The hook
The longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi crosses the Stanislaus at a gold-rush town most people have never heard of.
01Why it's worth it
Knights Ferry was a busy crossing on the Stockton-Sonora road during the Gold Rush, when a ferry and then a bridge here could clear five hundred dollars a day off miners headed for the southern mines. The covered bridge that still stands went up in 1863 to replace one a flood had taken out: a 330-foot wood-and-iron Howe truss, the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi and one of the best-preserved of its kind anywhere. You can walk right through it. Around it sits the little town that time mostly passed by, old brick storefronts and a ruined mill down by the water, now the head of a Corps of Engineers recreation area where people put in to tube and raft the Stanislaus on hot days. It's a genuine piece of 1860s California standing quietly off the highway.
02How to experience it
It's about two hours from the Bay, off Highways 108/120 near Oakdale. The bridge and recreation area are free; walk the span, poke around the old town and the mill ruins, and bring a tube in summer for the river. It pairs naturally with the gold-rush towns of the southern Mother Lode.