![]() Standing there for a moment, we looked at each other wondering if this was still a good idea. It points across the road to it.” He wished us the best of luck and left. “That’s the only way you can tell that’s the entrance. Gingerly walking back down the road for about a quarter mile, he suddenly stops and points over to the left. Let me show you the trailhead because you won’t really find it on your own.” The “TREE” Marks The Spot Oh yeah, I couldn’t even make it a ½ mile up because it’s so steep. We don’t maintain it, lots of scrambling, slippery rocks and most of all, there isn’t a formal trailhead marker. With a big grin he responded, “Oh boy, that’s a doozy. We told him we were looking for the Tamarack trailhead. While looking over the atlas, a volunteer forest service guide greeted us with a big howdy. Pulling up to the Glen Alpine Trailhead, we swung our packs over our shoulders and walked up to the trailhead map. We had to be at the TEDx South Lake Tahoe event later that afternoon so we only had a few hours to kill. Based on the reviews, it seemed challenging but doable. Path Is Chosen – Tamarack Trail The hidden sign 100 yards from the roadwayĪfter going through a massive amount of books and perusing, we settled on the Tamarack Trail near Fallen Leaf. Little did I know, the one we picked last weekend would test my fears to the core yet again. Trying to find one that climbs over 2,000 vertical feet in less than 3 miles is difficult. While you would think that would be easy, most trails near town in South Lake Tahoe aren’t that steep. One of the goals we’ve set for ourselves is to get 10,000 vertical feet of climbing a week. For many visitors, the attractions are the adjacent creek, which flows steeply across broken, jagged rocks forming waterfalls, cascades and deep pools suitable for swimming, and also a small lake (Lily) just upstream, but there are several good destinations suitable for half day hikes as well as more distant places, of which Lake Aloha is the best.Over the past month, the love of my life and I have begun training for the upcoming ski season. This is, however, not nearly sufficient for the many vehicles here at peak times, so the excess have to use small, rocky pullouts along the road all the way back to Fallen Leaf. The road eventually passes the last buildings in town, including Fallen Leaf Lodge, climbs the hillside to the southwest alongside a fast flowing stream ( Glen Alpine Creek), and ends half a mile further at a fairly large parking area. ![]() Long stretches are single-lane, with only small passing places, yet much of this area is rather busy, part of the extended residential community of Fallen Leaf this, together with the high volume of traffic heading to the trailhead can make the drive slow and difficult, and it is definitely not suitable for large RVs. This runs through empty pine/aspen woodland for a while, past a USFS campground, and then along the east shore of Fallen Leaf Lake, where the road narrows and is bordered by big trees close to the edge. The Glen Alpine trailhead is at the end of the paved Fallen Leaf Road, forking south off Hwy 89, 3 miles from the US 50 intersection in South Lake Tahoe. Several trails branch off to other places further in the wilderness, and Lake Aloha is a favored backpacking destination, yet is easily reached on a day trip. Varied environments en route are home to especially abundant wildflowers, and the whole hike offers spectacular, ever-changing scenery. ![]() The path passes a cluster of surviving wood and stone buildings from the resort then climbs steadily alongside a creek to the first of two intermediate lakes (Susie), closely followed by the smaller Heather Lake before the final ascent to the shore of Lake Aloha. The hike begins at Glen Alpine, a historic valley west of Fallen Leaf Lake that was the location of the first Tahoe-area resort in the 1880s, a site long since abandoned. The lake is buried under snow for more than half of the year, high up in the Desolation Wilderness on the southwest side of Lake Tahoe, but is relatively simple to reach for around four months in summer and fall, when the 5 mile trail is quite popular. Lake Aloha must be one of the most beautiful places in the Sierras - a large, shallow lake filled by clear blue water, dotted with a myriad of tiny islands and surrounded by stark hillsides of white granite slickrock bearing very little vegetation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |