Off the Beaten Path Places in Northern CA

[Bella85]

Check out Plumas County, it is along hwy 70, just West of Reno, NV. There are a lot of small towns through out the county with cute stores and places to visit. Also it is very beautiful there, many lakes and rivers to check out and do some hiking. Some that I recommend are crystal lake (you can drive up to it), a place called the cascades (its a very mild hike through the woods in which you can see a river which you are hiking along/towards, at the end will be small waterfalls). The cascades are my favorite, the hike is beautiful and when you get to the end it is beautiful. There are many other places to visit so google plumas county. Also if you like to fish all these places have great fishing and swimming. The cascades has great swimming holes. Good luck and have a great vacation!

[ecvMatt]

Gold country!!!

Uncle Tom's Cabin 24 miles outside Georgetown
Malakoff Diggins SHP
City of Placerville, CA - Homepage
Angels Camp California - Welcome
Gold Country Visitors Association Home
Nevada City Chamber of Commerce
Downieville - California Ghost Town
The Coloma Valley, 1848 California Gold Discovery Site
El Dorado County Visitors Authority.

[desiree253]

I hear Chester (next to Lake Almanor) is the town where they filmed part of the classic movie American Griffiti. They used to have a wonderful sandwich place with the BEST Pastrami sandwiches called The Knotbumper..

Lake Almanor is definitely an awesome site to visit (lakeside cabins are wonderful as well). I believe this man-made Lake is one of the largest in the world and was made on top of an old ghost town???

[murlough23]

Originally Posted by desiree253

I hear Chester (next to Lake Almanor) is the town where they filmed part of the classic movie American Griffiti. They used to have a wonderful sandwich place with the BEST Pastrami sandwiches called The Knotbumper..

Lake Almanor is definitely an awesome site to visit (lakeside cabins are wonderful as well). I believe this man-made Lake is one of the largest in the world and was made on top of an old ghost town???

Our planned route from Redding to Lake Tahoe takes us right by that lake, apparently. So I'm sure that'll be a good time to stop and take a break.

We've got the itinerary roughly worked out. It's going to look something like this:

Day 1: Los Angeles --> Monterey/Castroville --> Fremont
Day 2: Stay in Fremont area (for a friend's wedding), possibly drive up to Mt. Diablo
Day 3: Fremont --> Shelter Cove (Lost Coast)
Day 4: Shelter Cove --> Avenue of the Giants --> Eureka/Arcata (plus Redwood National Park if we have time; if not, that'll be Day 5)
Day 5: Eureka/Arcata --> Weaverville --> Redding (plus Lake Shasta if there's time)
Day 6: Redding --> Lassen Volcanic National Park --> Lake Almanor --> Incline Village (or somewhere in North Tahoe)
Day 7: Incline Village --> South Lake Tahoe --> Sacramento
Day 8: Sacramento --> Yosemite (will probably stay in Mariposa or somewhere outside the park)
Day 9: Yosemite --> Mono Lake --> Mammoth Lakes --> Bishop/Lone Pine (not sure of the best place to spend the night in this area)
Day 10: Bishop/Lone Pine --> L.A. (probably via Palmdale on 14. Not a terribly interesting route, but at this point we'll likely want the fastest way home).

This doesn't include every little detour along the way, just the places I want to get to by the end of each day and some major waypoints in between.

I do realize that by taking the trip in August, Mount Diablo may just have a view of haze and Yosemite will be crowded beyond belief (dealt with that last summer in Zion), plus some places will just be ridiculously hot, but then, so will L.A. The advantages are that the roads through Lassen and Tioga Pass will be open (as well as the little detail of our friend's wedding not being movable).

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by desiree253

I hear Chester (next to Lake Almanor) is the town where they filmed part of the classic movie American Griffiti.

That movie was mostly filmed in Marin County.

American Graffiti (1973) - Filming locations