Trip Summary
What: thru-hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT).
Where: northern Sierra Nevada Range, California and Nevada.
When: October 5-14, 2018 (10 days).
Distance: about 170 miles.
Highlights: a well designed, documented and maintained trail; vibrant fall colors; clear, cool weather; great views; easy logistics.
Resources
The Tahoe Rim Trail Association has an excellent website with most of the detailed information needed to organize a trip. They offer eight printable maps; these are sometimes available at trailhead USFS kiosks, but print the maps yourself to ensure you have them. National Geographic and Tom Harrison publish maps which are a good complement to the simple TRT Association maps.
The Guthook smartphone app is worth purchasing. This is a well-designed app that includes the track, access trails, and many points of interest. It includes crowd-sourced data about the status of water sources, which is very useful for a late season hike when some of the seasonal sources have dried up.
Weatherspark is our favorite source of climate information.
As for all our trips, we used our two favorite mapping tools: CalTopo.com to prepare gpx data and printed maps, and Gaia GPS while hiking. The TRT Association has downloadable gpx data which can be imported into either of those tools.
Why we went
We had taken two long overseas backpacking trips this year: a spring trip in Japan and a summer trip in Wales.
We wanted to take a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada, but the earliest we could go was early October, when the possibility of an early winter storm makes it a bit risky to take an extended trip in the southern Sierra wilderness, our favorite part of the range.
The TRT has been sitting in our inventory of possible hikes for a long time. Previously, we had walked the PCT portion of the route and wondered what the rest of the TRT might be like. We decided it would be a good choice for us this year because there are many bail-out options in case the weather turned bad, and because the logistics and available information made it a very simple trip to plan and execute.
Click map to open an interactive CalTopo map in a new browser tab. Instructions for using CalTopo.
Amy’s Assessment
I thoroughly enjoyed this hike. It was straight-forward and relaxing, the scenery was consistently good, and the trail has great integrity.
Our two previous trips (Italy’s GTA and Japan’s Tokai Nature Trail) were both quite demanding, with roughly twice the elevation gain per mile as this trip. I am not embarrassed to admit that it is pretty fun to take a trip that is not exhausting! We are rapidly approaching the day when the the sum of our ages is 130 years and I’ll use that as my excuse for enjoying an easy hike on a well-maintained trail.
To my eyes, nothing on this route comes close to the scenic grandeur of the southern Sierra Nevada (for example on the Big SEKI Loop). But the entire route is pleasing, with lots of long views and no boring or unpleasant parts. Although there is no remaining old-growth forest, there are no boring monoculture tree plantations either. There is enough elevation change to provide good diversity of spruce, fir, pine, and aspen forests.
I was surprised and pleased that the whole route is on single track path and nothing is shared with motorized vehicles. I had expected it to include USFS roads and jeep track as is the case on the Colorado Trail and Arizona Trail. Although there are about 15 ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe region, the TRT is masterfully routed to avoid them.
The ~15 mile section of the TRT which passes through Desolation Wilderness is extremely popular and crowded, yet so many backpackers miss out on the remaining 155 miles of delightful trail.
James’ Assessment
This walk was much more interesting and rewarding that I expected. Other than the Desolation Wilderness area, I knew we would not be walking in the glorious open alpine terrain of the southern Sierra. However, there was a surprising amount of habitat diversity so the walk never felt repetitive. And the more developed aspects of the Tahoe Basin never really intruded into the trip.
Yes, we crossed an occasional paved road and could see mostly distant ski areas and other tourist facilities, but the TRT is routed so that these never really impinge on the route. The TRT Association deserves great credit for creating such a satisfying trail. Trail maintenance was as good as I have ever experienced on any long hike, making the actual walking easy and pleasurable.
I can highly recommend the TRT to anyone who wants a simple to organize and easy to execute trip into the Sierra Nevada.
