Last Tahoe Rim Trail HIke

Last evening we took a look at the weather forecast for the next couple days and discovered that today was the only “rain free” day of the remaining days we have here.  Unable to resist, we wanted one last wonderful hiking day before we left.

The easiest access to the Tahoe Rim Trail from our campground is at Spooner Summit.  It is just 10 miles and we can be there in 15 or 20 minutes.  What is good for us is also good for everybody else.  Since this is a popular section of the trail, there are 2 small parking lots and 1 large parking lot.  They all easily fill up.  To make parking a little more difficult, the forest service is working on one of the smaller lots and it is closed.  The result is “the early bird gets the spot”.  We were at the trailhead at 7:30 this morning and  got the last available spot in the smaller lot.  We wanted that lot because it was on the north side of the road--the side we wanted to hike today.

We have hiked along this section of trail twice before, but we still enjoy every step.  Today we went farther than on our past trips--going 4 miles to the junction with the trail that connects the Tahoe Rim Trail with with Marlette campground on the North Canyon Trail (a couple weeks ago we hiked the North Canyon road up to this campground).  The junction was our destination today; at the junction we were 400 feet above the campground.  From our vantage point, we had a view over the canyon walls to the lake beyond.

The 4 miles out was very quiet.  Even though the parking lot was full, we saw only 1 other hiker and his dog.  We hadn’t been back on the trail many minutes after our break at the junction, than the crowds descended.  It was a beautiful day and everybody wanted to be out.

Rain has brought out moss on the trees.

We had a special opportunity on the trail today.  Yesterday on our hike we ran into a backpacker.  Once you’ve seen a long-distance hiker, you usually recognize them for what they are.  This guy had “the look” so we stopped to chat with him a couple minutes.  Sure enough, he was planning to hike the 160 miles of Tahoe Rim Trail and had started about 25 miles south of where we met him at Big Meadows.  Today, we ran into him again.  He said he had a good night (cold, I’ll bet) even though being in bear country seemed to make him a little nervous.  We offered him any of our food and water.  He declined the food (not been on the trail enough days, I guess), but he did take a quart of water.  The high mountain ridge trails of the west are famous for their lack of water.  We were happy to be able to fill his water bottle.  He thanked us,  pronounced us “trail angels” and we went our separate ways.

Trail angels are good hearted folks who do little things to make the journey of the long-distance hiker just a little easier.  Having spent some time on the Appalachian Trail, we have benefited from several trail angels.  We have come across a stash of fresh fruit, a cooler of cold drinks, gallons jugs of water on a particularly dry stretch of trail, and even a beer at a creek crossing.  Perhaps the best trail angel we’ve run into was the guy who picked us up and gave us a ride into Hiawassee, GA saving us a very long road walk.  We have often been on the receiving end from trail angels.  Today we got the opportunity to pass along that good fortune to someone else.

We may take the quick 2 mile walk around Spooner Lake again before we leave on Wednesday.  It depends on the weather.  But instead of hiking, we now need to turn our attention to getting our rig ready to roll again.  Tomorrow will be household chores--laundry, grocery, vacuuming, etc, etc, etc.  Tuesday, we’ll be more specific in getting things stowed for travel.  California, here we come.

Another Hike on the Tahoe Rim Trail

This is another glorious day in Nevada and we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and big blue sky to do a little hiking.  Being a holiday weekend, we wanted to get an early start to get ahead of the crowds.  We chose a section of the Tahoe Rim Trail which  was easy and quick to get to.  Just 15 minutes after getting in the truck we were at the trailhead.

Today, we parked on the opposite side of US 50 at the Spooner Summit trailhead which we have hiked a couple times.  Instead of heading north along the trail, we went south.  It was a steeper climb, the trail was more narrow, and less sandy.  However, the views were every bit as stunning.

Like we expected, there were lots of folks out enjoying the great outdoors today.  We got on the trail about 9 am and did not see anyone until about 10:30.  Once we saw one other person it was like the flood gates were opened.  Bikers are also allowed on this section of trail and we saw a few somehow peddling uphill.

Mule's ear, I think

The spring wildflowers are blooming and we saw several, especially mule’s ear.  In the wildlife category, we saw 3 or 4 lizards, a few ground squirrels, and I saw a coyote.

