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Echo Summit
US 50 from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe.jpg
View from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe.
Elevation 7,382 ft (2,250 m)
Traversed by US 50
Location El Dorado County,
California, U.S.
Range Sierra Nevada
Coordinates 38°48′47″N 120°01′48″W / 38.813°N 120.030°W / 38.813; -120.030
Topo map
Reference #: 1048
 Echo Summit is located in California
 Echo Summit
 Echo Summit
Location in California

Echo Summit is a mountain pass over the Sierra Nevada in the western United States, located in eastern El Dorado County, California. At 7,377 ft (2,249 m) above sea level, it is the highest point on U.S. Route 50 in California, which traverses it at postmile 66.48 between Twin Bridges and Meyers, south of Lake Tahoe.

The "Sierra Nevada Southern Route" (aka the "Pioneer Route") of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, was routed over nearby Johnson Pass in 1913. The current alignment over Echo Summit was constructed between 1936 and 1939.

The "Sierra Nevada Northern Route" of the Lincoln Highway went over Donner Pass.

Echo Summit is a trailhead for the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

1968 U.S. Olympic Trials

Echo Summit is notable for being the location of the high altitude U.S. Olympic Trials and Training Camp in the summer of 1968. The camp opened in July and the men's track and field trials were held September 6–16, a month before the high altitude 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The picturesque location is on the cover of the July 1968 issue of Track and Field News.

The elevation of the track was 7,377 feet (2,249 m) above sea level, 28 feet (8.5 m) higher than the Olympic venue in Mexico.

Four world records were achieved during the trials on one of the first Tartan tracks, constructed in the middle of the forest solely for this event. The track was built southwest of the summit in the parking lot of a small ski area, and hundreds of Ponderosa pine trees remained in the infield, densest on the north end. The track installation was completed in early July and was designed to be easily dismantled and reinstalled; it was moved the following summer to nearby South Tahoe Middle School, where it survived until 2006. The location became a California Historical Landmark in 2014.

The ski area, known as Nebelhorn and later Echo Summit, closed in 1988. It is now Adventure Mountain, a snow play area for sledding and tubing.

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