Detailed written directions
Take 205 North(East) toward Sacramento, which becomes Interstate 5. Continue north on I 5 until you reach the exit marked "4 East to 99." This is the Cross-town Freeway. Don’t exit at Charter Way, even though it represents Route 4 west from Stockton (dyslexics of the world, untie!). Stay right for a while, then begin moving left to exit on 99 north. Travel north on 99 one mile, then exit to the right on 88 East (Waterloo Road). Pass through Waterloo and proceed to Lockeford. It’s just a couple of miles to the next town of Clements and about 1.5 miles beyond it is a left turn where 88 separates from 12. Sign Says: "Ione, Jackson, Lake Tahoe". Turn left and drive 11.8 miles to the junction of 88 and 124. Sign Says: "Ione, Placerville." Turn left onto 124. When you reach Ione about a mile later, turn left once and right twice to stay on 124, where the final sign says "Plymouth, Placerville." Follow 124 till it ends against 49 and 16 (about eight more miles).
(A slightly serious note here about the return trip. —There are only two mistakes that are common coming home; the first being the turnoff from 16 onto 124. You’ll be tempted to turn left at the stop light (which is Route 49, auraciously nicknamed the "Gold Highway"), but don't do it, because Route 124 is the later blinking yellow light. Shortly thereafter, while passing through Ione, you are likely to be so enthralled by its charm that you may miss the right turn to 124 from Main street. If you do, turn around and go back. Route 104 leads to a transdimensional warp zone with no known escape route.)
Turn right onto Route 16 where the sign again says "Plymouth, Placerville," and go about two miles into Plymouth. A little over a mile beyond is a crucial right turn onto E16, at the El Dorado Savings Bank Plaza. Sign Says: "Shenandoah Valley, Fiddletown, River Pines," and "To E16." Shortly past the turn is a tricky decision point where you must curve left. Straight ahead lies Fiddletown but you want to bear left to Fair Play (16 miles ahead).
Just past the South Fork of the Cosumnes River (sign says "No Gold Panning") is Mt. Aukum. Be watching for Hall’s Market on the right, (now closed), then the Mt. Aukum General Store and Hardware on the left. Immediately after the General store, turn right onto Omo Ranch Road. After about 3.5 miles, turn left on Fair Play Road. Another mile or so finds a sign that says "Fair Play, Elev. 2300." Turn right on Perry Creek Road at the stop sign and drive carefully between BOTH businesses that constitute Downtown Fair Play: The Pub at Fair Play (formerly the General Store and the Bistro and Bocconato) and the Hardware Store. Follow the paved road around to the left, avoiding the Mobile Home park and the Fair Play Cemetery, then head down the hill to a small bridge about 0.7 miles after turning at downtown Fair Play. Turn right here onto Slug Gulch Road.
Go up the hill on Slug Gulch 0.6 miles more, past Boondock
Trail, and turn left on Irish Acres Road--we're at 6470 Irish Acres Road, the first driveway on the left.
Note: Irish Acres Road does not go through to Gray Rock Road, even though Google and other GPS maps show that it does.
Please park only in the striped spaces--if the parking lot is full, we ask you to come back a bit later; parking on the road
is strictly forbidden!
Exit South on Missouri Flat Road, and continue about two miles until the road ends at Route 49. Turn left onto Pleasant Valley Road (which is also Route 49 through the town of Diamond Springs). Stay straight on Pleasant Valley Road when 49 leaves to the north (left).
Five miles farther, Buck’s Bar Road turns right and most of the traffic follows it. You can turn with them, or proceed 5 more miles to Pleasant Valley. The town has an (almost) shopping center, with a Holiday Market and a Pizza Factory.
Turn right just before the Holiday Market onto Mt. Aukum Rd. (also known as E-16). Follow Mt. Aukum Rd. down the windy hill to the Cosumnes River North Fork canyon (okay, it’s just a bridge), then back up the hill to the town of Somerset, where there is a 4-way stop. If you chose the excitement of Buck’s Bar Road (beware of the new stop sign at Sand Ridge Road and Buck's Bar--don't turn right there), you will turn right at this four-way stop onto Mt. Aukum road, 4.6 miles after turning onto Buck's Bar.
Keep going straight past the bridge over the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes, then climb the long hill up past Outingdale. Just past the top of the hill is a gas station (2.9 miles from the 4-way stop at Somerset). Turn left at the gas station onto Fair Play Road (sometimes misspelled Fairplay). Continue Southeastish almost three miles, past Granite Springs Winery on the left and Single Leaf Winery on the right.
At the town(?) of Fair Play, take a sharp left at the stop sign, and go between The Pub at Fair Play (formerly the General Store, The Bistro and Bocconato Restaurant) and the Hardware store, onto Perry Creek Road (Caution-Caution! DON’T take the first Perry Creek just a few hundred yards beyond the turn onto Fair Play Road--it’s a looong way around). Go down the hill on the paved road for 0.7 miles to a very small bridge with a stand of mailboxes above it, then turn right onto Slug Gulch Road.
Go up the hill on Slug Gulch 0.6 miles more, past Boondock
Trail, and turn left on Irish Acres Road--we're at 6470 Irish Acres Road, the first driveway on the left.
Note: Irish Acres Road does not go through to Gray Rock Road, even though Google and other GPS maps show that it does.
Please park only in the striped spaces--if the parking lot is full, we ask you to come back a bit later; parking on the road
is strictly forbidden!
Travel west on 50 toward Sacramento. Stay on 50 past Apple Hill and Take the Schnell School Road exit (if you get to the traffic lights of Placerville, you’ve gone too far) and turn left toward Placerville. Turn Left on Broadway and continue (quite a while) until the road ends at Pleasant Valley Road. (The name of the road changes from Broadway to Newtown, but just stay on it.) Turn left and proceed one mile to Pleasant Valley. The town has an (almost) shopping center, with a Holiday Market and a Pizza Factory.
Turn right just before the Holiday Market onto Mt. Aukum Rd. (also known as E-16 in some places). Follow Mt. Aukum Rd. down the windy hill to the Cosumnes River North Fork canyon (okay, it’s just a bridge), then back up the hill to the town of Somerset, where there is a 4-way stop.
Keep going straight past the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes, then climb the long hill up. Just past the top of the hill is a gas station. Turn left at the gas station onto Fair Play Road (sometimes misspelled Fairplay). Continue Southwestish almost three miles, past Granite Springs Winery on the left and Single Leaf Winery on the right.
About 3/4 miles past Single Leaf, at the town(?) of Fair Play, take a sharp left at the stop sign, and go between The Pub at Fair Play (formerly the General Store, The Bistro and Bocconato Restaurant) and the Hardware store, onto Perry Creek Road (Caution-Caution! DON’T take the first Perry Creek just a few hundred yards beyond the turn onto Fair Play Road--it’s a looong way around). Go down the hill on the paved road for 0.7 miles to a very small bridge with a stand of mailboxes above it, then turn right onto Slug Gulch Road.
Go up the hill on Slug Gulch 0.6 miles more, past Boondock
Trail, and turn left on Irish Acres Road--we're at 6470 Irish Acres Road, the first driveway on the left.
Note: Irish Acres Road does not go through to Gray Rock Road, even though Google and other GPS maps show that it does.
Please park only in the striped spaces--if the parking lot is full, we ask you to come back a bit later; parking on the road
is strictly forbidden!