RE: Las Vegas

["Norville, Blake/DEN" <bnorvill@xxxxxxxx>]

:

 > >has a house in Wellington,
 > >Which brings me to my question... what sorts of interesting roads are
 > >there between Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe?

I used to go to Redding via hwy 95 and I-80 (Reno) a lot. It's a drone, and
occasionally I peeled off at Yerington and took the road along the Walker
River thru Smith and Wellington, which comes out on hwy 395 about 3 miles
north of Lake Topaz. If she goes that route, a right turn would take her
thru Minden and Gardnerville, very close to Tahoe. The road up Kingsbury (?)
Grade hwy 207 goes up the mountainside on sweeping switchbacks and leaves
you at Southshore once you reach the top.
I have two favorite ways to go to Tahoe though....

1) From Vegas, hwy 95 north drone to Tonopah (215 miles, gas in Beatty at
125 miles).
At Tonopah, hwy 95 heads west for about 40 miles, then veers north at
Coaldale Junction (no gas here). Hwy 6 joins it, and if you continue west on
6 over Montgomery Pass (real close to Boundary Peak, the highest point in
Nevada at over 13,000ft) you turn on 120 west at Benton. Hwy 120 thru Benton
Hot Springs to Mono Lake is an awesome road. Make sure it's open, it isn't
maintained in winter, but isn't as high as the stretch thru Yosemite and
should be clear if it hasn't snowed recently. Gas is probably NOT available
at Sopor's truck stop on Montgomery Pass, so fill up in Tonopah. Next gas
will be in Lee Vining, about 5 miles north of the hwy 120/CA395 Junction.
 >From Lee Vining, I'd head north towards Lake Topaz, but turn west a few
miles shy on hwy 89 over Monitor Pass. Breathtaking views with 10 minutes of
making this turn. You ride thru some wonderful scenery, take a right turn at
the hwy 4/89 junction and head towards Markleeville. A few miles west of
Markleeville is Grover Hot Springs, a great place for a 104F soak. Only
about 4 miles out of town and worth it. From Markleeville, head north on 89,
then west on 88 at Woodfords. Within a few miles 89 goes north again, and
over a pass to Myers, which is essentially south Lake Tahoe.

2) Another way to get there is to turn off of hwy 95 before Tonopah, before
Goldfield in fact.... The junction of hwy 95 and hwy 266 is easy to spot,
there's a brothel called the Cottontail Ranch on the corner. Can't miss it!
Hwy 266 is about 85 miles long, and connects to CA395 south of Bishop, near
Big Pine.Going this way means topping off in Beatty and not getting gas
until Bishop, a total of about 135 miles. Beatty to Cottontail Ranch is
about 56 miles, then 85 over, and 15 up to Bishop, if memory serves. As you
approach the California end of this cutoff, the road gets narrow, windy, and
there can be loose sand on the road, so take care. It's a great road with
very little traffic, and the Bristlecone Pine forest is off of it's west
end...

3) More of a winter or fall trip....would be to leave Las Vegas over hwy 160
thru Pahrump and head thru Death Valley, Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells....
gas is an issue potentially. You can get expensive gas at the Chevron in
Furnace Creek, then there's not anything until Lone Pine. I've made it on
the T595 before, and it has much less range than the 6.3 gallon Blackbird.
The turnoff in Pahrump is tricky, and doesn't show up on all the maps. You
drive thru Pahrump and look for signs to Ash Meadows....you're sure you've
gone too far, then there it is. Keep an eye out for brown Nat'l Park type
sign on the right. Wish I could remember the name of the road.....like
Bonita Rd. or something.


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