Placerville area?

[Particle]

The wife found a job opp in Placerville...looks like an ideal spot on the map but I've never been through there. I dig the idea of not living in the Tahoe snow, but being close enough to access it.

Any riding? DH/FR/XC?
Proximity to Kwood?
Decent town?

[Telenater]

Not a bad place at all... Check with BCRider he lives not too far from there, and Shoe is just a bit further down hill in Folsom.

Kirkwood isn't the most direct ski area particularly in the winter. You have to take highway 49 down to at least Plymouth before you can reliably get to highway 88 when Mormon Immigrant Trail is closed for the winter. Placerville would have quite easy access to Sierra at Tahoe.

True DH mtb isn't what the area is known for, but there could be possiblities up in the Sly Park/mormon Immigrant Trail (at least there look like there might be shuttleable options, I haven't done them) area, or take 49 the other way to get to Auburn and it's miniDH options. Theres lots of XC possiblities and you can definitely find some fairly technical riding within a decent radius (Crystal Basin/Loon Lake/Rubicon Trail/Ellicots Crossing).

[lph]

don't know much about the town. AKA drove around town a couple times and said it was very cool.

There is an area east of placerville by a bit (maybe 45 minutes) that has some good riding that i am just starting to explore. It sounds like this is where alot of the new DH trails are being built by people from the south shore fed up with the forest service.

I thought your wife wanted a job in academics, being able to train others, no?

[Arty50]

HANGTOWN!!!

Placerville is the El Dorado County Seat. It's close to the Wood and Sierra. South Lake is about an hour away. Folsom/Auburn/Sac are really close. It does snow there, but not much. In my brief experiences driving through, that's sort of where the snow always stops and only when we get a nice low storm. It's a very old town by California standards and there are some very cool buildings and such. It's also a fairly small town, with a pretty cool vibe. I've stopped to eat dinner and grab a cup of coffee, and really dug the few minutes I spent there. The downtown area is kinda cool.

I'd say take a good look at it. It's close to a lot of fun stuff both indoors and out.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Particle -

I live about 30 - 40 minutes west of Placerville. It's a straight shot from Folsom to Placerville along HWY 50.

It's a small town in the foothills, but probably the largest last town as you head up to Tahoe along 50. It's primary attraction and hub of activity is it's historic Main Street which is lined with antique shops, couple of pubs, couple of restaurants and coffee shops, etc. Picture a revitalized old western type town. There won't be a lot of variety in so far as restaurants and culture and diversity....but if you did want more culinary options, Sacramento isn't all that far away, and El Dorado Hills (also along 50 inbetween Folsom and Pville now has a LOT of great restaurants (i.e. wine bars, sushi, etc.).

Placerville is also very close to the Sierra Foothill wine country, so if you guys are into that, there's TONS of little local wineries that are super friendly, inexpensive, and with none of the atttitude that you'd find in more popular wine areas like Napa/Sonoma/Santa Barbera, etc.

Climate: Pretty dang hot in the Summer (although maybe not as bad as a Salt Lake City summer), and mild in the winter. Placerville sits around 2,500 ft maybe so there's a chance it will be above the snow line a few times during the winter when really cold storms hit, but for the most part, Placerville just gets rain. During the winter you will have the choice of either skiing, or heading to Auburn or closer to the valley for some mountain biking (which kicks ass in the winter months honestly).

Access to skiing: P-ville is probalby 45 minutes away from Sierra-at-Tahoe. And in the same vicinity/distance will be your first options for backcountry skiing (BCrider knows this area well). You could probably be in Meyers/South Lake Tahoe in an hour-ish. As far as Kirkwood goes, as Nate mentioned, it's kind of out of the way from everywhere...and you'd have a few different route options to get there, but figure an hour-and-a-half give or take (I'm guestimating) depending on which route you take.

