U.S. Route 50 in Nevada

Understand

U.S. Route 50 is a transcontinental highway in the United States, stretching from the Sacramento region of California in the west to Ocean City of Maryland in the east. The Nevada portion, which goes through the center of the state, was named The Loneliest Road in America by Life magazine in July 1986. While the name was intended as a pejorative, Nevada officials seized it as a marketing slogan, and U.S. 50 became a challenge for tourists of who could "survive the highway". Due to the fact that the little rain that falls does not drain to any ocean, the region of the United States that the Loneliest Road travels through is referred to as the Great Basin. U.S. 50 goes through the petroglyphs, alpine forests, desert valleys, ghost towns, and Great Basin National Park before splitting near the Nevada-Utah border. This itinerary covers the route from Fernley, Nevada, to Delta, Utah.

Getting there

By car If you begin the route in Fernley as this itinerary describes, and you are coming from Sacramento or the Bay Area, take I-80 across the Sierra Mountains past Reno and on to Fernley. Once you're at Fernley, you can take the Main Street westbound exit and you will soon be on the Loneliest Road.

By plane The nearest notable civilian airport to the beginning of the Loneliest Road is in Reno. You can rent a vehicle there.

Go next

From Beaver East of Beaver are many national parks and scenic areas, which are part of the National Parks Grand Circle. The Grand Circle includes Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and Zion Parks, and all of the Grand Circle is in Utah or a state that neighbors Utah. The closest of these parks to Beaver are Bryce and Zion.

From Delta From Delta, you can head northeast to Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah and an important center of Mormonism.