Please see our ACTIVITIES page for additional information about the exciting activities and events surrounding our beautiful home.

Lakemont Pines Lake is across the street from my vacation rental home in wonderful Arnold, California.  It offers sandy beaches, paddle boats, playground, snack bar, fishing, swimming and non-motorized boating. The lake has a lifeguard on duty during the summer months and can freeze during the winter..  The use of the lake is maintained by membership tags and is available for your use.

Beautiful Bear Valley is 20 minutes away with additional hiking, mountain biking, snow mobiles, downhill skiing, ice skating and cross country skiing. For two weeks every August, Bear Valley offers you "Music from Bear Valley", voted the best summer attraction in the Central Sierra. The "Music from Bear Valley" Festival offers a full symphony orchestra, International soloists, legendary entertainers and renowned opera stars in a unique outdoor mountain setting under the shelter of a large 1250 seat tent.

Bear Valley, Dorrington and Camp Connell comprise the Ebbett's Pass corridor. At the 3,000 to 6,000 feet elevation, we experience the beauty of four very distinct seasons. Spring is a glorious show of new growth and color, summer brings warmer weather (70 to 90) which means lots of chances for hiking, biking, canoeing, kayak, boating, fishing, wine tasting and other activities. Fall exhibits the change in seasons with changes showing the wonder of leaf color again, and winter weather (20 - 30) wears a blanket of snow for skiing, sledding, snow mobile, cross country skiing, down hill skiing, snow shoe hiking, inner tube down a hill or building snow people.  Hiking, camping and backpacking through the scenic and vast Stanislaus National forest and the Stanislaus wilderness area is magnificent in all seasons.

Hwy. 4, Ebbett's Pass and Monitor Pass create the home of the famous "Tour of the California Alps, The Death Ride" for great road biking.

For the spelunker, explore Moaning Caverns, Mercer Caverns or Cave City anytime throughout the year.  The caves remain at the same temperatures.

Angels Camp was started in 1848 with a trading post owned by Henry Angel of Rhode Island.  The town is tagged with Angels and Amphibians. The Angels Camp Museum is filled with artifacts of the Gold Rush era and includes a unique carriage house. The world famous literature writer Mark Twain wrote his first successful short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in 1864. Since then Angels Camp was linked with frogs for all time. The Jumping Frog Jubilee and Calaveras County Fair are held every year during the third week in May at Angels Camp Fairgrounds. Angels Camp boasts another famous author Bret Harte and is also the home of World Class Ski Racer and two-time World Cup Champion Kyle Rasmussen of the U.S.A. Ski Team.

Many golf courses are in the area. Sequoia Woods in Arnold is within 10 minutes, Forest Meadows in Forest Meadows is within 15 minutes, and Green Horn Creek in Angels Camp is within 30 minutes. A 9-hole course at Meadowmont is 5 minutes away in Arnold.

Boating, water skiing, river rafting, kayak, swim and fish are all offered close by at numerous lakes and mountain streams including the Stanislaus River, Mokelumne River, Bear Creek, Rattlesnake Creek, Alpine Lake, Mosquito Lake, Union and Utica Reservoirs and New Spicer Reservoir to name a few.

New Melones Lake, Pardee reservoir, Don Pedro reservoir, New Hogan reservoir and Comanche reservoirs are within a 45 minute drive or less for power boats and water skiing. 

Wine making has exploded in the area with 15 or more wineries open for tasting.  Some of the award winning wineries are Stevenot Vineyards, Chatom Winery, Black Sheep Vintners, Indian Rock Vineyards, Kautz Ironstone Vineyards and Millaire Winery. Special wine events are the Passport weekend in June, the Calaveras Grape Stomp in October and the Holiday Open houses in December.

Blue Lake Springs offers swimming, tennis, shuffleboard, two man-made lakes, out door movies, kids playground, picnic areas, and dine at the exclusive Snowflake Lodge (members and guests only).

Big Trees Village offers two swimming pools, tennis, ping pong, shuffleboard, baseball diamond, playground, archery, picnic areas, snack bar, outdoor movies and nature hikes (members and guests only).

Pine Brook Lake is much like Lakemont Pines Lake with the addition of a baseball diamond.

White Pines Lake is a large and beautiful lake which is open to the public with a vast picnic area and great beaches. The well-stocked lake is great for fishing with the kids! Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day - no fee.

