Apple Hill

Yummy Apples! On a short day trip in Northern California we explored Apple Hill. Located off of Hwy 50, between Sacramento, and South Lake Tahoe, in the towns of Placerville and Camino, are the Apple Hill orchards. From early September through November, and some places even December, harvest and share their delicious treats. Many of the growers belong to the Apple Hill Growers Association. With their website http://www.applehill.com/ of maps and information it is very easy to plan your trip to Apple Hill.

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But with no planning, just a desire for apple pie late last October, we decided to go for it.

Our first find was Plubell's Family Orchard. As we parked we saw and elderly gentleman packing his car trunk full of gallons of apple cider. It seemed a little excessive, until we got a free taste at the entrance to the store. Wow, delicious, or at least my parents claim, as I was still to small to have any. Needless to say we left with a gallon to take home, along with some fresh picked apples.

After a calming drive through the countryside around some of the orchards, following the Apple Hill logo signs, we found High Hill Ranch. This was quite the place. This seemed to be the one stop shopping spot if you only have time for a quick Apple Hill adventure. (Everyone else seemed to think so also, as it was the busiest place we saw all day). It's even where the reporters from Good Day Sacramento had pie. (Check it out at: http://cbs13.com/video/?cid=14 ).There was a large bakery and restaurant, where we got some apple pie to take home, a great food stop and fruit stand and many other small shops for food or handcrafted items. They even had a giant pumpkin to sit on. It's all around a grassy hill, with a large pond, where you can eat as you watch the fish and ducks. I wanted to be bigger so I could roll down that grassy hill. Someday soon!

On the other side of the pond, was the best stop, the Fudge Factory Farm. Yummy!! We recommend the Double Dark Chocolate fudge, but it all looked delicious.

Our Apple Hill adventure took place at the end of October, during the middle of the week. Therefore, not all of the orchards were open. While it was quieter, and nice to enjoy without large crowds, it did appear that on the weekends more orchards were open, and there would be a lot more to do (shopping, games, hay rides, etc.) on the weekends. Dates and times for each of the orchards are available at: http://www.applehill.com/site/growers.html. We only reported on a few on the orchards and bakeries, but that was only due to time constraints and lack of room in our stomachs. We loved everything we sampled, and next time we'll have to check out other places.

Apple Hill has so much to offer, peaches, plums, cherries and other summer fruit are available in the summer, apples in the fall, pumpkins just before Halloween and even Christmas Trees in December. So if you're in the area, I highly recommend checking it out.