Darling Ridge & Balderston Rd, Georgetown, CA
- Tim Mayhew
- Mar 27
- 1 min read
Darling Ridge Rd & Balderston Rd are likely rides you've never heard of.
Found between Georgetown & Placerville in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, this single lane paved backroad runs parallel to Wentworth Springs Rd and starts off Highway 193.
Darling Ridge Road & Balderston Rd follow a high, scenic spine that was historically dominated by the Lumber Industry of the 1860s onward. This road follows the natural contour lines of the ridge to maintain a consistent grade for horse-drawn wagons. It was primarily used as a ridge-top trail for timber hauling and to reach the quartz mines scattered along the "Georgetown Divide." Darling Ridge was never widened as it wasn't designed for stagecoaches, it was designed for logging skids and foot traffic of 1850s Gold Rush era miners.
In present day, you won't see any other vehicles or people on this road - no one knows it exists (except maybe dirt bike riders - trails spider off in every direction).
Georgetown is widely considered one of the premier "single-track" destinations in Northern California. This region is legendary among dirt bike riders.
Darling Ridge (yes, paved) is forgotten & overruled by nearby Wentworth Springs Rd at Georgetown.
We've ridden this road many times as part of our Sierra Foothills Pashnit Motorcycle Tours to which someone in the group invariably exclaims, "How did you find this road?!"
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