The association’s 76th Wagon Train still has openings for its journey from May 31 to June 7.
Courtesy Ron Harris
Drivers often stop to wave at the traveling eight-up wagons along U.S. Highway 50 each year.
The contrast between past and present amuses photographer Ron Harris, 70, who captures the train traveling through Stateline.
“It’s the draw of living that pioneer life, coming over the sense of excitement, of a reunion of seeing people you haven’t seen for a year,” Harris said. “You can see the horses when they’re hitched up — the people, how they’re smiling. They’re enjoying themselves.”
The 76th annual Highway 50 Association Wagon Train’s journey from Round Hill, Nevada to Placerville, California takes place from May 31 to June 7.
Association member Carol Spreckelsen Foster, a resident of South Lake Tahoe, said the trip celebrates the California gold rush. Spreckelsen Foster said the wagon train began in 1949 as a publicity stunt. Although it wasn’t held the following year, it was popular enough for the Highway 50 Association to form in 1951.
The train has continued since, except in 2020 due to COVID-19, but many longtime supporters soon will no longer be able to make the trek.
“We’re all getting older and we need some young blood and monetary support,” Spreckelsen Foster said.
Interested riders or wranglers will gather for registration, dinner and information May 31. To keep it as authentic as possible, period dress is required. Wagons are prepared with extra supplies for repairs, and participants sleep in tents, campers or trailers and bring essentials for the outdoors.
A caterer provides two hot meals and a bag lunch, with participants responsible for their own food the last three days. The event includes an annual barbecue.
Steve Downer, association president for about 12 years, said it’s rewarding to see something new about the scenery from Round Hill to Placerville.
“You see so much more in detail,” on the trip, he said. “You’re moving at about 3.5 mph. It seems like every year you spot something you didn’t see the year before.”
Spreckelsen Foster took some time away but has rejoined the rides. Part of the experience is solving the problems the pioneers experienced with useful, hands-on skills younger people could learn, she said.
“Now that I'm back into it, I'm trying to get more people into it. The younger generation stares at their phone and that's their life, this is reality,” she said. “We do it just like they did in the old days. It makes it feel real. It is not a Disney ride.”
Wagons depart Round Hill Village to Amaker Ranch in Meyers, California. By June 7, the train concludes the final stretch from Pollock Pines to Placerville, having made stops near Echo Summit, the Tamarack Pines cutoff to Kyburz and Fresh Pond, Calif.
Harris snaps about 500 to 600 photos of the ride each year.
“They’re using nature all around you and it’s annoying sometimes when it’s in a wagon raining or snowing,” he said. “You’ve got to figure the pioneers did that back in the days.”
He rides the first and last days and drives ahead of the wagons, receiving help from the local highway patrol to tell stories through his photos.
“We love what we do, we love the history of it,” Harris said. “Once the bug bites you, it never goes away.”