The hook
In a gold-rush town four hours north, the oldest continuously used Chinese temple in California still burns incense at an altar carried over from China in the 1870s.
01Why it's worth it
Chinese miners built the first temple here in 1853, during the gold rush that brought thousands of them into Trinity County. After a fire destroyed it in 1873, they rebuilt it the next year as Won Lim Miao, the "Temple of the Forest Beneath the Clouds," and that 1874 building still stands, still holds Taoist worship, and has never gone dark, which makes it the oldest Chinese temple in continuous use in the state. Inside is a gilded, carved altar and ornaments brought from China, incense and offerings kept up to the present, and a small collection that includes weapons from an 1854 tong war. It became a state historic park in 1956. It's a quiet, singular thing to find this far up in the mountains: a living piece of the Chinese California the gold rush built, and that most of the state's history forgot.
02How to experience it
The temple is in Weaverville on Highway 299, about four and a half hours from the Bay and deep in Trinity County. You see it on a short ranger-led tour with limited hours, so check the schedule before making the drive. Pair it with the Trinity Alps or a Shasta-area loop to justify the distance, which is the honest way to reach something this far out.