Thunderhead brewing

Friends we met in Santa Fe are passing through on their way to California.  We have dinner scheduled with them tonight.  It is always exciting getting together with friends and we are really looking forward to that visit.

Tomorrow will be a non-hiking day, but so far we have no plan.

Wildlife sighting

Continue to enjoy your holiday weekend and, if you get a chance, hug a vet.

Spooner Lake Trail

With a little effort we got ourselves ready and out the door this morning about 8:30.  It is a glorious day in northern Nevada—a great day for a hike.

The trail was through pines and aspen

US 50 is a mere half mile from our campground and US 50 leads to Lake Tahoe about 25 miles from here.  We were looking for a trail to hike.  After about 10 miles, we noticed a rather large parking lot which, on the side of a major road in a National Forest, usually means a trailhead is nearby.  It turned out to be a junction with the Tahoe Rim Trail, a 165-mile trail which encircles Lake Tahoe.  Also at this junction was an access trail which led down to Spooner Lake and the 2.1 mile trail which encircles that lake.  We could see snow on the higher peaks, but none at this elevation (7146 ft).  This would do nicely for our hike today.

View from our break spot

We started out along the Tahoe Rim Trail and intended to walk for about an hour or until we ran into snow.  The trail was a wide, sandy footpath through pine and aspen.  We had a couple glimpses of Spooner Lake, but none of Lake Tahoe.  (We were still several miles east of Lake Tahoe when we came to our parking lot along US 50.)  About 45 minutes into our walk, we came to a signpost marked “vista”.  We took the short side trail to see what the vista had to offer.  It was such a great place we took our break there and made it our turning around spot.

View from Tahoe Rim Trail

After our return trip along the Tahoe Rim Trail, we took the access trail down to Spooner Lake.  In the mid 1850s, this area had been a meadow.  Mr. Spooner, a Lake Tahoe pioneer, had settled in the area and established a lumber company to supply lumber to shore up the shafts of the numerous gold and silver mines in the area.  His business turned out to be quite successful.  To help supply demand for lumber, Mr. Spooner put in a flume to send the timber downhill.  He built a dam to create this small lake at the base of the flume.  As the mines played out so did Mr. Spooner’s business and the land, along with the lake, changed hands several times over the years until the state of Nevada purchased it in the 1970s.
Spooner is a pristine lake, cold and clear, fed primarily by snow melt.  The trail around the perimeter is close enough for great views, but far enough away to keep visitors from disturbing the water fowl.  Today we saw a fairly large flock of Canada geese and a couple mallards.

Another look at Spooner Lake

We really like it here.  We like it so well, we have decided to stay.  Gene has already reserved our spot for a month and cancelled all the other reservations we had west of here, including the Montana Owners Rally in Oregon.  There are several things to do around here—Reno is only 30 miles away, the junction of US 50 and NV 28 is only 10 miles from here and from there you can go left to South Tahoe or right to North Tahoe Lake.  Bishop, California is about 100 miles south on US 395.  There is a Borders Books across the street and one of our favorite things to do is sip coffee at a bookstore.  Of course, there are the hundreds of miles of trail to be hiked.  We’ll be back to the Tahoe Rim Trail, although much of that will still be under snow even when we leave here.

Gene liked the looks of this pine cone

I think the reason we like it so much is because of the trees.  When we got up to 6000 feet today, there were trees everywhere.  There are even trees in our campground.  We have seen nothing but brown for so long, the first tree we came to we had to stop and give it a big hug.  How pitiful is that?  Anyway, we want to do some hiking in the high mountains of Oregon and we have to wait for some of the snow to melt.  We might as well do some of our waiting here.

Our trail ended on the boardwalk through the Aspen

One other thing may have had an influence on our decision to stay—rest for weary travelers.  We have been trotting along at a pretty fast pace since we left Nashville at the end of December.  This is really not our style.  We much prefer to stay at least 3 weeks in an area.  I think we were just ready to give the road a rest when we saw those gorgeous tree covered mountains.

Tomorrow, we are planning to drive over to Virginia City.  That should be fun.