LEAF LOVERS WANTED: If you completely dig Nevada City, in all of its notable, funky, delicious, Nevada-City-a-tude, then you likely have a few Nevada City trees that you also dearly love. For the Sierra foothills town is pretty much synonymous with its arboreal landscape, and if there's a word that signifies a more intensely related experience than "synonymous," well, trees and Nevada City qualify. Many of those trees turn beautifully red in the fall, and golden, and those bewitching colors that exist somewhere in the middle of red and gold. And no surprise at all: The autumntime show draws plenty of visitors who'd like to experience the trees in their full fall wardrobe. But do you know, if you don't live there, where some of the most notable trees in town stand? No worries: There is a helpful map, one that's been "newly updated," and it is helpfully called the...
NEVADA CITY TREE TOUR: And if you have a smartphone, you've got the map. All you need to do is swing by the Nevada City Chamber web site and you're on your treeful way. There are 42 pretty specimens on the go-on-your-own tour, and they all dot the easy-to-walk-around city. Might you call upon the American Chestnut at 425 Spring Street first? Or the Raywood Ash at the corner of School and Cottage Streets? Or perhaps the Cutleaf Birch at 523 W. Broad? A nature-perfect afternoon, one that involves sauntering, crisp air, and the admiring of trees, is practically assured. And even if you pass a tree that isn't a fall-changer, such as a redwood, you'll want to stop and soak in the tree's distinctive majesty and splendor. Fall foliage is sensational, but all trees have a story to tell, and in Nevada City? They even have their own official map.
