d like to participate and not just watch the sugary fun. Holiday Lamplight Tours ($25) on Dec. 1-2 become an immersive theatrical experience as a merry play unfolds in the streets, followed by music, dancing and refreshments for all.
Details: Find out more — and order tickets for the ghost and lamplight tours — at friendsofcolumbiashp.com.
2 Hayrides and cider
Imagine the most idyllic harvest festival, a Norman Rockwell vision of hayrides, orchards and even a covered bridge. Now give it a modern twist with some wood-fired pizza, taqueria fare and a ciderworks, where bright apple flavors are captured in fizzy, fermented form — and set it on the Indigeny Reserve’s 160-acre expanse in the hills outside Sonora.
Indigeny’s Fall Festival runs every Saturday through October and includes not just hayrides, but a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, outdoor games and food carts that vary from weekend to weekend but always include Pizza Be Good’s wood-fired deliciousness.
Details: The Fall Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays in October. The ciderworks and distillery tasting room is open daily at 14679 Summers Lane, Sonora; indigenyreserve.com.
3 A leaf-peeping picnic
Sadly, there are no dragons at Dragoon Gulch. (We’d hoped it was a typo!) Sonora’s picturesque urban trail was named for the gold-mining cavalry soldiers — dragoons — encamped here in 1849. Despite its dragonless state, it’s a lovely trail, with a 2.5-mile loop that offers views of the city below and colorful fall foliage along the way.
Before you hit the trail, grab some sustenance downtown, an iced latte ($3.50) at the new Union Hill Coffee, perhaps, or picnic fare at the charming Lighthouse Deli — a slow-roasted pulled pork sandwich ($9.75) or a pastrami on marble rye ($6.25 for a half, $9.50 for a whole sandwich). You’ll find picnic tables at Woods Creek Park, and benches along the trail.
Details: Woods Creek Park is considered the primary trailhead and parking is ample, but there’s a caveat: The actual trailhead is a quarter-mile away. You’ll spend those first 5 or 10 minutes trekking uphill through a residential neighborhood as you play “spot the trail marker.” The secondary and smaller (and ADA accessible) parking lot is at the end of Alpine Lane, just steps from the Dragoon Gulch trail. Union Hill Coffee is open on weekdays at 63 N. Washington St.; www.unionhillcoffee.com. The Lighthouse Deli is open Monday-Saturday at 28 S. Washington St., www.thelighthousedeli.com.
4 Hollywood haunts
Jamestown may be tiny, but its trains are Hollywood-level famous. We’re talking Clint Eastwood, Michael J. Fox and Mae West-caliber famous. Scores of movies and entire TV series have been filmed at the town’s Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. The Sierra No. 3 locomotive still steams past the “Petticoat Junction” water tower, and the movie prop gallery and outdoor exhibits include several photo op spots, so you, too, can play Bobbie Jo, Betty Jo or Billie Jo, petticoats and all.
Best way to appreciate all that cinematic lore and enjoy some fall foliage, too? Take a Walk of Fame stroll from Rocca Park to Railtown. Some 30 brass medallions are embedded in the sidewalk along the way, each one commemorating a movie or series filmed here, from “High Noon” and “Bonanza” to “My Little Chickadee” and “Back to the Future III.”
5 Skeleton crews
Docents decked in vintage garb run the trains at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park and lead tours of the historic roundhouse, one of just two one of two continuously operating steam locomotive roundhouses in the country. Guided tours and self-guided walks are available every day, and on weekends from April to October, you can actually board a vintage train and take a 45-minute ride through the rolling hills of the Gold Country and into the past. Adding to the fun: During October, the Harvest Haunt Express runs with a “skeleton crew.” If you’re there Oct. 20 or 21, you can catch a spooky Tales of the Roundhouse Haunted Tour, too.
Details: Railtown ($5 admission) is open daily for docent-led and self-guided tours. Excursion trains ($10-$15) depart the station at 10:30 a.m. and noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m. on weekends through October. Open daily at 18115 Fifth Ave. in Jamestown; www.railtown1897.org.
