Foote's Crossing Road, one of America's most spectacular mountain drives
Foote's Crossing Road is a very scenic drive located on the boundary of Nevada and Sierra County, in the U.S. state of California. The road is narrow, steep, twisting and potentially hazardous winding through the Tahoe National Forest.
Foote's Crossing Road is designed as Road 191 (in Sierra County) and Road 613 (in Nevada County). It was originally called Foote's Crossing, but is also known as Tyler Foote Road, Tyler-Foote Road, Tyler Foote Crossing Road or Tyler-Foote Crossing Road. A portion of the road is a narrow, roughly-graded, single-lane wagon shelf road, while other parts are paved. The most treacherous part of the drive is traversing the steep cliffs above the Middle Fork Yuba River.
The road is 39.10km (24.3 miles) long, running from CA-49 road (Golden Chain Highway) to the community of Alleghany (in Sierra County). Parts of the road are deeply rutted and require high clearance vehicles.
The road was built by a civil and mining engineer called Arthur De Wint Foote in 1913. It took six months to build it. The drive is really scenic. Make sure you leave enough time to make plenty of stops along the way. A portion of the road has been described as ‘America's most spectacular mile of mountain road’. It’s notable the rugged beauty of the river canyon it traverses.
Pic: Steve Schmorleitz