Biking: Not really known as a mecca for mountain biking around these parts, but you would have options fairly. As I said, Tahoe is an hour-ish away....and lph is discovering DH rides that are along the way to Tahoe even closer. You could get to Auburn from Placerville probably in about 40 minutes by taking HWY 49 North and Auburn has tons of options from 30 mile hilly XC rides to shuttleable mini-DH runs. Down the road in Folsom you have some more XC options and there's a great local mtn bike scene here in town. I've heard that the Golden Spoke bike shop in Placerville really knows their shit so you'd have a shop in town at least too.

Also, if you are into Kayaking or white water rafting at all, Placerville is very close to Coloma (20 - 30 minutes?) which is HUB of white water activity. Very cool gold rush era town.

If your wife is working in Placerville....I supposse you could also live a little futher west down HWY 50 (i.e. closer to Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, and Folsom). She would have a reverse commute to work living anywhere west of Placerville as the hordes all work in the other direction down in Sacto.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any other more specific questions. Hope that helps a little.

[Particle]

Siiick thanks for the great info all, especially TS.

Sounds very interesting for sure.

lph - do you know anything about the hospital down there? one option we're considering is doing a sort of 'hybrid' work situation for her...so we can live somewhere cool and she can do some part-time work in academics. Not sure if that's really a possibility but we'll explore it.

[lph]

does she have any interest in a 'hospitalist' position? we are currently looking for one.

I can't remember is her training ER or internal medicine/ICU stuff?

theoretically she could take a 1/2 time position at a small community hospital and another in sac/davis for academics.

i don't know much about Marshall to be honest.

[CS]

Eeeenteresting.

The wife and I have toyed with the idea of possibly relocating to Folsom or Placerville. Now that Particle might be there, well hell, the scales are tipping.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The wife and I have toyed with the idea of possibly relocating to Folsom or


Come on up and I'll be happy to show you around.

Oh and also -- Particle -- The Folsom bike park kicks some ass. city owned BMX track, dirt jumps, wall ride, etc. It's lighted too....

[Particle]

Eeeenteresting.

The wife and I have toyed with the idea of possibly relocating to Folsom or Placerville. Now that Particle might be there, well hell, the scales are tipping.

Don't get too excited, just one of many many possibilities. Hell, we might even wind up in Fresno for one more year, she's thinking about a fellowship there.

TS - I think I've seen you post some pics from the bike park? Lighted - sick!

[Particle]

oh, len - she's ER, so I'd say 'no' on the hospitalist, but thanks...but let me know if any cool ER positions pop up.

Good to hear 1/2 time community/academic may be possible.

[lph]

if she decides she is interested in being an ER doc in tahoe, let me know, the er group up here is pretty big and always looking for good people. they are pretty diverse and cool group.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

TS - I think I've seen you post some pics from the bike park? Lighted - sick!

yup..i was pretty amazed at how well they did this place. Pump track, dirt jumps, bmx track, coulpla elevated trails. $2 to ride it all day. And yup, lighted :)

http://a759.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/4/l_0bab9afe4eb944bac7380c50b00ded76.jpg

http://a637.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/16/l_8b3fc1ead7ead7d0f27772065e1afca4.jpg

http://a837.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/13/l_8aac6a297dd2bc6c5797b0622f9a523c.jpg

http://a788.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/21/l_ab47e43c3151b22e357f1bc2616b52e3.jpg

http://a648.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/108/l_408ebee38c2771b4990c4081f644170f.jpg

http://a742.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/60/l_011195bea9e1fc7d3083f415de6f79f5.jpg

http://fasttimesracingusa.com/images/508_g3pumptrack.jpg

[Particle]

Damn, those are LARGE.

lph - will definitely be in touch if she's interested...appreciate it!

[CS]

Holy crap Tyrone, I didn't know you had such a cool playground nearby. Hmmmm. I might have to really revisit the idea now with the wife as it was only a "hey, how about the Folsom or Placerville area" before. But really, I just want to get out of Fresnard.