Travelers accustomed to going in one direction for summer recreation and another for winter are in for a great treat: Yosemite Gold Country (Tuolumne County) offers everything from heart-pumping activities like zip lining to lazy afternoons on a cabin porch within 2 hours of Sacramento and 2 1/2 hours of San Francisco.

It’s a short drive from the oak-studded hills at about 300 meters (1000 ft) elevation to the towering peaks of the High Sierra that top 3,350 meters (11,000 ft) providing recreational opportunities all year around. Enjoy the amazing scenery of Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest; which includes the pristine Emigrant Wilderness and a large portion of the John Muir and Pacific Crest trails.   Within the forest covered peaks, rugged alpine mountains, and the valleys of the rolling foothills, visitors can take advantage of just about any kind of outdoor recreation found on the planet!

For a more relaxed outdoor holiday, visitors can go boating (including houseboats) or fishing on a pristine lake, take in a round of golf, go for a gentle stroll or bike ride along gently sloping trails and bike ways, explore Yosemite with a professional photographer as your guide, or just sit around the campfire in any number of campgrounds and rustic lodges. Try the only limestone bouldering in California, or take a swim through a local cavern with geological shapes that will inspire anyone.  Wildlife abounds for those who seek to view nature.  Winter visitors can enjoy a snowmobiling or snowshoeing through the beautiful pines of the High Sierra.

For the more active outdoor holiday, winter visitors have skiing, ice skating, “snow-play” and snowboarding while warmer weather makes the region a paradise for packing it in for a weeklong hike or horseback ride in the high country.  Perhaps the excitement of whitewater rafting on the scenic rivers and waterways filled with the runoff of melting winter snow is more to your taste.  This same runoff creates the magnificent scenic waterfalls in and nearby the Yosemite National Park.

Because of the region’s ecological diversity, just about everything except the snow-related activities can be done all year around.

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Contact: Sandy Gordon, tcvbmarketing@mlode.com, 209-533-4420 or 800-466-1333

YOSEMITE GOLD COUNTRY

Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau

PO Box 4020

Sonora, CA 95370-4020