steph

We'll be visiting relatives in Rocklin, CA soon (a bit northeast of Sacramento.) They've told us it's only an hour to Tahoe from there, but everytime I map it on Map'nGo or MapQuest I get much longer than an hour. I'm not sure which town at Tahoe they are basing the "hour" on, but wondered if anyone else familiar with that area could comment. If it is indeed only an hour we may try to fit in a quick visit to the lake.

Thanks for any advice. Steph

Oh Really ?!

Steph, you'd better ask your relatives again about their time to Lake Tahoe.
Either they are driving 100 mph or they know of a fantastic short cut no one else knows about.
I used Expedia Mapping; Rocklin to South Lake Tahoe and got 1 hour, 55 minutes.
Here's that website:

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll

al

Don't trust the relatives who live there?? Rocklin is closer to North Shore via HWY 80 (North Shore has less casino action), but South Shore is always my choice (via HWY 50). Probably would take you over an hour if not two. The drive to Truckee is about one hour, but the beauty begins after that.

Suzie

Al seems to have it right. The drive from Rocklin to Tahoe City via 80 then 89 will be just over an hour, perhaps an hour and a half. The thing is you stop noticing the time after you exit 80 for 89 because the scenery has improved. Actually much of the drive can be nice. One word of warning, Friday afternoons are brutal for traffic along 80 to Tahoe!

janis

Tahoe is very long and crosses two states - If you plug "Lake Tahoe" into MapQuest you get the directions to the California section on the south shore. From Rocklin to there would mean either taking 49 from Auburn to Placreville and then up 50 to southshore and that trip could take 2.5 - 3 hours.

From Rocklin to Tahoe City was already explained - a fairly quick trip except on Fridays or before any holiday.

A 3rd route would be 80 to Truckee and 267 to Kings Beach which is farther around towards Nevada on the northshore. You are then near Incline Village Nevada. This takes about the same as the drive to Tahoe city - maybe a little less since there is a lot of construction on 89.

Suzie

Well Steph, Janis makes some good points. If you are going Rocklin to South Lake Tahoe you either go up 80 and around the Lake to the south or you take 50 directly to the South. Since you're in Rocklin you might want to take Sierra College Blvd/Hazel from 80 to 50 rather than the Auburn to Placerville. It's mostly 2 lanes regular city streets but pretty fast. Auburn to Placerville is windey one lane each direction. Also the difference between 80 and 50 is that 80 is freeway the whole way but 50 has stop lights in Placerville and much of the trip higher up is one lane in each direction. A big pain if you get behind the buses and trucks.

steph

Wow, thanks so much for all the very informative responses. I do trust the relatives, I just wanted to map it out to see how long it was, and to check out lodging and was a little surprised to find the distance longer than my optimistic relatives implied.

Al, actually the casino-light North Shore would appeal to us more, so if it's closer, that's where we might head. I've been there before coming from the West, but my husband's never been there, and I'd just like him to get a taste of the mountain/lake beauty.

Thanks again!!