6 Gold Rush eats
Need fuel for that Jamestown jaunt? Jamestown’s cow-centric diner, the Woods Creek Cafe, is a spectacle, from the Holstein-patterned ceiling fans to the perfect-for-tots rocking cows in the waiting area and the epic gravy-doused breakfast bread bowls. Grab breakfast tacos ($9.75) or corned beef hash and eggs ($9.95), or indulge your sweet tooth with French toast ($8.95) made from banana-nut bread. The Service Station, Jamestown’s new bricklined gastropub, serves weekend brunch — hello, sausage-studded Jamestown Omelet ($13) — as well as thick, juicy burgers ($15, including fries) tucked in a Jimtown roll and topped with Fiscalini chive cheddar. There’s patio seating, too.
Details: The cash-only Woods Creek Cafe is open daily at 18256 Highway 108, Jamestown. The Service Station is open Thursday-Sunday at 18242 Main St., Jamestown; jamestownservicestation.com.
7 Gleaming gold
This is the Gold Country. You have to at least try and get some of the shiny metal for yourself, right? Fortunately, there are prospectors up here who are eager to show you how — and October’s warm days will make the water feel less chilly. The Matelot Gulch Mining Co. store at Columbia State Historic Park is housed in a Gold Rush-era beekeeper’s cabin, with mining troughs outside, beckoning fortune-seekers and tourists alike. It’s authentic: Back in the day, miners sent river water to Columbia using a system of ditches and flumes, running the sandy, muddy water into troughs, where they could pan for gold. And you can, too. The Eureka option ($12) includes a rental pan and a private lesson — and unlike the real Gold Rush, gleaming flakes are guaranteed.
Prefer to do your gold panning in a creek? Jamestown’s Gold Prospecting Adventures has re-created a mining camp on the shores of a Mother Lode creek, and leads guided expeditions of two hours or more. Call ahead, then swing by the easily recognized livery — there’s a hanging man out front — to start your trek.
Details: Find the Matelot Gulch Mining Co. Store at 22675 Main St., Columbia; matelotgulchminingco.com. Gold Prospecting Adventures depart from the livery at 18170 Main St., Jamestown; www.goldprospecting.com.
8 Pumpkin everything
Pumpkin patches are a common sight in October, as are pumpkin-spiced lattes, pumpkin-spiced cookies and pumpkinspiced everything else. But here’s a fun one. We’ve always had a sweet spot for the caramels at Sonora’s Candy Vault — especially the salted chocolate-caramel ones — but their pumpkin-spice caramels add a whole new autumn slant to the confection. If you frequent the Powell’s Sweet Shoppe in Lafayette or Burlingame, you’ll feel right at home in this treasury of treats, this repository of sweets, this vault of, well, candy.
Push open the polished brass doors, check out the “Willy Wonka” screenings and shelves of nostalgia-inducing bonbons, then choose a few caramels for yourself. Why should trick-or-treat be relegated to childhood?
Details: Open daily at 42 S. Washington St., Sonora; www.facebook.com/TheCandyVault.
9 Sarsaparilla floats
Sundaes and floats shouldn’t be relegated to childhood, either. Sonora’s Legends is a soda fountain, bookstore and antique-store combination unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The 1850s-era saloon on the main floor boasts a massive wooden bar that came around the Horn. You won’t be ordering booze, though. Legends serves ice cream by the scoop or in sundaes, splits and floats — or affogato, if you can’t decide between ice cream and espresso. Be sure to head for the basement afterward, where a veritable maze of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves leads to reading nooks, cozy corners, historic memorabilia and, of course, the entrance to a mining tunnel. This is the Gold Country, after all.
Details: Open daily at 131 S. Washington St., Sonora; bit.ly/SonoraLegends
10 All Hallows fest
If you’re a fan of Celtic festivals, like the huge Sonora Celtic Faire held here each March, put this on your calendar: Sonora’s All Hallows Fantasy Faire will celebrate the Celtic new year Oct. 28-29 with a lavish, costumed extravaganza that includes hundreds of fantastical fairy-tale creatures, plus jugglers, magicians, musicians, fire spinners and more performing in themed realms — such as myths and legends, warrior land and pirate’s cove — throughout the county fairgrounds.
Details: Advance tickets are $5-$14, or $7-$18 at the gate. The fair unfolds at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora; www. allhallowsfaire.com.