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Tamarack Fire - SoCal to South Lake Tahoe

Tooms22

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Any inside info on the Tamarack fire? I’m heading up to Tahoe with the boat early Thursday morning.

I’ll be coming up the 395 on the right of the map. I’d prefer to take the southern route through Meyers and into South Lake because that’s where the boat inspection station is (circle on the map). As of now, that route is open but it’s looking like I might have come into South Lake from the north side.

What say the inmates?

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JFMFG

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Just rolled into Tahoe today. Didn’t bring the magic blew the motor over the 4th. Wasn’t to bad driving up 395. But just walked outside you can see the smoke layer and ash everywhere.
 
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thinking unless things change your not gonna be able to take the short route. maybe kingsbury grade or highway 50.. they cancel the death bike ride so.....

..
 
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Tooms22

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thinking unless things change your not gonna be able to take the short route. maybe kingsbury grade or highway 50.. they cancel the death bike ride so.....

..

Yeah, I’ll probably take the Kingsbury grade, shorter route to the Meyers Inspection Station for appointment.
 

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Just under 24 hours before we leave and now I’m more worried about the 395 than the 88. I’m not even sure there’s a reasonable detour if I got up there and was forced to turn around because a 395 closure.

It looks like I’m taking the 5 up through Placerville via the 50. Anybody ever take that route with a trailer? It says it’s only 5 mins longer and mostly highway. An RV forum stated that it’s easy. Even found a 6 min video sped up of the 60 miles from Placerville to Harrah’s South Lake.

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Hammer

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Just under 24 hours before we leave and now I’m more worried about the 395 than the 88. I’m not even sure there’s a reasonable detour if I got up there and was forced to turn around because a 395 closure.

It looks like I’m taking the 5 up through Placerville via the 50. Anybody ever take that route with a trailer? It says it’s only 5 mins longer and mostly highway. An RV forum stated that it’s easy. Even found a 6 min video sped up of the 60 miles from Placerville to Harrah’s South Lake.

View attachment 1027997

Not a bad drive at all on the 50. Decent climb from Sacramento up into the mountains to placerville. You should be fine[emoji106]


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MSum661

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Just under 24 hours before we leave and now I’m more worried about the 395 than the 88. I’m not even sure there’s a reasonable detour if I got up there and was forced to turn around because a 395 closure.

It looks like I’m taking the 5 up through Placerville via the 50. Anybody ever take that route with a trailer? It says it’s only 5 mins longer and mostly highway. An RV forum stated that it’s easy. Even found a 6 min video sped up of the 60 miles from Placerville to Harrah’s South Lake.

View attachment 1027997

Done the 50 through Placerville all the way into South Lake Tahoe a bunch of times. The only portion of the drive that you want to pay close attention to if you're towing into South lake is up near the Summit. Both coming up into the Summit and then while dropping down into the Valley.
Gets tight as your winding around the turns and the Granite walls. It's basically above the tree line at that point of the drive. If you do decide to take that route there are plenty of places to pull off and let people pass around you but at the Summit I highly advise taking it slow and easy. You'll know when you get to that point of the drive coming in. If you know...you know. Hope that helps.
 
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and on echo summit, e ticket view of lake tahoe, a small pull out though, best keep your eyes on the road...

..
 

MSum661

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and on echo summit, e ticket view of lake tahoe, a small pull out though, best keep your eyes on the road...

..

Yupp, I was just going to add what you pointed out about keeping your eyes on the road, the magnitude of the view looking out and down can make ya dizzy! :)
 

Tooms22

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Not a bad drive at all on the 50. Decent climb from Sacramento up into the mountains to placerville. You should be fine[emoji106]


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Thanks. New F350 with 1600 miles on it... I should be good to go with the grade 👍

and on echo summit, e ticket view of lake tahoe, a small pull out though, best keep your eyes on the road...

..
Yupp, I was just going to add what you pointed out about keeping your eyes on the road, the magnitude of the view looking out and down can make ya dizzy! :)

Yeah, I saw that on the video. I'll just have my wife snap some pics.

I've towed a fair amount but I'm by no means an expert level at dragging a trailer on two lane roads.
 

GRADS

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It looks like I’m taking the 5 up through Placerville via the 50. Anybody ever take that route with a trailer? It says it’s only 5 mins longer and mostly highway. An RV forum stated that it’s easy. Even found a 6 min video sped up of the 60 miles from Placerville to Harrah’s South Lake.
First of all we do not call our highways “the” up here.🤣🤣
Highway 50 is the only way I ever go and we’ve towed some pretty big boats through there. The only advice I would give when towing is when you see a turn coming up and it suggests doing 30 mph around it, do that.
 
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First of all we do not call our highways “the” up here.🤣🤣
Highway 50 is the only way I ever go and we’ve towed some pretty big boats through there. The only advice I would give when towing is when you see a turn coming up and it suggests doing 30 mph around it, do that.

thinking that's not so much that you can't successfully complete the turn at a faster clip, it's because you can't see that far ahead, your in a forest, and then you may have to slam on the brakes...for any number of reasons.