Notes for Potential Hikers
The TRT is a 171 mile continuous loop that circumambulates Lake Tahoe in the northern Sierra Nevada in California and Nevada. It has been designed, constructed and maintained by the Tahoe Rim Trail Association in conjunction with the USFS and the IMBA and was first opened in 2001. Since then, the Association has been making routing improvements to the TRT on a regular basis.
The trail integrates portions of other existing trails, including approximately 50 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. The TRT stays high above the lake, only touching it at the Truckee River outlet in Tahoe City.
Navigation
We carried paper maps we made using CalTopo and Adobe illustrator. We used Gaia GPS with several map sources, the track, and water source data James had prepared prior to the trip. We also carried the Guthook app with TRT data. Although these were more than sufficient for navigation purposes, in hindsight we wish we had also printed the TRT Association PDF maps as they were clear and easy to use and not always available at the trailheads.
Trail Conditions
The TRT is an extremely well maintained trail. There is no encroaching underbrush, only a few blowdowns to cross and no wet water crossings. The tread condition is excellent throughout the route. The trail is generally well marked with easy to interpret signage. While the route does gain and lose significant amounts of altitude, there are few steep sections. We calculate that overall the TRT gains about 180 feet per mile. There are no exposed or risky sections of trail.
The route avoids all pavement other than road-crossings and trivial amounts in Tahoe City and near Tahoe Meadows. The trail is all single-track excepting a few short sections on Forest Service dirt roads. Given the density of development around Tahoe, it was amazing just how little of it impinged of the TRT.
This hike is eminently suitable for beginning backpackers and a good choice for people who want to try a long trip for the first time. There are many bail out points if things do not go as planned, so the risk of getting trapped in the backcountry is very low.
Our Route
We parked at a small lot on Buchanan Road, which is just off of Highway 207 (Kingsbury Grade Road). From here it is only a few hundred yards on a connector trail to join the TRT. We walked clockwise around the lake. As the trail is a loop one could start anywhere. We chose our starting point to put Tahoe City and our resupply package just over halfway into the trip, meaning that we never needed to leave the trail.
James climbed Freel Peak on the first day, but otherwise we stayed on the TRT for our entire trip.
Resupply
There are only two possible resupply locations directly on the TRT. One is Tahoe City where there is an excellent supermarket, cafes, a laundromat, motels, a post office, and a couple of outdoor stores. We made arrangements in advance to ship our resupply package to Alpenglow Sports.
The other on-trail potential resupply is the Echo Lake Chalet. They have a limited grocery store and soda fountain. However, they are only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
There are numerous other towns along the Lake Tahoe shoreline where resupply would be simple, but each requires leaving the TRT on a spur trail or hitching a ride at one of the road crossings.
Both the Tahoe Rim Trail Association and the Guthook app list water sources and their reliability. There are several 12+ mile stretches with no water, so water planning is a must for TRT hikers. There had been a storm a couple of days prior to our walk, so some of the sources listed as seasonal were flowing, but mid to late summer hikers should not depend on these. There was no public water at any road crossings except Tahoe City and at Echo Lake.
SPS Peaks
There are five SPS Peaks within easy hiking distance of the TRT: Freel Peak, Pyramid Peak North, Dick’s Peak, Mt. Tallac, and Mt. Rose. They are all class 1 or 2 ascents.
Camping
We never had any issues finding a good to excellent place to set up our tent. Camping is legal so stealth camping is not necessary.
A USFS permit is required for overnight camping and travel within the Desolation Wilderness portion of the TRT.
Bear cans are not required, but it is necessary to protect food as bears are present throughout the area.
Other Hikers
The stretch between Echo Lake and Lake Aloha is by far the most popular piece of trail, and on a beautiful Sunday afternoon we encountered many dozens of day-hikers and backpackers on these few miles of trail. On the rest of the trip, we saw between 4 and a few dozen people each day. Outside of our walk into the Desolation Wilderness, we saw only three other backpackers.
