Annual Hwy 50 Wagon Train

Hwy 50 Wagon Train – 75th Annual. June 1 – 8, 2024. Nevada to Placerville, California.

Ride with us in Celebration of California and Nevada’s ONLY BI-STATE HISTORIC EVENT!!
Wagon Train itinerary

The Highway 50 Wagon Train will make its 75th annual trek from Round Hill, Nevada to Placerville on Sunday, June 2, with a kickoff party “Western Days” being hosted the day before at the Lake Tahoe Museum, located at 3058 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe. 

Riding for only a day, or for the whole trip, the wonders of this great land are truly appreciated as one travels down the road at an average speed of three miles per hour! Evening campfires, storytelling, and low key entertainment round out the experience. Families are welcome!

As early as the 1840’s, a trickle of humanity began the arduous journey toward the great Pacific and the freedom they foresaw in settling there. In 1849, the cry of “Gold” from the foothills of the California territory rocked the world! Leaving property and families behind, men traveled West.

In the early 1850’s, one of the major land routes to California, traversing what we now know as Echo Summit and the Highway 50 corridor, became known as the “Roaring Road”. Travel was so heavy, oftentimes wagon trains were forced to wait for days to have their turn on the road.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the “Gold Rush”, a Wagon Train was formed to travel west from Lake Tahoe to Placerville (Old Hangtown) along Highway 50. This “one-time” event was so popular that it resumed in 1951, and has made its annual trek each year since that time.

Waking up before dawn, savoring the rich aromas of coffee boiling, bacon frying, mingled with the clanking of harness, the soft knickers of horses being readied for the day, and the murmurs of the wranglers going about their duties draw one back into a lifetime of excitement and anticipation.