395 North to Lake Tahoe

Snowflower is a Thousand Trails Resort that may be open to the public...its actually located in Calif. in Emigrant Gap, Calif.

Have to agree with the late night idea.....I will normally plan my trip so that I hit the grade out of Bishop in the cooler late night/early AM time period, besides I love that Rest area just before you get to the June Lake loop. It just so happens this year, Im going up the 99 to hit the American River first then to Lake Tahoe after but Ill still be doing this at night too.

Scott and Karla; Reading your post I was going to suggest the radiator cleaning but I see you have taken care of that.I looked in our Good Sam Travel Guide and I can,t find SnowFlower, where is it? We are planning a week around 395 in mid July to for one thing to fish Green Creek on the South side of Bridgeport and I was wondering where is SnowFlower? We have A 2002 Phaeton wth the 3126 engine and have recently turned over 30,000 miles and it just seems to run better and better. Thank-you.

RayChez,
Well Sir, I see you're heading there from Barstow correct? Well, compared to us, you've don't have the preliminary grade(s) we have to run, even before we get to your area of starting. We live in the San Diego County area and run the 15 to the 395.

But, I made the decision (and posted it on here quite a while ago) to do the entire run, from San Diego to Bishop, starting at midnight exactly. That run, without a doubt, was the best, long distance, non stop run, I've EVER DONE! The primary reason, at that time of night/early-early morning, there was NO ONE ON THE ROAD!!! Talk about a pleasant drive. Besides, if anyone knows that run, from San Diego to Bishop, in that route, they know there's absolutely NOTHING to see or miss, in that entire section.

So, doing it at night, with seriously less (none) traffic, was outstanding.

But, back to your original question. Our rig, an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 330 CAT, runs down the road at 32,700 lbs. with a Honda Goldwing hung on the back of the rig and, a 2011 Honda CRV-EXL in tow. Cajon Pass is a pain, but, not all that bad. But, that grade, just outside of Bishop to the north, seems relentless. I think, with the present load, I run it at about 30-35 mph, plus or minus.

The time we did it, around July of '12, the temps on that grade were about 85 if I'm recalling. The temps on the big beast started to do some climbing. I think I may have hit around 207-210 before I topped the grade. There are other grades that have been mentioned but, we survived all of them and the coach did fine.

Now, one thing here, this trip was done BEFORE I found out I had about 30-40% of my CAC and radiator clogged up with all the gunk, oil, debris, and more from the blow by tube etc. I've since removed the radiator and CAC and have done extensive cleaning of the entire system. So, we too are heading up that exact route, to the June lake loop in early July. We'll see how it handles them then. Good luck and, you should be fine, keep the RPMs up to so the engine is at peak HP and the fan is cooling at maximum.
Scott

Ive heard good things about Snowflower and Id like to try it myself, maybe next year. Ill look forward to your opinion about it. I may have to come by in the toad and check it out while up in the area....Have Fun and stay Cooler, I hope! :)

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
We'll be headed up that way in a few weeks also, staying at Ponderosa and then Tahoe Valley. I heard over on the TT Facebook page that the power at Snow Flower was out until Wednesday, construction dug up a Line or water flooded a vault. Guess that wont affect you though...just wanted to give you a heads up. Have a Great time!

I hope they have it all fixed. Never been there. I usually go to Lake of the springs. But other Rvers that are meeting us there wanted to try SnowFlower. So maybe we will like it. Got to get away from Barstow it is starting to get hot. lol.

We'll be headed up that way in a few weeks also, staying at Ponderosa and then Tahoe Valley. I heard over on the TT Facebook page that the power at Snow Flower was out until Wednesday, construction dug up a Line or water flooded a vault. Guess that wont affect you though...just wanted to give you a heads up. Have a Great time!

Thanks guys for the info. It has been a long time since I have not driven that route but I thought it would not be any problems. LOL! the climb up to Yosemite from Mantica with all the zig zagging was a bear and the temp went up some. So I was a little concerned about the climb from Bishop to Lee Vining. I will be stopping in some of those state camp grounds to do some fishing. Maybe Convict and June lake. I will just take my time getting up to Snowflower preserve.

Ray,
We have done that a few times. Leaving Bishop there is a long 6% or better grade with four lanes and room to pull over. The 50 out of Carson City is about a ten mile 6% grade also. Take it easy turn off the dash AC and keep your rpm's up around 2200 and you should be fine.

Good luck;)

I have taken my 36' DP towing a 4,500lb Nissan Xterra from Reno to Carson City up route 50 to South Lake Tahoe a number of times with the same engine you have and it flew up the mountain. Never over heated. Carson City is at 5,000' and you will climb over 7,500' to the Lake which is at 6,200' .