A Taste of Tuolumne County, From Gold Panning to Riding the Rails

Pick up some locally baked pastries and a cup of joe at Gold Country Roasters, a coffeehouse popular with locals fond of artisanal coffee roasting. You can also shop for coffee bean sampler packs as well as a range of brewing equipment.

Columbia State Historic Park is the best-maintained Gold Rush town in the Mother Lode. At one point, this boisterous mining town was the state’s second-largest city (and only two votes shy of becoming the state capital). When gold mining no longer panned out in the late 1850s, most of the town’s 15,000 residents departed, leaving much of the mining equipment and buildings in place. In 1945, the entire town was turned into a historic park. As a result, Columbia has been preserved much as it was in the 1850s, with stagecoach rides, Western-style Victorian hotels, saloons, a newspaper office, a blacksmith’s forge, a Wells Fargo express office, and numerous other relics of California’s early mining days to check out.

At the end of a narrow, winding road in the hills above Sonora, you'll find Indigeny Reserve, a cider works and distillery that offers tastings on a 160-acre property with hiking trails, picnic areas, and organic orchards. Stop in at the immaculate, modern tasting room to try the cider, apple brandy aged in oak barrels, and fruit-infused vodka.

Fuel up for the last stretch of the trip with sophisticated, sustainable small plates, burgers, and sandwiches at The Standard Pour, a casual, airy dining spot outside Sonora that's housed in the old Pickering Lumber office building, constructed in 1924. The menu includes 19 craft brews, ranging from pilsners to stouts, sour beer, and hard kombucha.

Jamestown’s most popular attraction is Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, a train buff’s paradise featuring three Sierra steam locomotives. These great machines were used in many movies and television shows, including 'High Noon,' 'Little House on the Prairie,' 'Bonanza,' and 'My Little Chickadee.' The trains at the roundhouse are on display daily. There are also weekend rides and guided tours, as well as the Depot Store and Museum. The park is located near the center of town, on Fifth Avenue at Reservoir Road.

Situated about 4 miles southwest of Sonora on Highway 49, Jamestown is a 4-block-long cluster of old-fashioned storefronts and two rustic turn-of-the-20th-century hotels. There’s gold in these parts, too, as the marker commemorating the discovery of a 75-pound nugget attests (panning in nearby Woods Creek is a popular pastime among both locals and tourists). If Jamestown looks eerily familiar to you, that’s probably because you’ve seen it in the movies or on television. It has been one of Hollywood’s favorite Western movie sets, with scenes from such films as 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' shot here. Once you've had a mosey around town, it's time for the roughly 2-hour drive back to Sacramento.