Traversed by US 50 Road U.S. Route 50 | Elevation 2,250 m Range Sierra Nevada | |
 | ||
Location Eldorado County,
California, U.S. Similar Sierra Nevada, Carson Pass, Lake Tahoe Basin Ma, Donner Pass, Luther Pass | ||
Echo Summit (also known as Johnson Pass) is a mountain pass in the western United States, located in eastern El Dorado County, California. At 7,382 ft (2,250 m) above sea level, it is the highest point on U.S. Route 50 in California, which traverses it at postmile 66.48 between Twin Bridges and Meyers, south of Lake Tahoe.
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Map of Echo Summit, California 96155, USA
The "Sierra Nevada Southern Route" (aka the "Pioneer Route") of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, was routed over Echo Summit in 1913. The "Sierra Nevada Northern Route" of the Lincoln Highway goes over Donner Pass.
1968 U.S. Olympic Trials
Echo Summit is notable for being the location of the high altitude U.S. Olympic Trials and Training Camp in the summer of 1968. The camp opened in July and the men's track and field trials were held September 6–16, a month before the high altitude 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The picturesque location is on the cover of the July 1968 issue of Track and Field News.
The elevation of the track was 7,377 feet (2,249 m) above sea level, 28 feet (8.5 m) higher than the Olympic venue in Mexico.
Four world records were achieved during the trials on one of the first Tartan tracks, constructed in the middle of the forest solely for this event. The track was built southwest of the summit in the parking lot of a small ski area, and hundreds of Ponderosa pine trees remained in the infield, densest on the north end. The track installation was completed in early July and was designed to be easily dismantled and reinstalled; it was moved the following summer to nearby South Tahoe Middle School, where it survived until 2006. The location became a California Historical Landmark in 2014.
The ski area, known as Nebelhorn and later Echo Summit, closed in 1988. It is now Adventure Mountain, a snow play area for sledding and tubing.