This is Day 2 of the Ultimate California and Oregon Road Trip.

What’s better than a road trip driving through an incredible mountain pass with sweeping, panoramic views? How about TWO incredible mountain passes? That’s what we did on the second full day of our incredible road trip through California and Oregon.

The passes we drove through — Sonora Pass and Ebbetts Pass — were used by European settlers traveling west, primarily during the gold rush in the mid- to late-1800s. They started as wagon trails to go through the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

TIP: Today, as back then, these passes are only open part of the year due to snowfall. If you want to follow this route, plan accordingly, particularly if you want to do it in the spring or Fall.

The day started a bit north of Lee Vining with a trip to visit Mono Lake, which was discussed in the previous post. From there, we continued north on Highway 395 about 40 miles, where we turned west (left) onto California 108 for an incredible — and incredibly unexpected — adventure.

Sonora Pass

We drove on Highway 108 (the Sonora Pass) almost by accident. Using the  National Geographic’s Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways: The 275 Best Drives in the U.S. as our guide, my goal was to drive Ebbetts Pass from the city of Arnold to Markleeville. However, because we were already on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas, I had to go west to come back east. So I randomly chose Highway 108, mainly through looking on GoogleMaps and plotting out the route.

And lemme tell you – I AM SO GLAD I DID.

The Sonora Pass is absolutely incredible. First off, the road is immaculately maintained, making driving a breeze. One of the best mountain roads I drove on the whole trip — and we drove on hundreds of miles of roads.

When taking this route, savor the first 15 miles after you leave Highway 395 — the views are breathtaking. And a warning to drivers — there are inclines up to 27 degrees. The road is STEEP. Sometimes it almost feels like you are driving vertically up the mountain. But it is absolutely worth it. There are plenty of places to pull over and take photos. You should absolutely take advantage of them. Especially if you are lucky like we were and had a perfect, cloudless day.

This also hit our high point of the trip, in a literal sense. Sonora Pass tops out at 9,623 feet (2,933 meters). If you take a trip like this in August, like we did, the temperature is much better in the mountain passes than on either side of the Sierra Nevadas. It was a cool mid-70s at the high elevation, compared to a scorching mid-90s in the city of Sonora (elevation 1,828 feet).

Continue on the Sonora Pass road (Highway 108) until you reach the town of Sonora. Then, we basically made a really big u-turn, taking CA-49 North for about 10 miles before turning east on Highway 4. After about 20 miles, we reached Arnold, the start of the Ebbetts Pass scenic drive according to the aforementioned guidebook.

Ebbetts Pass Scenic Drive

The 61-mile journey from Arnold to Markleeville took us through groves of giant sequoias, next to beautiful lakes, and up to an elevation of 8,730 feet (2,663 meters). The drive was beautiful. And while the Sonora Pass hits with amazing scenery off the bat, the Ebbetts Pass drive is more of a slow-burn as the drive meanders upward before reaching the peak.

Given we made it on this part of the drive in the early afternoon, we found a nice pull-off that had a view of a lake in the distance to stop for a picnic. As we often did on this trip, we brought food with us so we could eat whenever the mood struck. On this day, we had bread (from Erick Schat’s Bakkerÿ, located in Bishop, California), cheese, and some cheddar cheese-flavored Bugles. Top-notch picnic fare with an amazing view.

In addition to mountain views, both the Sonora Pass and Ebbetts Pass also had numerous alpine lakes, created by glaciers long ago. While not as stunning as June Lake or Mono Lake, they were a great addition to the mountain scenery. One of the cutest ones we saw had the unfortunate name of Mosquito Lake. I think Lilypad Lake would attract more visitors, but no one asked me.

TIP: The road for the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Drive is much worse than the Sonora Pass road. There are many places where the road turns into one lane, requiring even more caution than normal. And the road condition was not as good. Take extra care when doing this drive.

The peak of Ebbetts Pass comes near the end of the drive, with dramatic views similar to those on the Sonoroa Pass.

I gotta be honest: Ebbetts Pass was not as incredible as I had hoped. If you are ever in a position where you have to choose between the two, I wholeheartedly recommend the Sonora Pass. The road was better, the views were more breathtaking, and the experience was superior. I’m not sad that we did the Ebbetts Pass drive — there were definitely great things about it. But it just was not as good as the Sonora Pass.

Near the end of the scenic drive, CA-4 ends and you can choose to take CA-89 South (back to Highway 395) or CA-89 North (towards Markleeville). We did the latter, driving through Markleeville on our way to Lake Tahoe.

We ended Day 2 with a sunset cruise on Lake Tahoe. But that experience will be covered in the next post. Until then, happy driving.