4 Mountain Passes to Explore in Alpine County

Carson Pass is located on the south side of Highway 88 at Carson Pass 60 miles east of Jackson in Alpine County. The historic pass was a point on the Carson Trail during the California Gold Rush and was used for American Civil War shipping to California until the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The Pacific Crest Trail traverses the Carson Pass summit, which has California Historical Landmark #315 at CA 88 postmile 6.09 where Kit Carson carved his name into a tree.

The Carson Pass Sno-Park is located near Caples Lake on the south side of Highway 88. It is popular with hikers throughout most of the year, and the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, Tahoe-Yosemite Trail, and the Emigrant Summit Trail have access points at Carson Pass. Several high-elevation lakes can be accessed from Carson Pass.

The Ebbetts Pass National Scenic Byway is one of only seven nationally designated byways in California and 151 in the nation.Ebbetts is the eastern of two passes in the area traversed by State Route 4. The western pass is the Pacific Grade Summit. The pass is registered as a California Historical Landmark. The Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650-mile long National Scenic Trail crosses State Route 4 at Ebbetts Pass.

Monitor Pass is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 2.543m above the sea level, located on the boundary between Alpine and Mono counties in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California. It offers some of the best motorcycle riding in the Sierra Nevada range, with breathtaking scenery and light traffic. This Pass itself lies on a side ridge between tributaries of the East Fork Carson River.