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108 2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA The Great Outdoors From May to mid October, the American River is California's top venue for white- water rafting. The river flow is controlled by releases from upstream reservoirs, so rafters are assured of good conditions. Outfitters offer half-day, full-day and multi-day journeys through a choice of THE HISTORIC GOLD RUSH ERA TOWN TRUCKEE, California, left; fly-casting for trout, bottom; kayaking on the Salmon River, opposite. NAVIGATING A TOUR through the Gold Country couldn't be easier: HIGHWAY 49 —named for the original 49ers— traverses the entire region. It stretches nearly 300 miles through the Sierra foothills, from DOWNIEVILLE in the north to OAKHURST in the south, linking all the Gold Country's major towns and sights. Allow at least two days for the journey. Start with a mountain-biking excursion in DOWNIEVILLE , poke around the galleries and antique shops of NEVADA CITY and drop by the site where Marshall and Sutter found those first sparkling nuggets in COLOMA . SUTTER CREEK , with a bounty of inviting B&Bs and restaurants serving local wine, is a good place to spend the night. On your second day, explore ANGELS CAMP —perhaps pausing to wager on a frog if it's jumping season (the third week in May). Try your hand at panning for gold at COLUMBIA STATE HISTORIC PARK and take a ride on the historic steam train in JAMESTOWN'S RAILTOWN 1897 STATE HISTORIC PARK . The signatures of everyone from Mark Twain to Ulysses S. Grant to Charles Bolles (better known as Black Bart) are on display in the register of the historic MURPHYS HOTEL, one of the oldest continually operating hotels in California. murphyshotel.com several classes of whitewater. In the northern Sierra, the town of Downieville has become a center for mountain biking. Local bike shops offer rentals and shut- tles on old mining roads and single tracks from the casual to the technical, including a 15-mile ride with a 4,000-foot descent. Houseboaters flock to vast, sprawling Gold Country reservoirs such as New Melones Lake, Don Pedro Lake and Lake McClure. MATT GUSH/SHUTTERSTOCK ; MYLES MCGUINNESS/GOLD COUNTRY VISITORS ASSOCIATION. OPPOSITE: DANIEL LANE NELSON/SHUTTERSTOCK DRIVE TOUR INSIDER'S TIP