Every year I think about going MTB'ing in Tahoe, and every year I spend most of my time climbing, backpacking or peak scrambling instead. Well, not last year -- I spent all spring and most of the summer recovering from spinal surgery. My doctor actually expected me to stick to riding on the road until December ! This I translated to mean fire roads and smooth easy trails
Actually, that is most of what I ride these days, being balance-impaired and neurologically-challenged from an earlier spinal surgery.
Anyway, last weekend I decided to head up to the Tahoe area with my mountain bike. A local friend up there suggested Henness Pass Road to Sardine Peak lookout, all on fire roads but I wanted to see how my body reacted to higher-altitude biking. There is a loop of about 20 miles / 2300' elevation gain described
here. Some pics from my phone :
Sardine Peak lookout (8180')
Stampede Reservoir, from lookout
I felt reasonably decent, surprising for having driven up that morning from the 'Jose. I spent the night at around 7200' to get a little more acclimatization, just to be on the safe side.
The next morning I got an early start from the Spooner Lake trailhead (7000') and did the four mile steady grind up to 8100'. It was a nice cool morning, and breezy at Marlette Lake. I had a snack and took a few quick snaps.
From there I headed down to the fabulous Flume Trail ! The scenery was everything they say it is.
I pedaled most of the Flume Trail, but had to walk a few sections: landslides and such. I saw a few other groups, but it was still early.
At the end of the Flume Trail I turned right to head uphill to the TRT junction (instead of downhill to Tunnel Creek Rd), then down the steep and sandy bit to Red House Flume Trail. The latter was mostly forested flattish and ran alongside a pipeline -- an old topo shows this as an aqueduct. I stopped and had lunch shortly before heading down to cross the Franktown Creek dam. No pictures, but it's a chunk of concrete a couple feet wide, with dropoffs on either side (no railings and a 'cross at your own risk' sign). A fall would be enough to mess up my spinal work pretty good, so I walked it. This was at about the 14 mile mark.
After this is what the
Mountain Biking Lake Tahoe falcon guide calls the "interminable" climb up Sunflower Hill : maybe 1000' in two miles. Not really so bad unless you are doing it in the heat of the afternoon after just having had lunch
But even I managed it, and was rewarded with some nice views of Marlette Lake seeming to flow directly into Lake Tahoe. There was a nice descent back to Marlette Lake (though sandy in spots) and then another climb back up to 8100', which by now would seem tame if I wasn't so tired.
Finally four miles of mostly descent back to the car. It was getting warm now, and the hordes were out, all heading uphill ! I was glad I got an early start. Back at the car it was in the upper 70's, still pretty nice compared to 105 driving through Sacramento on the way home. GPS said 22 miles / 3600' elevation gain.
My sit bones still kind of ache. Pretty much awesome views and a great time though.
