Day 6: Nevada City to Auburn

May 16, 2021

Like a lot of tourist towns, it's hard to find breakfast in Nevada City. I found a coffee shop in town and got a very good but not very big breakfast bagel sandwich. No hurry because today has moderate climbing and is more down than up. On the road at 9:45.

Deer creek 2 blocks from downtown Nevada City.

Steep 7% climb getting across Nevada City on Main street which was the main highway before the CA 49 expressway was built. It looks like everything was built before 1900.

Nevada City almost connects to the eastern sprawl of Grass Valley which is a larger town with exits on the CA 20 freeway. CA 20 is the first of 3 freeways my route crosses that connect to the Sacramento/San Francisco megalopolis. I expected this area to have heavy traffic.

Years ago I drove through Grass Valley on the CA 20 freeway. From the freeway Grass Valley appears to be 100% new suburban sprawl. I didn't know it has a large downtown historic district. I should have guessed, because every town on this route was a gold rush town.

Main Street in Grass Valley is now a pedestrian mall.

Del Oro theater was built in 1940 by United Artists, to evoke the golden age of film in the 1920's. Del Oro literally means Of the Gold. The phrase is less awkward in Spanish. A better English phrase would be Gold Country.

The Main Street pedestrian mall is one block west of CA 49, hard to miss. The closed area is 3 blocks long. Very nice. I hope it's successful for the businesses.

Former Packard car dealer in Grass Valley.

Going south from Grass Valley I pedaled a few miles on La Barr Meadows road to avoid US 49 which is a busy divided highway. I enjoyed the peace and quiet. The first 10 miles of today's ride is on quiet streets that parallel CA 49. The remainder of the day is on busy CA 49.

LaBarr Meadows road south of Grass Valley.

I rejoined CA 49 just after the divided highway shrinks to a 2-lane highway. Traffic was heavy, but there is a shoulder most of the time. The shoulder was littered with tire fragments and glass. At one point I heard a persistent click-click-click for a couple of miles. I stopped to investigate the noise and pulled a huge piece of glass out of the tire. No puncture!

Rio Oso (Bear river) is the only river I crossed that doesn't have a huge climb after the bridge. Only a 100 foot climb after the bridge, but it's more like a creek than a major river.

I pedaled through several miles of suburban development getting into Auburn, all with a bike lane. CA 49 is a 5 lane highway for several miles north of Auburn.

I got into Auburn at 2 PM. Too early to check into the motel so I detoured 2 miles downhill to downtown Auburn. My original plan was to see it tomorrow.

Placer county courthouse in downtown Auburn.

Downtown Auburn has a lot of historic buildings but only on the south side of Main Street. It appears that many historic buildings were torn down when I-80 was built.

Auburn is on the original wagon road to northern California. It would be a historic town even if there was no gold rush. The Donner pass wagon route is now I-80.

From downtown Auburn I pedaled east on Lincoln street which is the old Lincoln Highway. It has early 20th century development similar to what you see on Route 66. Lincoln Highway is the real Mother Road, the first paved road across the US. New York to San Francisco, completed in 1913.

Very nice house on the old Lincoln Highway in Auburn.

Near my motel I turned south for my final detour to Foresthill bridge. From the intersection to the bridge is 0.8 mile with 280 feet of descent. The bridge has a walkway on both sides, with a huge barrier in the middle. So I had to go the entire length of the half mile long bridge before I could cross the road and see the other side. Not a problem. Many pedestrians were out doing the round trip bridge walk.

Foresthill bridge is 730 feet tall, the 4th highest bridge in the US. #1 crosses the Arkansas river at Royal Gorge in Colorado. #2 crosses the Colorado river below Hoover Dam. #3 crosses the New river in West Virginia. I haven't biked on those bridges. Foresthill bridge must be the highest bridge I've ever biked on.

Foresthill bridge is a 4-lane bridge to nowhere. The south side of the bridge is not very populated. The bridge was built in 1973 because a proposed reservoir would flood the lower bridges. Auburn dam was never built.

View from Foresthill bridge looking downstream at the North Fork American river.

The railing is 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall but there were 4 suicides in the previous 6 months. The railing has hundreds of encouraging notes but no suicide hotline call boxes like on the Rio Grande bridge in New Mexico.

730 feet (223 m) high, 4th highest bridge in the US. 4 suicides in the last 6 months.

Foresthill bridge crosses the North Fork American river just upstream from the confluence of the North and Middle forks (middle of the photo below).

Looking downstream I could see CA 49 descend to a lower bridge that isn't visible, then climb on the other side (upper half of the photo below). I will pedal there tomorrow.

I could also see the curving bridge where Old Foresthill road crosses the North Fork and connects to CA 49. Tomorrow I will detour across that bridge for a view of Foresthill bridge.

Confluence of North and Middle forks visible below.

View from Foresthill bridge looking upstream at the North Fork American river.

The 280 foot 7% climb from the bridge to Auburn was kind of hot. 76F, no shade, not much wind. The day started and ended with 7% grades but all the hills in the middle are 4% or less. This was an easy climbing day.

I arrived at the Auburn Super 8 motel at 3:45 PM. Early enough for a 1.5 hour nap before dinner at a Bar and Grill on the other side of I-80.

The room cost only $72, my cheapest lodging west of the Sierra Nevada. That's because I'm in a suburban area next to an I-80 exit with several competing motels. Auburn is the only place I spend the night in a suburban setting during this tour.

Today's route had heavy suburban traffic as expected. The oak forested scenery is not spectacular. But it was an interesting day because the route took me to two gold rush towns and a spectacular river canyon.

Distance: 36.7 miles (59 km)
Ascent/Descent: +2082/-3099 feet (+635/-945 m)
Average Speed: 8.9 mph (14.2 km/h)

Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 231 miles (372 km)

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