We met a number of people who were section hiking the TRT, but we met just two people thru-hiking the TRT.
Bikes
98 miles of the TRT is open to bicycles and we encountered many of them. In all but one case, they were polite and we enjoyed chatting with them. Sadly, we did see evidence that a few people ride on sections of the trail that are closed to cyclists. The TRT Association has worked very closely with the IMBA and the USFS to build and manage the trail for use by cyclists and hikers; the trail is well designed to accommodate both user groups. On one nine mile stretch that is very popular with both hikers and cyclists they limit cyclists to even numbered days only.
Weather
October on the TRT is usually cool and clear. We had partly cloudy weather on a few days and trivial precipitation on a couple of nights, otherwise it was crystal clear. However, it was quite cool and sometimes cold during this walk. On two occasions, liquids in our water bottles froze. Brisk winds on exposed ridges made it feel even colder.
Birds
It was late in the season in the Sierra, so the summer visitors were gone. We saw and heard significant numbers of three species of nuthatches. We saw and heard many Townsend’s Solitaires, a few of which were still singing even though it was long past nesting season.
Amy nearly stepped on a Common Poorwill sitting in the middle of the trail; it fluttered a few feet away and provided us fine daytime views of this normally nocturnal species. We heard a Flammulated Owl tooting early in the morning near our Ward Creek campsite.
Dogs
Dogs are permitted on the entire route, and many people bring their dogs on their day hikes and overnights. Fortunately we did not meet any ill-behaved dogs.
Insects
There were no biting insects at this time of the year. In the late spring and early summer mosquitoes would likely be very problematic in places.
Hi and thanks for your wonderful pictures and hike descriptions. My friends and I are aiming to take our first backpacking trip in California this year and I get so excited seeing what you have done. I also really like Caltopo so thanks for sharing that information too!
I have a question you may not be able to answer but thought I would ask. It will be advantageous for us to hike the 3rd week in June if possible and we are thinking about Yosemite from El Capitan to Tuolumne meadows or perhaps a similar distance on the east side of the Tahoe rim trail. I see you hike mostly in the fall so you might not know, but if 2019 is a near normal snow year, do you think we will be OK hiking that time of year? Both of the hikes we are considering top out just around 10,000 ft. elevation and we are wondering if might be too much snow to find camping spots, navigate on trails, go over passes, etc.
Thanks in advance for any personal experience you might be able to share.
Steve
Steve,
Thanks for the kind words. We normally do our Sierra hiking in the autumn because mosquitoes can be a significant problem early in the season just as the snow melts. The hatch follows the snow line uphill and normal years the bugs are mostly gone by mid-August We have not done any significant hikes in June so cannot speak intelligently about snow conditions then. But, snowfall amounts can vary significantly from one year to the next so it would be best to check much later in the year to understand what has happened. The Park Service or Forest Service would have up to date info about the areas you are interested in, so call them prior to your trip.
Given all of the above, the east side of the TRT is likely to have far less snow than the west side in any given year.
Have a good walk,
James and Amy
Hello and thanks for a wonderful summary of your trip.
I am planning to hike the TRT but will only be able to do a portion of the full route for 3-4 days. Which section of the TRT would you recommend being the most scenic? I am looking for a more challenging hike.
I have already hiked the Desolation Wilderness stretch so I’m looking at the other parts of TRT. Maybe the Brockway Summit -Mt Rose would be a good segment?
Thanks!
Cecillia,
The Desolation is the most classically scenic piece of the TRT, but the rest of the walk is excellent as well. The best views of the lake can be had on the east side segment from Hwy 431 to Hwy 207. There is a lot of diversity on this segment as well and we enjoyed it quite bit. The only downside is the distance between reliable sources of water: plan ahead.
