# Old U.S. Highway 40 Ride up to the Snow



## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Last Saturday was another good day for tackling the Sierras before all the tourists start showing up. We decided to do Old U.S. Highway 40 up out of Donner Lake/Truckee over the Rainbow Bridge and up to Ice Lakes. It was a warm and windless day which is just about perfect as far as I'm concerned. Not as much snow as need up there, but still enough to provide plenty of waterfalls and flowing creeks.

We started out in Donner Lake Park and rode south around the Lake and headed for the climb up old U.S. 40.





































I always like climbing up this route when there's snow covered peaks in the distant. Great scenery.














































The view from the overlook at Rainbow Bridge. That's Donner Lake in the distance and the town of Truckee beyond that.





































Hard to tell from the pic, but the kids climbing up this were about 3 or 4 years old.










I'm not sure I'd pay 25.00 to ski this!










Ice Lakes living up to their namesake.










Working our way back to Soda Springs for a snack before descending back down.










These guys had closed up for the season. Funny since they have more snow than the other resort.










Great place for a coke and a brownie!



















High spot before going back down the road.



















Then down, down, down.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Man I want to ride there again.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Thanks for the memory shots, man. We had a cabin at the west end of the lake when I was a kid, not far from the location of your third and fourth shots. It's a beautiful place.


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## freighttraininguphill (Jun 7, 2011)

Nice! :thumbsup: That is one of my favorite rides. I've never been up there when there's still snow though. I try to do it at least once a year, if not more. When I went up there last year I climbed the Sugar Bowl side twice and the longer Donner Lake side once. 

I went up there to watch the Donner Summit Time Trial, which is held every year in August. If you get a chance to see it, it is very inspiring watching the riders work so hard on the climb. It sure helped my climb later on that day! :wink5:


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

freighttraininguphill said:


> Nice! :thumbsup: That is one of my favorite rides. I've never been up there when there's still snow though. I try to do it at least once a year, if not more. When I went up there last year I climbed the Sugar Bowl side twice and the longer Donner Lake side once. I posted the ride report with pictures and video here.
> 
> I went up there to watch and record the Donner Summit Time Trial, which is held every year in August. If you get a chance to see it, it is very inspiring watching the riders work so hard on the climb. It sure helped my climb later on that day! :wink5:


I've never bothered to go up and watch but have heard about it. I should put it on my list of to do's this year. My fast uphill speeds still have old men on cruisers passing me up!


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

That does not look like the US Route 40 that I know. You probably did not notice it when we did our Baltimore ride a few years ago, but Route 40 goes right through Baltimore. When we were at the Basilica (the church where they were not amused when we brought the bikes inside), we actually were in the middle of Route 40 -- the street to the south was the eastbound route and the street to the north was the westbound route. There are some good climbs on Route 40 about 50 miles west of Baltimore. 

In Western Maryland, Route 40 follows the path of the National Road, which was started in the Jefferson administration and was the first road project funded by the Federal Government.


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## EWT (Jul 3, 2011)

Nice pics. I'd love to ride up there sometime. I didn't realize Donner Ski Ranch was still open. I don't think I'd pay $2.50 to ski there at this point in the year. 

There is still a crease in the seat of my car from a trip home on old 40 from Squaw Valley when 80 was closed due to snowfall and accidents a few years ago. Rolling along carefully at 35 when the car suddenly snapped sideways for no apparent reason. It took 2 or 3 swings back and forth in the middle of the road to get it back straight. Fortunately, there wasn't any oncoming traffic, or it would have gotten ugly quickly.


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

I love it.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

MarkS said:


> That does not look like the US Route 40 that I know. You probably did not notice it when we did our Baltimore ride a few years ago, but Route 40 goes right through Baltimore. When we were at the Basilica (the church where they were not amused when we brought the bikes inside), we actually were in the middle of Route 40 -- the street to the south was the eastbound route and the street to the north was the westbound route. There are some good climbs on Route 40 about 50 miles west of Baltimore.
> 
> In Western Maryland, Route 40 follows the path of the National Road, which was started in the Jefferson administration and was the first road project funded by the Federal Government.


I had no idea Mark. That's interesting. Definitely a little bit different looking!


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## bismo37 (Mar 22, 2002)

I love your ride posts. I hope to get some alpine riding done once the weather improves up here. Beautiful photos and country you have down there.


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## thalo (Jul 17, 2011)

looking for some interesting places to ride close to reno, now a place to plan to ride. went sledding across the street from DSR two years ago and didnt even think of using the road to ride up. thanks for the inspiration.


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