California Gold Country

 

Lake of the Springs RV Park

On the final day of September, we said “Goodbye” to Weed and continued south on I-5.  About 230 miles later we arrived at Lake of the Springs.  This beautiful campground is tucked into the rolling Sierra foothills with lots of oak and pine trees, nice views and trails along the lake. 

 

Deer and wild turkeys wander freely throughout the park at all hours as if we humans weren’t there.  It was amazing to sit outside in the evening and watch a family of deer pass through the campsite, just 20 feet away.

A small portion of this sprawling campground offered full hook-ups (water, electric and sewer).  Since it was fall, there we no crowds and we were able to nail down one of the most convenient spots in the whole place with full hook-ups, peekaboo view of the lake, and within easy walking distance of the campground store, lodge, mini-golf, shuffleboard and laundromat.

Many RVers are avid TV watchers who often have satellite systems that are roof mounted or set up on tripods.  Either system requires careful aim at the right satellite to get good TV reception, and trees are often in the way. So, when we’re lacking good entertainment, it’s always fun to watch our neighbors fiddle with their dish antenna, sometimes for hours, trying to find the best location.  We also hear some folks suggesting that park staff “top” the trees to improve their TV viewing.   Our TV reception comes to us via our simple rooftop antenna . . . no satellites involved.  If we can’t get a station, we listen to the radio, other music, or enjoy the silence and sounds of nature.  At Lake of the Springs, we could pick up just two TV stations.  One was a shopping channel with sound but no picture and the other was a religious station with nothing but Bible scriptures.  We didn’t watch much TV and didn't miss it a bit.  Ron did go over to the lodge to watch a couple football games, since the lodge had a satellite dish.
 

Lake of the Springs is a couple miles from Oregon House, which is not really a recognizable town, but a scattered rural community.  The “town center” of Oregon House is a combination general store and deli where local folks can have breakfast or lunch, get gas or propane, rent a video, read the newspaper and buy their milk, bread, liquor, fishing tackle and other necessities.  It’s no Walmart, but it serves the purpose in a much more personal manner.  The local Post Office is a mile or so down the road.

Dobbins Farmers Market

A few miles further down the road is Dobbins, another small community.  We missed it the first time we drove by, but later returned in search of the Saturday morning farmers market.  It’s a very relaxed and friendly market with a nice variety of fruits and vegetables, along with arts and crafts items such as jewelry, tie-died apparel and some very unique bird houses.  We picked up some multi-colored cherry tomatoes, berries and a very sweet melon of some kind, similar to a honey dew.



Dobbins Store

Like Oregon House, Dobbins also has a small market, along with a school, Grange hall and attractive small white church.

One morning we drove over to Brownsville, another small community.  We were standing in the middle of a bakery parking lot looking around and wondering where downtown was when a friendly lady named Lynn noticed that we were possibly lost.  She asked if we needed directions and, after we explained our purpose for being there, we all went into the bakery and talked over breakfast.  It turned out that Lynn had lived in Malibu and worked for many years as a set designer for television sit-coms.  When she retired she moved to Whitefish, Montana for a short time, but it was too cold for her.  So, she bought a small farm (75 ac.) just outside Brownsville and is in the process of restoring the 130 year old farmhouse and the grounds.  She was excited about her project and, since we showed interest, she invited us over and gave us a tour.

Partially restored farmhouse

Lynn's horses love pears

Lynn had two “rescue horses” that she adopted from Horse Plus Humane Society near Rackerby.  She suggested that we stop by and see what they are doing, so we did.

We got a personal tour of the facility and got to meet some of the horses that are being cared for.  Horse Plus takes in a few goats, cows and other animals, but specializes in horses that are mistreated, unwanted or in need of care.  They help about 1,200 horses a year.  A main mission is to save horses from “killer buyers” who gather up unwanted or sick horses, ship them out of state and sell them for slaughter.  Unfortunately, there are more horses in need of good homes than there are homes.  So, if you have a small ranch, you can adopt a very nice healthy horse from Horse Plus for around $400 . . . an excellent deal!

One of the horses ready for adoption

This guy needs a home too.

We have both been through this territory before and have visited the historic gold mining sites and gold rush towns.  So, we didn’t want to do too much of that again.  We did, however, drive up the road to spend an afternoon in Grass Valley and Nevada City.

In 1850, George Knight stubbed his toe on a piece of quartz laced with gold and that started a rush to Grass Valley, which became the richest gold mining city in California.  Unlike many gold towns that became ghost towns, Grass Valley survived and prospered.  It now has about 13,000 residents, a busy and attractive downtown, and plenty of tourist attractions, including the famous Empire Mine (now a state park) with its 367 miles of passageways.

Grass Valley

We walked the downtown and stopped at a local saloon for a cool one during Happy Hour.  The main attraction was a small bar dog who sat on his stool and greeted everyone coming in and out.  Very cute!

This dog has his own bar stool.

Nevada City, another historic gold mining town, is a short distance from Grass Valley. We stopped to pick up a little railroad history at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum.  It’s a small but enthusiastic operation and they stayed open after the 5:00 pm closing time to make sure we got the full tour and more information that we could digest.  Volunteers are rebuilding some very old wooden rail cars while maintaining a couple of old narrow gauge steam engines.

Rebuilding an old wooden railroad car.

We had a great time during our two weeks at Lake of the Springs.  Now it’s time to move along down the road a few more miles.