Enjoy your hike,
James and Amy
Great article about your trip! we are planning on going from Mt. Rose, to TAhoe City, over 4.5 days. I see the water spots, got that figured out , i think. I heard that you can leave a cache of water at the Brockway summit, as long as you label your water and date it? is that true, and a good idea?
Also, i only see a few campsites marked on the Blackwoods Press guide. Are those the only spots, or can we can pretty much anywhere it is flat?
We did see labeled water near Brockway, although we didn’t do so. We aren’t looking at a map now but our recollection is that the stretch you mention is nearly all USFS land where it is legal to camp anywhere, and finding sites should not be problematic. Have a great trip!
Great trip report! Beautiful photos, great hike! I am from Brazil and I plan to do TRT next year. Your information help me a lot, thank you. I was curious about your backpack, is it a HMG 2400 Southwest? I want to buy one. All the bests!
HMG 3400 southwest. Let us know if you have more questions, and good luck on your hike!
Great pics and report. Like to start at Tahoe city and go clockwise. Save Desolation for the end. Possible resupply at South Lake Tahoe. Curious on your gear list with this trip and if you would change anything. Email me if you could. Like to have your insight on your adventure. Have the ULA circuit by the way, great pack, seen it on a gear list of yours.
Dale, We use the same equipment on all of our trips. You can find the lists here: https://doingmiles.com/techniques
Enjoy your hike, Amy
Thanks for the Caltopo map and GPX with water! The ones in Tahoerimtrail.org don’t load in Garmin Basecamp and most other tools.
Amy & James,
Thank you for another wonderful hike. We were in Olympic Valley visiting family for a week so I negotiated three days with management (the ladies in my life) and took off counterclockwise from Tahoe City with no set agenda, just hoping to see as much of the trail as possible.
Desolation Wilderness is everything it is cracked up to be and I hope to take my girls there soon. The whole first day though was a bit underwhelming, mostly hiking through trees with the occasional view. I kept thinking this would be a good trail run but I wouldn’t leave my family for it. Stopped for a swim at Richardson Lake which was warm and bug free but again not that inspiring. Then I hit Fontanhills Lake (adjacent to Dicks Lake) to set up camp and the scenery really started to improve.
I woke up early the next day to catch dawn at Dicks Pass and from there it was one great view after another with gorgeous mountain vistas and beautiful lakes around every corner. Lake Aloha early morning is particularly special. Given my short time frame I was trying to stay on my feet as much as possible but you just have to spend an hour at a place like that (swim, eat, drink, sun on the rocks). Echo Lake is wonderful too and the general store is stocked with fresh fruits & vegetables, deli meats, beer & wine, etc. Great picnic food and good for restocking.
Nothing was quite as good after that but I was still glad to be out there. Big Meadow was kind of nice, after two long days of ups & downs my joints appreciated a nice stretch of flat ground before the steep descent to Big Meadow campground.
The next morning to Kingsbury wasn’t particularly special but the air was really nice and there were no bugs at all. Met a fellow going the other direction who said there were no bugs anywhere on the east side which was music to my ears, so I gave him my bug net as he was completely unaware of what was to come.
I reached Kingsbury by midday and was hoping to head on to Spooner, but part of my deal with management was that they wouldn’t have to pick me up in the dark, so I called it a day and had lunch in town while waiting for a ride.
All round an excellent hike. Some things worth mentioning:
1) Water & Food: from Tahoe City to Kingsbury (counterclockwise) water is everywhere and you do not need to carry it. The longest dry stretch was maybe five miles. I took a liter to be safe but it wasn’t necessary at all. Food-wise you can fully restock at Echo Lake and Kingsbury. The Kingsbury store isn’t as good as Echo Lake but it has what you need to keep going.
2) Bugs: I guess bugs love water because they were a constant until Big Meadow campground. Bug nets cost maybe $3 and made my trip so much more pleasant. While setting up camp they were buzzing all round me but I never felt rushed or bothered. My ventilated button down shirt from REI was also very useful, kept me warm in the morning (with an undershirt) and cool in the hot afternoons and you can roll sleeves up and down depending on bugs. I carried Deet but gave it away to a couple in Big Meadow because my net and shirt were sufficient.
