\n<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t let the title \u201cLoneliest Road in America\u201d fool you. Nevada\u2019s Highway 50 has been a major thoroughfare since the Pony Express connected the West. And when mail by horse faded with the dawn of the telegraph and automobile, the route blazed a new trail as the first transcontinental highway, from New York to San Francisco. We\u2019ll admit that we thought Route 66 held that claim to fame, but the Lincoln Highway came first, and Nevada\u2019s section was a lynchpin to guiding travelers through the desert and over the Sierra Nevada mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why is Nevada\u2019s Highway 50 called \u201cThe Loneliest Road in America\u201d? In 1986, Life Magazine did a feature, damning this 287-mile stretch, saying, \u201cThere are no points of interest,\u201d and warned that motorists would need \u201csurvival skills\u201d to make it through this high desert. Well, as seasoned road trippers who\u2019ve driven the Alaska Highway<\/a>, the entirety of The Mother Road<\/a>, and nine cross-country road trips, we knew better than to let some persnickety editor keep us or Nevada down! We\u2019d taken a bite out of The Loneliest Road in America on previous Nevada trips and were excited to finally drive its full length and explore all its wonders with an eight-day road trip!<\/p>\n Follow our Route 50 Road Survival Guide from Great Basin National Park, through eight historic towns to numerous hot springs, sacred Native American sites, sand dunes, sagebrush saloons, and so many stops to make The Loneliest Road in America a bucket-list road trip.<\/p>\nLoneliest Road in America Map<\/strong><\/h2>\n