Calaveras Big Trees & Gold Rush Country tour start date:
July 24, 2011 tour end date: July 28, 2011
tour registration closes:
January 24, 2011 wine region: Sierra Foothills length of stay:
Multi-Day Tour hiking level: Strenuous total group size: 11 price per person: $1,795.00 tour deposit: $450.00
If our tours don’t fit your schedule, then have it your way! Choose the date(s) you want on our full-service Custom Group Tours or our self-supported, fully guided Custom Mini-Tours.
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Price paid for most of our multi-day tours is based on double occupancy. By clicking the book now button, you acknowledge our refund policy and agree to our terms of use.
5-Day, 4-Night Hiking & Wine-Tasting Tour This budget-oriented tour will have you wishing you lived in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, for it is here that you can soak up some Gold Rush Americana and also visit renowned wineries, discover giant sequoia groves, and hike High Sierra peaks, all within a day’s drive. The experience of challenging hiking in the Sierra Nevada high country is one that you’ll never forget. Plus, you’ll taste a number of excellent wines that are produced in Calaveras County, including cabernet, zinfandel, syrah, sangiovese, merlot, and a whole host of Rhone varietal wines.
Once a gold-mining town, Murphys can seem an unlikely place for growing grapes. Its 19th-century Wild West feel may make you wonder why the wineries don’t instead serve beer! But wine has a long history in Murphys and nearby towns, going back to the 1850s.
Because many of the area’s immigrant miners came from France and Italy where winemaking has been cherished for generations, there were more than 100 wineries operating in the county by 1870, surpassing even Napa and Sonoma to become, at the time, the fourth-largest wine-producing region in California.
When the gold played out, however, the railroad trains stopped coming to Calaveras County, and Prohibition sealed the county’s fate for a number of years. Though some families still produced wine for private use, it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that a resurgence of interest in California wines brought the county back into the limelight.
While you’re here in Calaveras County, you’ll pursue your own enlightenment with tough but memorable hiking. Though you’ll lodge each evening in the local foothills, you’ll travel to the Sierra Nevada mountains for fun but challenging High Sierra hiking, some of it along the famed Pacific Crest Trail. With major tracts of land within your gaze and marvelous wines to taste, you’ll want to keep coming back.
This California Wine Hikes tour of the Sierra Foothills includes two blind wine tastings, visits to local wineries in the Murphys area, all meals, local lodging, transportation & fees, and room tax.
Sunday Meet your California Wine Hikes tour guide mid-afternoon at your hotel, where you’ll enjoy a buffet reception and your first wine tasting, a "blind" comparison of six locally-produced Sangiovese wines.
Monday You’ll enjoy an early breakfast at the inn, then grab lunch, snacks, and water and take a short drive to a moderate 5-mile hike among the largest living beings on Earth — the famous Giant Sequoia trees. After the hike, you’ll enjoy lunch at a nearby winery and enjoy a tasting or two. You’ll then return to the hotel for a brief rest, followed by dinner with wine at a local restaurant.
Tuesday After an early breakfast, you’ll board the van for a scenic drive into the Sierra Nevada mountains for a strenuous hike that starts at 7800 feet (1981 metres) and includes steep climbs and descents in its 6.4 miles. The reward, however, is arriving at a remote alpine lake where you can enjoy lunch, solitude, and a swim if you choose. Then it's back down the mountain and the highway to our hotel for a hot shower, dinner and, if you wish, some local Murphys nightlife.
Wednesday Today you’ll venture to another section of the High Sierra for a moderate-to-strenuous 7-mile hike in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness. You’ll enjoy a well-earned lakeside lunch in a deep granite bowl before you return to relax at the hotel with dinner and a blind tasting of locally-produced Syrahs.
Thursday You’ll enjoy a last leisurely breakfast together, then take a walk around town, if you wish, before you say your goodbyes at noon.
The details All of our multi-day tours include lodging, transportation, all meals, trail snacks, bottled water, gourmet lunches, formal and informal wine tastings (including tasting fees), and the services of a California Wine Hikes tour guide. A full itinerary will be provided to all guests who book this tour.
This tour requires a $450 deposit per person to secure your reservation; that's the initial price you'll pay upon clicking the book now button. You can reserve up to as many as 11 openings for this tour, assuming 11 openings are still available. Total tour price shown is a best estimate, and will often be lower after registration closes and the final itinerary is settled. A complete itinerary, final payment details, and supporting information will be provided via email to all guests who book this tour.
The camaraderie Because your friends or family might enjoy this adventure too, consider inviting them to share in the fun! Simply click here to invite them, and your invitation will include a link to this tour. Or, just click the book now button to reserve your spot today.
California Wine Hikes accepts these payment options:
YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 21 YEARS OF AGE TO BOOK THIS TOUR.
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The Quintessential California Outdoor Experience! Outdoor exercise, gourmet food, fine wines, and the healthy camaraderie of friends new and old make your California Wine Hikes adventure the extra-special vacation that it is. And you deserve to enjoy it!
This year, come join California Wine Hikes for the wine country adventure of a lifetime. We’d be thrilled to have you join us in them thar Sierra Nevada hills.
“Russ, thank you for the terrific ‘winehiking’ tour. I must admit that I was surprised to find somebody who knew so much about not only Nature and the outdoors, but the complexities of wine as well. I’m still savoring it all! And I am telling my friends about you.” — Blythe M., Billings, Montana