3) Dry Air: Lake Tahoe is pretty dry but it is especially so at high altitude. My feet and hands had cracks all over, next time I will take a generous amount of Aquaphor with me.
4) Gaia: once again a great recommendation by Amy & James. I probably use 1% of its capabilities but it does the most important thing which is keeping me on the trail. Even in airplane and battery saver mode, that orange triangle always knew my location and direction versus the trail. Despite constantly checking it (I’m a world class day dreamer and missing trail junctions is an everyday occurrence) it used very little battery as long as you don’t hit Record.
Thanks again Amy & James, I love what you guys do here. Management has generously granted me five days next year so perhaps I’ll try the opposite direction.
Craig
Hi, Did you recently hike the TRT? I see your post date July 23, 2020 and wondering if you just recently hiked the trail. I am tentatively planning to go in September and trying to find updated info on the status of water supplies along the trail. Especially the East side. Thanks.
Tyrone – the guthook app mentioned in the resources section is your best source of water status.
Hi, unfortunately I’m not much help. I did go late July but only the wet parts from Tahoe City counterclockwise to Kingsbury. Water was everywhere (and mosquitoes), longest dry stretch was maybe five miles.
Hi there,
An enjoyable and concise report – much appreciated. However, I have a query regarding elevation that I can’t seem to find answered anywhere. I am hoping to complete a thru hike next year (probably late August/early September), but as a someone coming over from coastal East of England – effectively sea level! – I would be interested in knowing if the elevation along the TRT, which is over 6,000ft at it lowest and rises to in excess of 10,000, posed any issues at all? Would you recommend an ‘acclimatisation’ day or two at the start? Anything you can add to this would be a huge help – thank you, kindly, in advance.
Andre
Andre, what a great idea to leave the coast and hike the Tahoe Rim Trail! Here’s a comprehensive article about altitude sickness.
https://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html
We are no experts, but a few things to keep in mind. Mild altitude sickness is a nuisance but not dangerous – mild headache, loss of appetite, disrupted sleep, etc, that will subside after a few days. There is no way to predict who is susceptible – it’s not based on age or fitness. If you’ve been to 10K feet altitude in other mountain ranges without problems, then it’s unlikely you will have problems on this trip – susceptibility seems to be consistent throughout a lifetime. You might consider diamox, described in that article. Or do the acclimatization recommended in the article.
Here’s something you might consider… You could fly into Reno (or fly to SFO and take a Flixbus to Reno). Then take Uber/Lyft to trailhead for the Reno to Rim Trail. That way you’d start your hike at 5000 feet and walk up to the Tahoe Rim Trail. It adds about 19 miles to your hike, but it makes the logistics of getting to the trail quite easy. Here is the map that shows the trail routing to walk from Reno to the Tahoe Rim Trail: https://caltopo.com/m/UQH2
Let us know if you have other questions, and let us know how the hike went!
Thank you for your information! It was a big help in my planning for this thru-hike.
Quick question–how many miles a day did you do in order to hit Tahoe City for resupply and how many days of food did you have when you started?
Thanks!
Conner,
We arrived at Tahoe City well before lunch on day 6. We bought very minor amounts of food at Echo Lake earlier on the walk. We likely started with five full days of food as our walking pace is fairly predictable. In addition, we had a few extra power bars as emergency rations.
I am curious – how long was your longest waterless stretch? I understand that water availability is always changing, just curious as to how it was for you. thanks
Paul,
Sorry for the delayed response; we just returned from a very long backpacking trip. I don’t recall the answer to your question. Your best bet would be to check the TRT website for the latest water data. They try to keep the information as current as possible.
I don’t remember anymore. The Guthook app is critical for knowing current conditions of all water sources.