Route 49 through Gold Rush Country

Saturday, May 30th, 2014. We broke camp early and headed back south from Hetch Hetchy area back down to Route 120, then West winding through the mountains clinging to the road as it ribboned it's way down in elevation. We Picked up Route 49 in Mocassin and headed north through several small towns. As we traveled along we could see evidence in the very low levels of the reservoirs of California's great drought and scarcity of water.

In Jackson we continued a couple of miles on 49 to Sutter Creek to visit the town where John Sutter discovered Gold back in 1849. Then we headed back (South) to Jackson pick up Route 88 North/East.

Near Pioneer we took a side road past Indian Grinding Rock to Black Chasm Cavern, a National Natural Landmark which receives no Federal Funding. Hence about $15 per person charge for a nice guided tour down into the caverns. They have the best helectite crystal display in the west, which when we finally reached that "room" my camera battery exhausted. I couldn't run up to the truck for the spare, darn! Interestingly we were told almost no bats or birds come into these caves as they are too cool, and there were only two "animals" that live here. A vegetarian arachnid, (of which I could not remember the names) and a type of zoo-plankton in the water both eating plant like fungi, either on the rocks or in the water.

From there we returned back up the road to Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park. It sits in open meadow with large valley oaks that once provided Native Americans with an ample supply of acorns. This 135 acre park preserves a great outcropping of marbleized limestone with 1,185 mortar holes-the largest collection of bedrock mortars anywhere in North America. Chaw'se is the Miwok word for the mortar cups that formed in the stone slab as the Miwok people pounded acorns and other seed into meal. The largest chaw'se example can be seen at the park. The main grinding rock also features 363 petroglyphs including circles, animal and human tracks and wavy lines. Some of these carvings are thought to be as old as 2,000 to 3,000 years old; they are now becoming difficult to see. There were other exhibits illustrating what life might have been like for these natives.

Alas we headed up Route 88 as far as we could for the day and found a lovely campsite on the north side of Silver Lake. Here is where I found a few striking red blooms emerging right out of the soil at the base of sequoias. They were almost 12 inches tall. They are called "Snow-Plants" and feed on the fungi of the sequoias roots. Amazing!

"Going Places With Smiling Faces!"