I did this ride when The Dixie and the Caldor fires were raging. One fire was to the north, and one to the south. I tried to guess wind direction and ride where the smoke was minimal.
White Rock Lake is just a beautiful little gem sitting on the crest of Donner Pass, but accessed from the North side of Donner Pass.
White Rock Lake and my Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty. Love this bike!
The Gravel Road to White Rock Lake.
From Truckee, Ca, take Hwy 89 North towards Sierraville, Ca. Almost 9 miles from Sierraville, you will crest Little Truckee Summit. At the summit, you will see a Green Ca, State sign for Jackson Meadows Res. to your left. This is also known as Henness Pass Road, and also tagged as Jackson Meadows Road. Anyway, take a left, and continue West for 9.5 miles, just past Weber lake, which will be on your left back in the trees. Take a left on Meadow Lake Road, and just up the road there will be parking on the left. This is the staging area for your ride. Jump on your bike, and head left, or South up Meadow Lake Road. The road rolls for for 5 miles, the starts to pitch uphill for a 3.5 mile climb. There are a couple 13% sections, but I think the average grade is about 6%. As you climb, 6.6 miles from the car, you will come to an intersection. The main road continues to Meadow Lake (which I will write up later,) but you want to take a left. This section is a little tricky, so pay attention to the turns, or down load the GPS file from Ride With GPS or Strava links I provided below. If you can’t get those files because you don’t have a subscription, drop me an email, or call the shop, and I can send the file to you. Anyway, take a left and continue to climb. At 7.3 miles from the car, or just under a mile from the last turn, you will come to another intersection. Here you will take a hard right. It feels like you are going the wrong direction, but you will continue a slight climb to 8.4 miles from the car where you will finish this part of the climb with one left. Continue downhill for 1.5 miles and here the road gets a little rocky, but again not horrible. Just go slow and pick your line. This climb is 1.5 miles long, but only the first section is rocky. Once you get to the top of the climb, you can see White Rock below to the right. Ride down to the first right, and that road will drop you on the West shore of White Rock Lake with Mt. Lola directly across the lake to the East. I have a different trail write up for Mt. Lola in the Truckee Area Rides here. Once you have had your fill, retrace your path back home. 24.4 miles, 2628 ft vertical gain.
When accessing the Ride With GPS link below, there is a drop down menu on the upper right of the map. This drop down menu allows you to change the kind of map you are looking at, from a Google Satellite map to a USGS Topo man, and any other map inbetween.