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Highway 50 - Nevada - The Loneliest Road in America

It can be a great ride....

....in summer at least, only times I've been across either direction, maybe 3 times different directions.
I like westbound slightly better, mostly because AM departures have no sun in-ye eye mate. And you arrive Reno instead of nowhere Utah.
Dont be out late on ole 50! Good lodging, even camping in Ely....ALWAYS a layover for me & most others.
There will be a gaggle of us on it after the OR National heading to Paonia Co's Top of Rocky rally during our enroute back east this July.

Its a DRY heat in summer... often chilly in the morning; your riding at 4 to 5 thousand feet with "passes" at sixty five to near eight thou!
 
It's a great experience, there really are places were there's "nothing". It's pretty straight, as fast as you want it to be and it is still far superior to taking the interstate.

If you go have a "breakdown" plan. Mine was to make sure we had plenty of extra water and a plan for shade should we find ourselves having to wait a while for help. Granted this was on a cross country side car trip with my son on our hack so I was a little more leery about worst case scenarios than I would have been if I were alone.
 
Hwy 50

I left my bike running when I stopped to take pictures, a whole lot of empty in all directions. When I got close to where it connects to I70, the worlds fattest coyote ran across right in front of me, I think both our lives passed before our eyes until we realized we had missed each other.
 
Any folks ever done this ride from border to border on Highway 50?


I live just off of it, in Ohio,and have ridden every mile of US 50 east & west,.....except !! the part known as the loneliest road, through Nevada. As I got close I chicken'd out . I was alone it was summer, and that little voice kept saying....maybe better not :brow.

But even I-80 is "empty" and hot. So give some thought to it and as others have said be prepared.
 
Be careful if the mormon crickets are swarming Hwy 50 can get so inundated with them their carcasses make the road very slick.
 
yup. Got the T Shirt. Late July 1998 on a '75/5 solo. Lots of interesting sights that I would not see in my N.E. backyard. Stopped a few times and ventured down a couple of paths into the desert. What's a "back up plan"? :dunno:p Don't forget to get gas at that funky little store on the west end. - Bob
 
Way over rated road for a motorcycle; big, wide, smooth pavement and almost no turns. Highway 6 is my choice when I cross Nevada by motorcycle. Highway 50 is my choice when I cross Nevada by RV.
 
It's a local road for us. We ride it to Utah, Colorado 2 -3 round trips a year. Sometimes a lunch ride from Reno to Austin, NV.
What did you want to know ?
 
I did it back in the 80s on my R100RS. Got passed by a State Trooper while I was doing 90 and only got a friendly wave. In the towns I recommend doing 5 MPH under the limit. They are serious about not speeding in town. Also rode about 50 miles of the western portion of the road last fall. Did not seem to have changed much.
 
Over the years I have riden most of Highway 50 coast to coast. My first trip out west back in 1981 I was riding a Honda CX500 Custom the fuel tank was only 2.3 gallons and was only good for 100 miles. I strapped a 2 gallon plastic lawn mower tank to the rack for more fuel range for that trip. Come back I followed 50 to Montrose Co. Come 50 through Nevada was not any problem. Come through Utah most of 50 was I70 and was 2 lane. some getting close to 200 miles from Colorado I remember seeing a sign about no gas for the next 160 or soo miles that was the only time I really need the extra gas.
 
Also, be aware that Hwy 50 thru NV, especially between Ely and Fallon, runs perpendicular to a number of alternating wide valleys (5-10 miles each) and high ridges. This funnels the wind down the valleys and it can get VERY windy. I've had days out there when the wind was blowing hard enough to have me leaning hard into it, and still getting pushed from one side of the lane to the other. Usually not dangerous, but it will keep your attention, LOL.
 
Been there, done that...."you can see for miles and miles...."

A great experience...just be sure you buy fuel at every opportunity. When I did this section on my /5 back in the 80's, I was running on fumes in a few places. There may be more fuel stops now.
 
Nah...

.... George; some gas joints from the /5 era are abandoned on rt50 these days. Where you can get in fuel problems is if you take the side trip
into Great Basin NP and "enjoy" the road going in & out...and UP the mountain!! If westbound at least, suddenly the distance to ELY, as stated
on the sign just west of park entry road... where the fuel light comes on just after passing it... well, you slow down for about an hour :uhoh
 
It is not the loneliest ...

Did it a couple of years ago. Like others have said, it is overrated.

And, BTW, it is not the loneliest highway in America. While stretches can be low traffic and there are a couple of longish stretches between communities, I have been on several roads that I believe are "lonelier" (less traffic and fewer buildings) that 50 across Nevada. One that gets my vote is 395 running north-south in eastern Oregon. Plus, there are roads in western Kansas and western Nebraska, or eastern Colorado, or eastern Montana, or ... well, you get the idea. When you live out here, you get so used to lonely roads that 50 across Nevada doesn't impress you much.
 
I did it a couple of years ago late Sept. on a cross country ride to the east coast. I left Tahoe and drove about 775 miles straight to Moab in around 9 hours. Here's my thoughts:

1) It is not that lonely-if you break down, a car will come along soon enough. But sure, bring water.
2) Buy gas when you can. I also got VERY low on gas until I hit Austin.
3) I took the Kingsbury grade down from the Sierras. I recommend that section as it is twisty and fun.
4) I had to put a piece of masking tape on my visor to block the Sun-it is very bright and strong if you leave at Sunrise like I did and go east.
5) Speed seems to be no problem. At 110 I didn't pass a car for an hour (going my way, plenty coming at me).
6) Beautiful purple/blue sunsets can be seen.
7) I left the bike running when I'd pee or take pictures. I didn't want to have an unexpected dead battery or EWS failure!
8) Damn, I need to try highway 6 now!

It is more enjoyable if you are a student of geology. Lake Tahoe was created when a granite slab sunk 6000 feet and filled with water. Nevada is a continuation of these sunken slab areas, called basin and range, all across to Utah. Sections sunk at regular intervals and the high sections wore into mountains. Hence, you go flat for about 15 miles, then cross small mountains. You do this over and over and over about 20 times I'd guess. It is a fun road if you like desert scenery and don't go during the worst heat (Sept. was fantastic).

Here is a section of my travel journal:


The desert entices you to speed. Speed feels right here, natural here. Once out of towns, I cracked open the throttle plates and the big boxer began chugging along like the locomotive it is: 80-90-100-110 mph. I set the cruise at 110 for a good hour.

Speed demands attention. At 100 mph, you cover a football field in 2 seconds. Look at a rear view mirror and you've traveled 100 yards. A lot can change at that speed. It gets tiring maintaining that level of focus for hours, so I backed off to 90 mph for stretches to relax and view some scenery.

It was a bit eerie crossing the desert alone. I saw so many riders in groups. At a station, one group of 3 was surprised I was riding alone. I'm a loner by heart, but I was looking forward seeing Doug in Moab. I was running on fumes as I was not prepared for the long (140 mile) gasless stretch before pulling into Austin for fuel. The basin and range is just that. Long stretches of perfectly flat roads, then a short section of mountains, repeat-over and over and over. Mountains were spaced 10-15 miles apart.
 
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We did it border to border last year returning from our southwest tour....boring! The only excitement was the high, gusty winds in some of the valleys that literally almost blew us off the road. I was very happy when we finally reached Reno..
 
Thanks to all for the replies. I'm hope to be making it to the Bonneville Salt Flats this summer and intend on doing Route 50 as part of the trip.
 
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