oh2doula

We are visiting San Francisco in June. I am looking for a place for my nine year old to "pan for gold". We are planning to drive Highway 1 - spend the night in Fort Bragg - then to Weaverville. Coming home we will be driving Highway 5 - I think - to Sacramento BUT I dont know how much time we will have - Thanks in advance!!

Also wanting to see lighthouses - I saw Point Arena - has anyone been to this one??


Rita

tomfuller

In addition to the American River I told you about in the other topic, there are public gold panning areas along the Yuba River.
Be sure to know exactly where you are panning as there are private claims.
I can't tell you anything about Point Arena. My favorite 2 lighthouses on the CA coast are south of San Francisco. They are Pescadero and Pigeon Point. Each of these has a HI Hostel on the site if you are looking for a cheap place to stay and a great place to take a sunset picture.

elnap29

As tomfuller mentioned earlier, you need to be in the area of Highway 49 for gold panning, the area of the '49er Gold Rush. Unless there are areas near Weaverville. I don't know.
But Hwy 1 is not the right location for gold panning.

Giovanna

We visit lighthouses whenever we can. Here's a website for California Lighthouses:

http://www.erealms.com/californialighthouses/

oh2doula

thanks - thats what I was finding but wanted to be sure - sounds like another trip!!!

Wellvis

It looks like there is some gold panning activity available in the Weaverville area, but trying to search for it without running into the spam sites is very difficult. Perhaps once you arrive you can find a local "tourist" type gold panning adventure similar to those more commonly found in the Gold Rush area. Personally I'd just stay on Highway 101 when you head south from Fort Bragg - it's much more enjoyable than taking Highway 5 or 99 to Sacramento.

You cannot pan for lighthouses, by the way. They are far too big to fit in your pan.

janisj

Wellvis: "Personally I'd just stay on Highway 101 when you head south from Fort Bragg - it's much more enjoyable than taking Highway 5 or 99 to Sacramento."

They aren't traveling south from Ft Bragg. They are starting at SFO, driving Hwy 1 all the way to Ft Bragg for the first night, then on to Weaverville day 2. They are flying out of SMF so I-5 from Redding to Sacramento is about the only logical route.

oh2doula

Wellvis = my son is living in Weaverville so I will put him on the trail to find a local spot to pan. We will be there a couple days. thank you. Good to see people have a sense of humor!!

nanabee

The only lighthouse I've been to in the area is Point Reyes. If it's not on the way to your final desination and therefore not practical to visit I apologize in advance. However, if it is I highly recommend seeing it. We drove over to Point Reyes from the Sonomoa County area one afternoon. It was a beautiful drive and the lighthouse and surrounding area (which is pretty much cattle farms as far as the eye can see) is what I would imagine it was like hundreds of years ago.

janisj

nanabee: Point Reyes would be perfect -- but they just wouldn't have the time (look at the OPs other thread to see the problem they have)

The Lighthouse is more than 15 miles off hwy 1 and just getting a glimpse of it w/o any hikes/etc and getting back to the hwy would easily eat up more than an hour.

Pt Arena is more doable - it is only about 3 miles off hwy 1 -- but going there will still take at least an hour because the parking area is quite a distance from the lighthouse.