Mokelumne Hill or "Moke Hill," as the locals call it, was the richest of the digs in gold country. Mokelumne Hill was founded in 1848 and is known as one of the most violent, bawdy towns in the Mother Lode.  Main Street Mokelumne Hill is directly adjacent to Hwy. 49 between Jackson and San Andreas.

West Point on Hwy. 26 was named by Kit Carson as he traveled with Captain John Fremont searching for a pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Hunting and fishing, including a trout hatchery, are good in this area.

San Andreas was settled by Mexican Gold Miners in 1848. The first church, built in 1852 was named for St. Andrew and the name of the town was taken from the church. In August, 1852 the large San Andreas Nugget was found in a claim and sold to the Wells Fargo company for $12,000.  In 1859 more than $500,000 in gold dust was shipped from San Andreas.

Two famous or infamous names are often tied to San Andreas, Black Bart and Joaquin Murieta, Black Bart, the handsome, debonair gentleman bandit never harmed drivers or passengers and left some original verse behind signedAPO8. Black Bart held up the Milton-Sonora stage on November 3, 1883. A handkerchief with a laundry mark traced back to a San Francisco Laundry was identified as belonging to C. E. Bolton one of the city's leading citizens.  He was arrested and brought back to San Andreas after confessing to the robbery. Black Bart served six years in San Quentin Prison.  The original jail still stands and is part of the Calaveras County Historical Museum Complex.

Valley Springs in 1885 was the eastern terminus for the San Joaquin and Sierra Nevada Narrow Gauge Railroad.  The Pacific Railroad bought the line in 1888 and rail travel was extended throughout the area.

Copperopolis has a history closely tied to the Civil War. In 1860, 19 million pounds of copper made Calaveras County the second in the national production of this ore. Copperopolis offers some of the finest "home made" olive oils as a new industry in the town.  Lake Tulloch is a year round water wonderland.

Murphy's is the Queen of the Sierra, settled in 1848 by the brothers Daniel and John Murphy. This picturesque village is known today for its natural attractions including caverns, and a charming Main Street with friendly merchants. Murphy's hosts gourmet restaurants and numerous art galleries. Murphy's has a climate that closely imitates that of some superb wine regions in France.  Numerous wineries have staked their claim within a four-mile radius of Main Street, six of them have unique tasting rooms and other facilities open to the public. Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine, April 6, 2006, lists Murphy's as "one of America's top 10 coolest small towns."

15 miles up the mountain, A. T. Dowd put Calaveras on the international map when he discovered the huge groves of Giant Sequoia Redwoods.  Because the fame grew so quickly, by 1855 the Sperry & Perry Hotel - now known as Murphy's Historic Hotel and Lodge - was built to accommodate travelers.  The old hotel register contains names such as Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Ulysses S. Grant, and Charles Bolton, a.k.a. Black Bart.

Avery is a picturesque moment on Scenic Hwy. 4, just eight miles east of Murphy's Wine Country and 26 miles west of great downhill and cross country skiing at Bear Valley. The Historic Avery Hotel Restaurant & Saloon built in 1853 is the oldest operating hotel in Calaveras County and hosts an intimate restaurant.  It is known as the "Half Way House" because of its location between the gold field of Murphy's and the giant Sequoia groves now known as Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

Dorrington is located 20 miles east of Murphy's and 20 miles west of Bear Valley.  It was a place to spend the night on your way through. The Dorrington Hotel & Restaurant was built in 1860 and was a stage coach stop on the Big Trees-Carson Valley Toll Road, a depot for guests visiting the giant Sequoia redwoods at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The second largest Sugar Pine in the world, measuring 32 feet in circumference and 220 feet tall still watches over travelers.

Sonora, named from Sonoran miners who settled the City in 1848 became known as the "Queen of the Southern Mines." Sonora still holds on to its historical charm with many of its existing buildings dating back to the 1800's. In fact, a walk along just about any street in the City of Sonora is to reminisce with the days gone by, a brick or stone building, a slate wall, an iron shutter or fence, or a historic home nestled in an old-fashioned garden.

The great California gold rush began on March 27, 1850 by a small party of prospectors. News of the discovery spread and they were soon joined by a flood of miners.  Unlike many settlements that have changed with the times, Columbia, California seems to be frozen in the 1800's. Today, the Columbia State Historic Park is the best preserved of California gold rush towns. Columbia State Historic Park offers a unique blend of museums, displays, town tours, live theater plays, shops, restaurants and attractions.

Within less than 2 hours you can find the Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne or the Jackson Rancheria Casino in Jackson.