About an hour's drive south of Quincy is the historic community of La Porte and the nearby Little Grass Valley Reservoir. A former gold mining town, La Porte today attracts numerous visitors to its superior campsites, fishing holes, and swimming areas.
History buffs and off-road adventurers also can take a self-guided tour of historic mining town sites along forest service roads surrounding La Porte.
The area also is well-known for its winter
recreation and was the site of the nation's
first organized downhill ski racing on
12-foot "snowshoes" in the late 1800s. The La Porte area hosts miles of terrain for snowmobiling and cross-country skiing as well as staging areas and warming huts. La Porte is accessible from Quincy via the La
Porte/Quincy Road (not plowed in winter) or
year-round from Marysville via Highway 20 and County Road E-21.