Journey to Ice House Rd - Sierra Nevada Mtns

[pashnit]

Ok, show of hands. How many people have ever ridden Bay Area/Sacramento to Lake Tahoe? Ever skip the interstate (80) and take Hwy 50 which heads up to South Lake Tahoe. Then you've ridden right past this one. Imagine 35 miles of the sweetest pavement surrounded by dirt fire roads in every direction spidering off across the mountain tops. Ice House Road is by far one of Sierra Nevada's greatest motorcycle roads.

[pashnit]

Oh, and what else do they have you may ask? Just think paradise.

Linky to Interactive Map of area roads

All the roads you see below can be found on the pashnit.com site.

[pashnit]

Up before the sun, and headed out. Arrived at Ice House Road at 5:57 am. Not quite light enough to shoot pictures yet. If you notice from the map above, Ice House heads straight up a mountainous ridgeline in sinous affair of high speed curves with amazing views across the mountain tops.

[pashnit]

Here's the turn off for Wentworth Springs Road. I showered praise upon this road in my article about it. Not open till mid-may though. Did I mention the dual sport roads the spurt off in various directions? Take Eleven Pines Road over to Mosquito Ridge. Or Mosquito Road that runs back south to Mosquito / Swansboro.


More info on Wentworth Springs

[pashnit]

If you go straight the pavement ends and turns to dirt. This is also the haven of the Jeepers and the Rubicon River. They take these roads up and over the mountains to Lake Tahoe.

Take a right here and ride the couple miles to Loon Lake, one of the more higher lakes in the Sierra Nevada. Much higher than Lake Tahoe which is at 6200 feet.

[pashnit]

Sun's coming up. What you can't see in this pic is the vista to the right. You can see for miles!

Here's the link: Panoramic! Won't post it, little too big. - 281K
Pic: Clicky for picture linky

[pashnit]

This is just an amazing spot, and the first time I ever came up here just crossing off roads, I was beside myself for not having discovered this ride sooner. Been riding right past for years. This particular vista is one of the more amazing ones in all of the Sierra Nevad Mountains. Did I mention not a single soul in sight?

[pashnit]

Loon Lake is actually a man made lake built a few decades ago to supply all the water to us thirsty Californians. Here's a shot of the huge water intake. Even more interesting, is there is a power generating station built into the mountian below where I'm standing. Love to hear that story.

[pashnit]

Oh, and there was a little bit of snow. You might have noticed that. But road was very clear with very little sand. Temp was probably in the 40's, but we're in the midst of a heat wave right now. 80's down in the Central Valley this day.

[pashnit]

There is a chalet that was built by PG&E and SMUD up here that you can actually rent. And it's open year-round. Hmmm, bring up the bikes, rent the chalet, ride the Rubicon?