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Anybody been over Spooner Pass from Carson City over towards Tahoe? I'm not worried about the grade with the 5500HD but according to my Mountain Directory West Guide there's a short tunnel 6 miles down from the summit which is marked 12'4" on the inside and 18'6" on the centerline. As we're 13'6" tall with our New Horizons…that could present a problem unless I can stay in the middle.
Hopefully somebody will have been through it and know if it's (a) straight and short enough to see through to the other end so that I can straddle the centerline on the way through and (b) that straddling will provide enough clearance.
Otherwise I'll have to find another way around. We'll be coming in on US 50 from the east and the tunnel is after the summit down on the lake shore…looks like it's only 30 yards or so long and from looking at it on google maps it looks like it would be fine if I can straddle the line but would appreciate any firsthand information.
If it won't work…what's the alternate routing? Looks like 395 south out of Carson City would get us partway…but then there's a curvy 206/207 that gets over to 50 south of the tunnel on the way into South Lake Tahoe which is our destination…but 206/207 looks sort of rough on google so I'm hesitant to go the way without any first hand info.
Hi Neil, we considered this last fall, however we drove it first on a site seeing trip. Tunnel was under construction at that time and there would have been no way to go down the centerline due to where they had cones, etc. I would check with the Nevada DOT before deciding.
We went south to Minden and took 88 to 89 around to US 50, cross Luther Pass. This also avoided the very slow trffic in the town of South Lake Tahoe.
We were told by 2 different friends who have Class A MHs and live in Carson City to NOT take 207.
Neil - one more note, the Minden Walmart allowed overnight parking, and one of the quietest WalMarts we've stayed at since being FT. Are you planning to go across this route soon? I'd be concerned about snow levels right now in the Sierras, if you're crossing in winter you might be required to carry chains, not sure what Nevada / California requirements are, but it's not a route I'd want to take in the winter. When we took this route in the fall it was absolutely beautiful due to all the fall color change.
Nah…not soon. We're going to drive the length of US Route 50 this summer (well, except for the piece in WV which isn't worthy of being driven on in any vehicle, but I digress)…and won't be getting out to Tahoe until well into July. I was just checking our our route planning for grades…not that I'm really worried about them with the 5500HD pulling our rig but always good to check anyway…and noticed the tunnel after coming down from Spooner and it's associated restrictions. I've got another buddy that has routinely used both the tunnel and 207 in the past…and the latter looked just fine to me on google streetview albeit with a lot of curves. He reported that he did the 88/89 alternative instead last time and while you've still got the grade it's mostly straight without hairpin turns…and from reviewing with streetview it's got wider shoulders and fewer drop offs than either 207 or 50 heading over.
