Title: October 23, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49
Hike Info : Description : Background : Animals
Hike Info:
Type: Car, Touring, Hiking
Trail head: Shady Glen on Highway 49 near Auburn
Trail: Robie Point Firebreak Road
Destination: Robie Point
Distance: 1.96 miles 1
Elevation Rise: 890'
Descent: 890‘
Maximum Elevation: 1,226'
Minimum Elevation: 1,054'
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| Stone wall next to road |
I slept in until 6:40 this morning. The shades are really dark and I lost track of time until I looked at the clock. My computer was really slow. But it turned out there was no lightning in the area I looked at. There was some which was up in the Stanislaus, so I let them know. By this time, it is about 8:15. I took a shower and got packed up.
We are going to our friends up here in Sacramento for breakfast. Jamie has had some medical issues, but seems well enough to have us over. Sherri is doing her morning routine and we do not leave until after 10.
Peter gets all of us a breakfast burrito. It is both good and large. It was good talking with both Peter and Jamie. We last saw them in March. After an hour and a half, the conversation lagged and it was time for us to be on the road.
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| North Fork American River |
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| Bridge and North Fork |
A little ways out of Auburn we come to a sign saying Auburn State Recreation Area. There is a turn out with what looks like a trailhead. This is the start of the Robie Point Firebreak Trail. Google Maps calls this Shady Glen, but I cannot find any other references to this name. It looks more like a road than anything else. The start has a pretty steep down slope. Then it is just a slight downhill. We are wondering how well we will be going back up this. While there are not true autumn colors, mixed in with the greens there is some yellows peeking through.
In the distance, there is an enormous steel, green bridge, which I think it must be for Highway 49. Later on, looking at a map, I realize it is for a road called the Old Foresthill Road. Wonder how it rated such a bridge. This crosses the North Fork of the American River. We continue our walk and come out at Robie Point parking area. The last third of a mile is mostly uphill. We go on to the top of a knoll, but there does not seem to be a very good view as the top is surrounded by trees.
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| Sherri on Robie Pt Trail |
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| Sutter's Mille |
Sherri really wants to stop at an apple store-not an Apple Store--to get a box of apples to cook with and enjoy. We are aiming for 24Carrot Apple. Later on, I realized that we had gone to another place further up called Rainbow Orchards. Our friend Cathey had recommended this one. After buying the box, Sherri has some apple cider and an apple donut. We also finished off the burrito from this morning for our evening meal. I think this will be enough for me.
By this time it is closing in on 4:30. We talked about various options. It did not seem like Placerville had a reasonable hotel-the rooms were going for over $200 a night. We thought about various places to go and settled on Quality Inn in Jackson. That should be pretty simple, right? After all, it is just an hour down Highway 49.
Things were going along fine, for a while. We went down Highway 50 to Placerville and got onto 49. We were rolling along quite nicely until we got to the town of El Dorado, We came to a stop sign. The truck on my left turned left and after stopping, I went straight. About five or six miles later I realized that I had not seen any highway 49 signs nor did it look like highway 49. I asked Sherri to confirm we were on 49 and she could not.
With the help of Google Maps we figured out that we were not on 49. The best way was to go through Shingle Springs and then Lapote, hitting highway 16 until we reached 49 again around Sutter Creek. And that is what we did. A bit of a different country than what we were used to.
When we get into Jackson, we find the Quality Inn-down a steep driveway. It does not seem to be well used tonight. We got a room, Room 104. My little detour cost us about half an hour, so we arrived at about 6:15. We rested much of the rest of the evening. Sherri had a sandwich, I just munched on peanut butter pretzels and granola. By 9:50, I am ready for bed.
Background
Western States Trail. The History Expeditions web site has an extensive write up on this trail. The route was used by Native Americans, then by those going from the silver fields of the Comstock mines to the California gold fields and back. It is now the trail which the Western States 100 mile Endurance run is held from Lake Tahoe to Auburn.
Submitted to TripAdvisor:
Hampton Inn, Rancho Cordova. We stopped here because it is close to some friends of ours and had a king sized bed available. We got there in the early evening and stayed for one night. The room was clean and the bed was very comfortable. We cannot speak much as we had breakfast with our friends. It was quiet, being on the third floor. There was a slight negative. You are charged for parking, which is on their website. What the website does not say is that there is also tax on top of the parking fee. When I brought this to the hotel’s attention, they provided compensation in the form of Honor points.
Animals
