On September 4, 2014 I left the Homewood Animal House early and arrived at the Tunnel Creek Café near Incline Village, Nevada. I got a ride from the shuttle to the Tahoe Meadows trailhead and was off and running about 0845 in the morning.
GPS Track
http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/612631911
Since I had made this trip before in May in the snow I already knew the route and it went much quicker now without any snowdrift obstacles in my way. Ophir Creek was nearly dry, quite unlike May and June as I had seen it last. Since it was an even day of the week, mountain bikes were allowed to be on the Tahoe Rim Trail in this section. I had quite a few riders on rental mountain bikes passed me right and left the majority of them were polite others were focused completely on their own amusement. I was on a mission to cover quite a few miles till my first camp at Marlette Peak campground, one of two approved campsites on the Nevada side in this TRT section. It was also nice that the TRT crews were just there the previous month cleaning trails fixing up campsites and renewing the vault toilets and such. The campground also had fresh clean well water, so I didn’t have to filter what came out of the pump.
After passing Diamond Peak ski area I came across three tourists on rental mountain bikes that asked me a few questions about the trail…and as we chatted, I detected a French accent, so I asked them in French where they were touring from…I never would have guessed, but New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie), about 750 miles east of Australia in the southwestern Pacific. Hard core mountain bikers, on a tour of California with Santa Cruz as their next stop.
I arrived at the trail junction of TRT and Tunnel Creek, and many hikers and MTB people were there, checking their maps and taking a break. From here, I continued on the TRT south, toward Marlette Peak campground, giving me an opportunity to check if the trail markers were still in place for the Tahoe200 the upcoming weekend. People remove or move the markers unknowingly or for amusement.
Arriving at Twin Lakes, they were bone dry. I made my way up the hill finally to Herlan Peak and had some lunch overlooking Crystal Bay and Incline Village. Continuing on, you arrive at a trail junction for Christopher’s Loop. If you are there early enough in the day, the loop is really worth the extra effort. The apex of the loop is a rock promontory above Sand Harbor, with one of the most photographed views in the Tahoe Basin. Do make a point to take the trail on one of your trips to Tahoe. Several more miles down the trail was a vista point for Marlette Lake and Lake Tahoe.
It was about 1400, nice and warm sunshine with a nice breeze to even things out. Perfect views of the west shore and all the way down to the Crystal Range of Desolation Wilderness. I took several pictures, a few deep breaths to suck in the fresh air and trudged on to the campground.
Arriving at Marlette Campground, I had the pick of anywhere – quickly got my pack off so I could stretch out my tired old back, and just leisurely walked around the area. Nice to have the new, clean vault toilets all to myself, at least for now. walked down the path further to the well pump to fill up all of my water bladders and bottles. The old-style cast iron well pump reminded me of something from an old western movie. Took about 10 or 12 pumps to get the water but, it was nice and cold, clean well water. After I made camp, three TRT thru hikers arrived.
We exchanged names and places…Tamara, Chris her husband and Chuck, Tamara’s Dad were my new camp mates. Tamara and Chris were on a world tour for the year, and Chuck was retired, living on his boat in La Paz, Mexico. Lucky guy. Quite a fun hiking team. By morning we were all old friends, and set out on the trail not so early, about 0830.
We took lots of breaks and photo ops, setting out at a comfortable pace for the four of us.
Finally reaching Snow Valley Peak (9,214′), after many false summits we were on our way down toward Spooner Lake (7,214′). The trail was becoming pretty dusty, me leading the way, and I guess that I was kicking up a dust-storm for poor Tamara. She donned her red bandana to block the dust, so we dubbed her “Bandita”, her new trail name for the rest of the trip. This is where we would part company, as they were continuing on around, ending their hike at Tahoe City where it began. I had already completed that section back in June, and had no desire to do it again. The 17 t0 20 mile section is completely dry, even in a good year. We bid each other good luck and I continued on the trail to Spooner Campgrounds where I hoped to get a ride back to my car at Tunnel Creek Café. At the trailhead there is a small kiosk for purchasing a day pass for Spooner area.
WATER: Do check with the park service at before you start your trip, as water is not always reliable there. The lake is not really usable and the park area was without running water for 2 months. Flowing again in September 2014. On my way through the Spooner Picnic ground I recognized a lady I met at Freel Peak the month before. We had both been entertained by a friendly and chubby marmot at 10,881′, begging for trail mix and Oreo cookies. I gave the little guy 2 cookies and he was in heaven. He’s family you know! Well, it’s 11 miles back to the car, and I thought that the Flume Trail Bike Shuttle’s last trip was 11:30… and I missed it. So here we go again trying to thumb a ride down the mountain to get back to the car. Another lost cause. Nobody picks up old backpackers…even if you do have nice legs. While walking, I noticed the shuttle bus pass me, so I called the café and asked if he could get me on the next trip…they said sure. Next trip back, he passed me again…SHIT! Keep walking…call again. Oh sorry, next trip… and so on.
Finally after mile 3 in the hot sun on an unforgiving pavement, I’m in the van, on the way back to a cold beer and a dip in the lake to wash off the trail dust I’ve been wearing for the last 23 miles.
What a day! Candice graciously allowed me another night at the Tahoe200 Animal House in Homewood, and a relaxing end to a hard day on the trail and highway.
tahoemarmot 