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Most of the time, it is a nice easy day trip to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento. For most in the Metro, it averages 1 hour to 2 hours.
The fact is that Sacramento is as close as 15 minutes away from decent amounts of snow in the Sierras; we do not have to go to ski resorts for snowy recreation, nor do we have to go to Lake Tahoe itself for mountain summer recreation spring, summer and fall.
From much of the Sacramento Metro you can be in 2,000-5,000 foot mountains in 15 minutes to 45 minutes. From west to east, Lake Tahoe is on the far end, most of the mountain recreation/wilderness is on the closer end to Sacramento.
It is rare that the two major interstate highway routes to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento "turn into parking lots". As an avid life long snow skier and a "weekend warrior" I've only been "stuck in traffic" once, yep only once in the last 15-20 years of going to ski resorts in Tahoe.
For the vast majority of people in Sacramento it takes at least 1h 45m to South Lake Tahoe without traffic.
I guess you wake up before sunrise and start driving to Tahoe. Not everyone does, apparently. If so, there wouldn't be articles like this:
Most of the time, it is a nice easy day trip to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento. For most in the Metro, it averages 1 hour to 2 hours.
The fact is that Sacramento is as close as 15 minutes away from decent amounts of snow in the Sierras; we do not have to go to ski resorts for snowy recreation, nor do we have to go to Lake Tahoe itself for mountain summer recreation spring, summer and fall.
From much of the Sacramento Metro you can be in 2,000-5,000 foot mountains in 15 minutes to 45 minutes. From west to east, Lake Tahoe is on the far end, most of the mountain recreation/wilderness is on the closer end to Sacramento.
It is rare that the two major interstate highway routes to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento "turn into parking lots". As an avid life long snow skier and a "weekend warrior" I've only been "stuck in traffic" once, yep only once in the last 15-20 years of going to ski resorts in Tahoe.
I should add that from much of the Sacramento Metro you can be in 1,000-10,000 foot mountains in as little as 15 minutes to 2 hours.
Traffic can get "bad to the mountains" in just about every major metro that is close to them. It doesn't take much to know when to go to avoid heavy traffic including holidays. And during the week its rarely, rarely a problem.
And, no I don't need to leave at an usual hour to avoid the traffic, the earlier you go the better is true to ensure you miss any heavy traffic, and even if you do have that occasional slow down, when you have family or friends with you, you hardly even notice that you got there 5-15 mins "later the usual".
On the east coast it seems like 2 hours is sufficient, whereas in the western states spending several hours in the car is normal.
Yes. This is exactly what I want to say. I don't deny that the West has the biggest mountains and is home to all the neat desert landscapes, but the trade off is that you often have to drive further, and there are less cities that you can go for day trips, because cities are more isolated.
Yes. This is exactly what I want to say. I don't deny that the West has the biggest mountains and is home to all the neat desert landscapes, but the trade off is that you often have to drive further, and there are less cities that you can go for day trips, because cities are more isolated.
You just won't let it go, will you...
You were just told it takes an hour or less to get to the mountains (Auburn, Colfax, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Foresthill, Placerville) yet you ignore that. You choose to compare to the point (Tahoe) that is FURTHEST EAST in the mountains from Sacramento.
Anybody that doesn't understand this can look at a satellite picture on Google Maps.
You did not prove your point. Stop while you're behind.
Last edited by Vic Romano; 06-01-2020 at 02:39 AM..
2 hours to get to Wilmington beaches from Raleigh is about the longest “normal” day trip. People might do 3 hours for a Panthers game or Kings Dominion/Busch Gardens. But in general most 3-hour trips (OBX, Asheville, Myrtle) are overnight stays.
Interesting. Over in the East Bay Area, many people will drive to ski at Tahoe (3 hrs one way without traffic) and back in a single day.
There are for sure day trip areas within the East Bay within an hour, but the fact that many people actually drive all the way to Tahoe and back in the same day is pretty incredible.
To each their own, but if it were me, I'd probably consider Tahoe an overnight stay. It wouldn't be worth a six hour plus round trip (and there's often massive traffic making it longer than six hours) for a single day trip.
Most of the time, it is a nice easy day trip to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento. For most in the Metro, it averages 1 hour to 2 hours.
The fact is that Sacramento is as close as 15 minutes away from decent amounts of snow in the Sierras; we do not have to go to ski resorts for snowy recreation, nor do we have to go to Lake Tahoe itself for mountain summer recreation spring, summer and fall.
From much of the Sacramento Metro you can be in 2,000-5,000 foot mountains in 15 minutes to 45 minutes. From west to east, Lake Tahoe is on the far end, most of the mountain recreation/wilderness is on the closer end to Sacramento.
It is rare that the two major interstate highway routes to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento "turn into parking lots". As an avid life long snow skier and a "weekend warrior" I've only been "stuck in traffic" once, yep only once in the last 15-20 years of going to ski resorts in Tahoe.
It’s a bit disingenuous to use 1 hour when you say 1-2 hours to Tahoe for “most” of the metro. You might get there in an hour from the outskirts like Placerville, but not where the majority of the metro lives. It’s gonna be closer to 2 hours for everyone, with no traffic,
Speaking of traffic, as someone who’s made that trip many times, I don’t believe you for one second when you say you’ve only been stuck in traffic once in 15-20 years. Do you really think people familiar with that drive aren’t reading these posts?
Sure there’s ways to help avoid the ski traffic by leaving Sacramento super early and having breakfast in Tahoe before the resorts open. And you can cut your day short by leaving the resorts early, or stay really late after they close, but that doesn’t ensure you’ll miss traffic coming home either? There’s frequently accidents and/or snow storms on both the 50, and the 80, that brings it to a snail’s crawl when you least expect it.
And of course going during the week is a different story, but when you’re a “weekend warrior”, like you state you are, it’s hard to avoid it. Just way too many people from both the Bay Area and Sacramento converge on it every weekend.
With all that said, the proximity to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento is huge. Not just in the winter for skiing and snow play, but in the summers when it gets toasty in the Sacramento valley. Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places in this country, world even.
The DC area has a ton of places within a days drive. I drove to Philly last week in 2 hours. In addition to Philly, you have Baltimore, Annapolis, Richmond, and Charlottesville within 1-2 1/2 hours away without traffic. You can do NYC and Pittsburgh in a day but I would say those are more weekend trips since they are both 4-5 hours away. The beach is 2 hours away including Ocean City and the Delaware beaches. Shenandoah National Park and Blue Ridge Mountains are like an hour and half and are doable for day trips.
Another neat, and very relaxing, getaway is the Wisp/Deep Creek Lake, Maryland area. It's a true 4-season resort area, about 3 hours from Northern VA (NOVA) and DC., but worth spending a night or two!
Lansing, Michigan here. Any of the larger cities in Michigan (Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, etc.) are easy day trips. You can get to the southern fringes of what we call "Up North" as a day trip as well. Going to Chicago, or going to Traverse City or northward is pushing it for a day trip, and a lot of times you'd get a hotel or campground for that distance.
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