Barker Pass | Getting lost above Lake Tahoe

Native Moto Adventures co-founder @saf1 took the road less traveled deeper up the Tahoe Sierra, via the scenic Barker Pass road, which incidentally joins the famous Pacific Crest Trailhead. Check out the full mapped route on REVER and follow our NorCal Moto Group for the latest mapped rides in San Francisco and Northern California.

We were reminded of the following off-roading safety lessons after almost getting stuck in the wilderness :
- Always bring riding buddies along when going off-raod
- Carry a satellite phone or beacon (such as the Spot)
- Bring plenty of water, a few energy bars, and some protein or beef jerky
- Carry an emergency blanket in case the temperature drops (and it does at night)
- Take frequent breaks
- Keep a positive attitude

The paved part of the road is a beautiful climbing mountain road, paved all the way to the Barker Pass parking lot. It's a lot of fun, well paved, about a car and 1/2 wide. Watch for wildlife crossings.

After that, it is a full off-road, that starts easy with lots of amazing camping spots on top of the mountain. It progressively gets intermediate after that, and by Bear Lake gets hard (and no fun) with large bed rocks sloping down. This is where we recommend reversing or choosing another route.