Today, Nyack is a roadside stop featuring a restaurant and gas station.

But, for years, just a few hundred feet to the east was one of the most memorable locations along the Sierra route.  It was the Nyack Lodge. 

In 1916, crews from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) were increasing the height of nearby Spaulding Dam.  The access to the site was through Emigrant Gap.  At a high point that provided an excellent view of the Bear River Valley below and the Sierra Nevada to the east, PG&E constructed a scenic overlook.  The company touted the location as a site “where the traveler might rest from his journey and at the same time enjoy a magnificent panorama of the Sierra.”

A few years later, a restaurant was added to the overlook and the road – Highway 40 – was moved closer to the facility.  Soon, Nyack Lodge was built at the site of the PG&E overlook.  The lodge featured rooms, a larger restaurant, and a service station. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Nyack Lodge was one of the best-known venues in this section of the Sierra Nevada.

In the 1950s, the Lodge was destroyed by a fire.