BROWSE PRODUCTS:
AA Best Drives California - The High Sierra 
PRODUCT FEATURES AT A GLANCE:
› Language: English
› File size (approx):
10mb
› Download includes PDF map for each route with suggested pit-stops
› See pictures and onscreen descriptions of key points along the route
› Compatibility: nuvi 700 series, Zumo series check guide
› Different Garmin? We have travel guides for every Garmin model. See product list on left.
About AA Best Drives California - The High Sierra
Download these recommended AA Best Drives to your Garmin! Simply press GO! and you’ll be navigated from your door to the start of the AA Route and right round the route until the end without needing to touch your Garmin again.
The Gold Country 159miles
California’s history was transformed when James Marshall discovered gold in the Sacramento River and began the Gold Rush of 1849. This drive follows the southern section of Highway 49 for about 300 miles (483km) through Gold Country, where the average altitude is 2,000 feet (610m) and in summer temperatures can be unbearably high. There are no hotels on the route but the area has charming bed- and-breakfast establishments and inns. At San Francisco, the Wells Fargo Museum (Montgomery Street) and the Bank of California (California Street) have memorabilia and gold specimens from the Gold Rush. When James Marshall found gold in the waters of the Sierra Nevada’s western foothills, he sparked off the 1849 Gold Rush that was to be instrumental in forming the California of today. This drive follows the trail of townships, linked by Highway 49, that reflect that era of rapid settlement and high hopes. From Chinese Camp, where thousands of Chinese miners lived harsh lives of discrimination and toil, it continues through a succession of historic gold towns. It also visits eerie underground caverns, Mark Twain’s temporary cabin home, the ancient decorations of Indian Grinding Rock and even a stretch of wine-growing country, always returning to pick up the golden trail on its circuit from San Francisco.
Yosemite & the High Sierra 185miles
If you only have time for one drive in Northern California, it should be this one. Yosemite National Park is one of the nation’s greatest natural treasures. Combined with the surreal landscape of Mono Lake and a visit to the perfectly preserved ghost town of Bodie, the drive includes some of the best that California has to offer. As a bonus, the route crosses the Central Valley, the agricultural heart of the nation. The journey involves two high passes, Tioga and Sonora. These are both closed by snow from November until at least May each year, so the drive is only feasible during the summer months. Yosemite National Park is one of the most popular natural sights in America – and rightly so. This tour includes not only the highlights of the park, but also other equally exceptional destinations, making this one of the best road journeys in North America. Leaving San Francisco, the route crosses the great agricultural Central Valley before starting its climb through the southern gold country and the Sierra foothills. It passes through the old gold town of Mariposa and continues into Yosemite Valley to reveal one of America’s greatest iconographic landscapes. After leaving the valley, a visit to the Tuolomne Grove of giant sequoia trees requires only a short detour before heading over the wild, rocky landscape of Yosemite’s high country. The drive then crosses the Sierra watershed and heads down to the surreal landscape of Mono Lake, before continuing north through the wild country of the eastern Sierra, to perhaps the best preserved and biggest ghost town in America. Bodie never fails to fascinate visitors, with its authentic atmosphere and remote mountain location. The return to San Francisco crosses back over the High Sierra by the Sonora Pass, and once more traverses the Gold Country and Central Valley.
Lake Tahoe & the Northern Gold Country 170 miles
This is San Francisco’s mountain playground: during the summer, water sports, hiking and fishing are popular; in December, skiing takes over. The tour is not recommended in winter, due to sudden and frequent storms. From Lake Tahoe, the drive passes through two of the most interesting towns of the northern Gold Country, before returning to Sacramento. Lake Tahoe is the jewel of the northern Sierra Nevada. After leaving Sacramento, this tour heads straight up into the mountains, and then down to this crystal-clear lake on the Nevada border. An excursion to the less-than natural wonders of the Nevada casinos on the lake’s southern shore makes an interesting contrast to the surrounding mountain wilderness. The tour continues up the beautiful western shore of Lake Tahoe, past historic mansions and hidden coves, to Truckee, a town straight out of the Wild West, and close to the site of the last winter for many of the tragic Donner party. Only half of the 89-member group survived the harsh winter of 1846. Once across Donner Summit, the Sierra watershed, the tour passes through two of the biggest and most developed Gold Country towns, Nevada City and Grass Valley, where, aside from charming streets lined with Victorian houses, there is one of the most interesting mine tours in California. Sacamento is a short drive back down the freeway.
Deep Valleys & Big Trees 182 miles
Yosemite always steals the spotlight from other High Sierra destinations, but the King’s Canyon and Sequoia national parks, only a few miles farther south, offer as much natural spectacle – without the crowds. This tour starts in the agricultural city of Fresno, in the Central Valley, and climbs up to these two pristine wilderness areas, before returning to the valley. On the way back, it passes through the 19th-century railroad town of Hanford, and Kingsburg, which still holds on to its Swedish roots. The tour is not possible during the winter, when heavy snow closes the General’s Highway, which connects King’s Canyon and Sequoia national parks. Fresno lies at the heart of the Central Valley and, during the spring, the fruit orchards surrounding the town are ablaze with color. The tour climbs up through the foothills east of Fresno to King’s Canyon National Park. Here, there are giant sequoia trees and some of the most grand, wild mountain scenery in the Sierra. Unlike Yosemite, King’s Canyon National Park does not attract massive crowds, so that this is a much more authentic wilderness experience. Sequoia National Park is next to King’s Canyon and the trees here are even bigger than those next door. The world’s biggest tree grows here, and whole groves of giants have been flourishing for thousands of years. Leaving the High Sierra, the tour returns to the Central Valley and the old agricultural town of Hanford, with its rich Chinese heritage, and then on to Kingsburg, established in the 19th century by Swedish railroad workers on the Southern Pacific Railroad and even today looking more Swedish than American. Fresno is a short drive to the north.
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