Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail

Lake Tahoe / Truckee

Hike of the Month

Tahoe Rim Trail: Tahoe Meadows to Ponderosa Ranch

View of northern Lake Tahoe from Tahoe Rim Trail!

A Real Estate Newsletter for my Clients and Friends

The Tahoe Rim Trail is one of the world's premier trails. It passes through two states (California and Nevada), six counties, one state park, three National Forests, and three Wilderness areas. This spectacular trail is 165 miles of single-track multiuse trail, winding peak to peak around Lake Tahoe. For information on the Tahoe Rim Trail go to their web site at www.TahoeRimTrail.org.

The Tahoe Meadows to Incline Village segment of the Tahoe Rim Trail is 11.7 miles. The trail is 9.2 miles from the Tahoe Meadows trailhead to the Tunnel Creek trail. At the Tunnel Creek Trail the trail goes downhill for 2.5 miles to Incline Village, where you come to Hwy. 28 at the old Ponderosa Ranch.

Bicycles are not allowed on the trail on even numbered days, so even numbered days are the best for hiking this segment of the trail. The trail is currently free of snow for this summer as of August, 2011.

Tahoe Meadows is at 8740 feet in elevation, and Incline Village is about 6200 feet in elevation, so start the hike at Tahoe Meadows. Most of the hike is a relatively flat and gentle slope down until you get to Tunnel Creek. At Tunnel Creek the trail uses switchbacks to descend from about 8000 feet in elevation to 6200 feet in elevation.

This hike is best done as a one way hike. If you have two cars, leave one car parked along the shoulder of Hwy 28 at the old Ponderosa Ranch near Incline Village. Then drive the other car to Hwy. 431 towards Mount Rose and Reno. The trailhead for the Tahoe Meadows to Incline Village segment starts at the Mt. Rose Summit Welcome Plaza, where there is paved parking and vault toilets. If you only have one car, leave that car at Hwy. 28 at the old Ponderosa Ranch. Arrange to have a taxi meet you there and take you to the Mt. Rose Summit Welcome Plaza. Then you can just hike to your car which is waiting for you at Hwy. 28.

Enjoy the photos that follow.