El Dorado Trail – East

(East of town)

½ mile from Bell Tower. Easy 6 miles one way.

The El Dorado Trail has become the premier non-motorized trail for El Dorado County and may someday connect all the way to Lake Tahoe. Even Snows Road would be awesome.

Since the city purchased the Mich-Cal railroad right of way in 1989 and improved it for use, this path has become popular with walkers, cyclists, strollers, skate boarders, and even horses. From downtown the trail is paved for 5 miles, and then becomes dirt/gravel for the last mile until it ends at Highway 50 near Camino.

The trail begins downtown at Clay St. on the south side of Highway 50 where it goes east, then north along Mosquito Rd., thru the bus station, where it crosses Mosquito to continue along the north side of the freeway to Jacquier Rd, where you must turn north (left) a couple blocks to resume east bound towards Camino. At Jacquier there is a large parking lot with restrooms.

The trail then climbs to cross over Highway 50 where it continues along the south side for about a mile to intersect Still Meadows Road. There is a way via Ivy Knoll to get to Newtown Road from here (see map – coming soon). Continuing to the 4.5 mile mark the pavement ends and turns to gravel. A steep gravel Road to the left here will take you up to Camino Heights where you can use Sierra Blanca east to Pondorado Road to cross Highway 50 (use extreme caution) and gain access to Carson Road and the maze of roads in the Apple Hill area.

Otherwise continuing on dirt/gravel will take you to cross Verde Robles road (paved access to Camino Heights) and further along to cross Palmona, then another mile gets you to where the trail ends abruptly at a fence. This is where the railroad tracks used to cross Highway 50.

Plans are ongoing to extend the trail towards Pollock Pines and beyond, with several alternative routes being considered. For more information regarding this trail and future plans for development search ElDoradoTrail.com.

History: Built near the turn of the century in 1903 by the El Dorado Lumber Co., this route was once a railroad grade used to haul lumber to Latrobe, Folsom, and Sacramento, from the lumber mill in Camino. The line was sold to Mich-Cal Lumber Co. which abandoned it in 1960. It remained unused until the City of Placerville purchased it and began converting it to a multi-use trail in the early 1990’s. Once the Weber Creek trestle was improved the trail was paved west of Placerville to Missouri Flat. (See El Dorado Trail West for much more).