Spooner Summit is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

through the

Carson Range The Carson Range is a spur of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada that starts at Carson Pass and stretches north to the Truckee River near Verdi, Nevada. Geography The mountain range is about 50 miles (80 km) long a ...

, linking the Lake Tahoe Area to

Carson City Carson City, officially the Carson City Consolidated Municipality, is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the 6th most populous city in the state. The m ...

via US 50. The highest point of the pass is located just east of Spooner Lake just before the first set of curves when traveling eastbound. The pass also carried the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

over the Carson Range along its Sierra Nevada Southern Route before being renumbered as US 50 and rerouted near Johnson Pass. The Tahoe Rim Trail is accessible from a small parking lot at the summit.

References

Mountain passes of Nevada Landforms of Douglas County, Nevada U.S. Route 50 Lincoln Highway {{DouglasCountyNV-geo-stub