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I am organizing a trip to hike Hawkins Peak and Pickett Peak south of Lake Tahoe near Luther Pass.

We understand that Burnside Road is dirt Forest Service Road. We want to know the conditions.

1) Can a 2WD low-clearance vehicle make it up the road?
2) If so, how far up the road before it turns too rough?

Our plan is to drive up to Pickett Peak Road, about 3 miles up, and park.


Thanks

Under normal summer conditions, you should be able to take a 2wd back to Pickett Road.

If you are planning on tagging both Hawkins and Pickett you are better off going past the Pickett Turnoff up to the road near Hawkins Creek:

http://www.fedak.net/photos/HawkinsPeak ... ndard.html

I *think* you can get a 2wd back that far (Think there might be one dicey section on the uphill). Don't remember my outback having any problems at all and there was some amount of traffic heading back to Burnside Lake.

This will allow you to gain the ridge w/o the horrible bushwack between Pickett Road and the peak.

hgrapid wrote:I am organizing a trip to hike Hawkins Peak and Pickett Peak south of Lake Tahoe near Luther Pass.
We understand that Burnside Road is dirt Forest Service Road. We want to know the conditions.
1) Can a 2WD low-clearance vehicle make it up the road?
2) If so, how far up the road before it turns too rough?
Our plan is to drive up to Pickett Peak Road, about 3 miles up, and park by one of the North Lake Tahoe Hotels or South Lake Tahoe Hotels
Thanks

_____________
Did you make it up to The Luther Pass?
I bet it is a great hike... Especially this time of year with the "changing of the leaves".
Would like to plan one for my family in the spring and am interested in hearing about your experiences.
Many thanks,

E. Dall

I was there this past Memorial Day and I'm very certain the road was gated and locked then. We parked on the side of the road (Burnside) to start the hike up Pickett.