It was time to insert some winter weather into our lives, so we grabbed some friends, packed up their car, and made our way to Downieville, CA.
Downiville may be the cutest town I have ever been to. It has saloons, not bars. The hardware guys will flash you a toothless, and genuine, smile. One family owns both tiny grocery stores and the only restaurant open in the winter. This place is s-m-a-l-l.
Ryan is basically our in house travel planner. He picked our destination and handled the lodging with a few tips from the Weekend Sherpa. We stayed at the Lure Resort. A cluster of cozy cabins right on the river. There's nothing rustic about these cabins. Gas fireplace, kitchen complete with microwave and dishes, clean towels and bedding. We definitely weren't roughing it this weekend.
Downieville, is known for it's summer activities and is a big mountian biking town. The population is 282, but in the summer it can get up to 2,300. Turns out if you go to Downieville in the winter you'll be the only one there. You're hard pressed to find much of anything open. This, however, did not stop us from having an awesome time.
They had gotten quite a bit of snow recently, and there is a small snowmobiling community in the area, so there are plenty of hiking trails where snowshoes are not necessary, although having snowshoes would have given us way more options.
Our first day we hiked past the Wild Plum Camp Ground. It was so picturesque. Hugging the river, and with peeks of peaks (ha!). It was blisteringly cold, but once we got moving, it was comfortable.
With a hike checked off our list, it was time for some football. We might be escaping phones and computers by heading to the mountains, but come on, it's football playoffs. Fortunately, we found a saloon on the drive back to our cabin that was having a 49ers/Packers playoff party replete with Jell-O shots and free wings. Could we ask for more?
The next day we hiked up to a frozen alpine lake. This was along a snowmobiling path. Hiking in the snow without snowshoes is like trying to run on sand. It's hard work, but the effort was well worth it. I mean, can you think of a more beautiful spot to make a snow angel?
Downieville is a must do. The drive is a bit far for just a normal weekend. Next time I think I will hold out for a three day weekend. Definitely want to come back and explore in the summer.
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