Auburn Bridge

In the gold country of Northern California lies the quaint historic town of Auburn California.
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The easy way to get there is to take Hwy 80 from Sacramento or Lake Tahoe, but if you really want to experience gold country and all the small towns along the once lively rivers take old Hwy 49 straight into Auburn. There are a lot of old historic buildings in Auburn, so it is a great place to do some exploring before a bite to eat at any number of yummy looking restaurants.
We started the day with a late breakfast at a little hole in the wall Mexican/American eatery. Mom & Dad both thought it was delicious. The great part about eating a late breakfast was we were the only ones in the place. 1st class service. To learn more about the town of Auburn, however I don't recommend the virtual tour as it froze my webpage, check out: http://www.auburn-ca.com/. After we filled our bellies, we headed out to our actual destination the Auburn Bridge on Foresthill Road. What is commonly known as the Auburn Bridge is actually called the Foresthill Bridge. 730 feet above the American River's North Fork is quite the view and a favorite among base jumpers. Photo credit to Howard Gold

Maybe someday I'll be big enough to try.

I highly recommend taking the walk across the bridge, especially since there is a nice pedestrian pathway. When you're done exploring the top of the bridge, take Hwy 49 to Old Foresthill Rd, to the base of the bridge (or if you're a base jumper there is a quicker way down, hehe). There is tons to do down in the Auburn State Recreation Area. We decided to explore the area with a light hike. There's a great path that goes right to the base of the bridge. It looks even bigger from down there. There are hikes all over the sides of the ravine, if you really want to get a workout in.

If you want more info on recreation in the area, check out:http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=502.

We also went down to the river. It was a bit cold in the late fall, so we skipped rocks and played on the shore. Dad even got a rock skipped from one side to the other! In the summer, this would be a great spot for a dip in the river to cool off. So if you're in the area I highly recommend checking out Auburn and the bridge. If not and you want to learn more, check out: http://www.placercountyhistoricalsociety.org/Histories/Bridge.htm and for a detailed history of what almost was check out: http://www.foothill.net/~andreaj/Bridge.htm. Are there any cool bridges in your area?