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Last I heard this morning Hwy 88 closed. If you come up 395, you get on 50 in Carson City and go up Spooner Summit into Tahoe. There is a watercraft inspection station on hwy 50 and hwy 28. 28 takes you to Incline.
 

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Honestly towing up 50 is super easy, going down can be a little more challenging. Give yourself plenty of room and try not to ride your brakes. If you have surge brakes on the trailer they tend to stay on and overheat oil bath hubs relatively quickly.
 

Tooms22

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First of all we do not call our highways “the” up here.🤣🤣
Highway 50 is the only way I ever go and we’ve towed some pretty big boats through there. The only advice I would give when towing is when you see a turn coming up and it suggests doing 30 mph around it, do that.

When I moved here I was 12 and never understood "The 50" either. Then it rubbed off on me.

I'll probably try to restrain myself from using that SoCal wording in Idaho and Montana...

Wouldn't want someone to think I'm a bleeding heart 😂

Last I heard this morning Hwy 88 closed. If you come up 395, you get on 50 in Carson City and go up Spooner Summit into Tahoe. There is a watercraft inspection station on hwy 50 and hwy 28. 28 takes you to Incline.

Last I checked this morning, the fire was two miles from the 395. I'm not really interested in multi-hour detour if the 395 gets shut down. So Interstate 5 to Highway 50 seems the safest, biggest roads for majority of the drive, and allegedly 5 mins longer.

Also, I have an appointment for inspection at Meyers based on our original route... So I kind of have to get there.
 

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Honestly towing up 50 is super easy, going down can be a little more challenging. Give yourself plenty of room and try not to ride your brakes. If you have surge brakes on the trailer they tend to stay on and overheat oil bath hubs relatively quickly.

I brought the boat home from storage in Mohave Valley last Sunday. I got to try out the Cajon Pass coming downhill. The exhaust brake is a pretty solid feature.

I also just got trailer service two weeks ago. So, in theory, that should help out a little.
 

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When I moved here I was 12 and never understood "The 50" either. Then it rubbed off on me.

I'll probably try to restrain myself from using that SoCal wording in Idaho and Montana...

Wouldn't want someone to think I'm a bleeding heart 😂



Last I checked this morning, the fire was two miles from the 395. I'm not really interested in multi-hour detour if the 395 gets shut down. So Interstate 5 to Highway 50 seems the safest, biggest roads for majority of the drive, and allegedly 5 mins longer.

Also, I have an appointment for inspection at Meyers based on our original route... So I kind of have to get there.
That will keep you out of the smoke also. Shit is bad. It’s been bad here in Carson City worse south of here in Minden Gardnerville area. Post up pics of the trip.
 

Tooms22

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That will keep you out of the smoke also. Shit is bad. It’s been bad here in Carson City worse south of here in Minden Gardnerville area. Post up pics of the trip.

I was thinking that as well.

Will do. I'll start a thread tomorrow morning.

395 was just shutdown about 30 mins ago between 89 and the Nevada State Line. I got that from Caltrans District 9 Facebook. So I'm guessing similar closure on the Nevada side.
 

ChiliPepperGarage

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395 is now closed between China Springs and 208 / Holbrook Junction. This is south of Gardnerville. I'm on standby and will probably get called out this evening for structure protection. Winds are blowing pretty good and kicking it up. This is a bad one.

You can check out this site but it is not quite up to date.


 

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Very Interesting read on how after the initial lighting strike started the fire on July 4th ( Or it was discovered along with 23 other lightning caused fires), how it was only monitored for 12 days as it was believed the fire wasn't a threat due to sparse fuels and natural barriers. On July 16th, the winds kicked up and it was off to the races.
The full article and a pic of when it first began in the link below.
Edit -- If you scroll down the page, there's more updated info on the fire showing location etc.

 

Ricks raft

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I brought the boat home from storage in Mohave Valley last Sunday. I got to try out the Cajon Pass coming downhill. The exhaust brake is a pretty solid feature.

I also just got trailer service two weeks ago. So, in theory, that should help out a little.

as stated above, if you have surge brakes, using lower gears or exhaust brake will keep Your trailer brakes dragging and will overheat quickly. Try to use brakes to slow then let off and coast/cool. It’s a tough compromise. I live in the mountains so deal with this a lot. I add 2nd axle brakes to help distribute load and they still get hot. Best option would be electric over hydraulic but I’m too cheap.
If it’s not a big heavy boat you can lock out trailer brakes and use the dually gears and exhaust brake On long grades.
 

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as stated above, if you have surge brakes, using lower gears or exhaust brake will keep Your trailer brakes dragging and will overheat quickly. Try to use brakes to slow then let off and coast/cool. It’s a tough compromise. I live in the mountains so deal with this a lot. I add 2nd axle brakes to help distribute load and they still get hot. Best option would be electric over hydraulic but I’m too cheap.
If it’s not a big heavy boat you can lock out trailer brakes and use the dually gears and exhaust brake On long grades.
This. And oil bath hubs are the worst. Those things heat up and explode. When I had those on my trailer it wasn’t a matter of if we were going to blow one it was how many. If they’re grease you’re good.
 
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