Cool, Auburn Lake Trails, CA

Cool is a crossroads town on Highway 49 in El Dorado County, set between Auburn and Placerville and bordering the gated Auburn Lake Trails community. Settlers knew the place as Cave Valley, and its post office opened under the Cool name in 1885. Oak woodland and open meadow still come right up to the edge of the few commercial blocks. Homes here are single-family houses on wooded parcels, spaced well apart, with the older and smaller places closer to the highway and larger lots out along the side roads. It reads as a country town with a post office address rather than a grid of subdivisions. The outdoors starts at the Olmstead Loop trailhead, just off Highway 49 near the Cool Fire Station. The loop covers several miles of meadow, oak woods and ponds inside Auburn State Recreation Area, crosses Knickerbocker Creek, and brings a day-use fee for parking. The Western States Trail runs through the same country, and every March the Way Too Cool 50K starts and finishes in town. Sierra Mountain Espresso on Highway 193 roasts its own beans, serves from a drive-thru window and keeps morning hours, closed Sundays. Cool Beerwerks on Ellinghouse Drive pairs its beer with sushi, musubi and burgers. American River Pizza & Grill, on Highway 49, serves pizza and French dip sandwiches, and Los Establos next door does tacos, tamales and homemade salsas. Daily errands mean the car. The town has a handful of shops and places to eat, but a full grocery run goes north on Highway 49 to Auburn, and there is no transit to speak of. Highway 193 branches east toward Georgetown. Highway 49 also brings the noise, since commuters and trucks pass through town and the sound carries to the nearest blocks. Walk toward the trailhead and the road drops behind the oaks, which is where most of the week's quiet in Cool turns up.