We accessed the TRT by hiking a short distance on the Ophir Creek trail. We parked at the top of the rise just (highway-) south of Tahoe Meadows, aka Sheep Meadows, and trekked through the well-worn bush to the trail. This spot is very popular year-round, for hiking, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and mountain biking. We got there early enough to get a nice spot that would be shaded most of the time we were on the trail.
When we got to the intersection of the Ophir Creek trail with the TRT, Joe insisted we take the left fork. We went maybe ¼ mile down that trail, and he realized we were still on the Ophir Creek trail! He remarked, “I always take the wrong turn there!” and we set out bushwhacking west toward the TRT. Well, there aren’t many bushes; mainly ground cover and pines. Anyway, in what seemed like an even shorter distance than we had gone the wrong way, there was the trail we wanted. And we were on our way!
The first place we took a photo break, and a little water, was a view of Washoe Valley on the east side of the Sierras.
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| Fearless Leader Joe |
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| Washoe Lake (R) and Little Washoe Lake |
The TRT isn’t called a “rim” trail for nothing, and we spent a lot of time meandering back and forth between views of Washoe Valley and Lake Tahoe. The next place we stopped was on the Tahoe side.
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| Crystal Bay, Agate & Carnelian Bays, Dollar Point beyond |
We continued on south, and pretty soon we saw the top of the Diamond Peak ski resort.
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| Poles mark the ski boundary |
From then on, we were on the Tahoe side, with lovely views of the lake, Incline Village, and the Ponderosa Ranch. About another ¼ to ½ mile down the trail, Joe pointed out a clearing where his trail-building group’s supplies were stored, and said that was the beginning of the mile they built. That mile was mostly uphill, but not terribly steep, and ended where the trail turned back to the east side of the crest, at a big pile of boulders.
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| That isn’t Joe. |
The views of the southwest side of the lake were wonderful, with snow-capped mountains above Rubicon Point.
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| I believe Tunnel Creek goes down that slope. |
Just for fun, I experimented with the panoramic mode on my iDevice.
After lunch, and before we left there, I noticed there was a very good view of Incline Village, the golf course and condos, and the bottom of Diamond Peak resort.
Joe checked the elevation using his phone (about 8,350'), and we checked again as we approached the parking area (about 8,650'). We were a little surprised that the turn was actually lower than where we started, but of course being a rim trail, the TRT does go up and down quite a bit.
We were back home within about 6 hours of when we left the house that morning, and all tuckered out! Well, DW and I were, but Joe is a powerhouse. He even went to our local Total Wine store and tasted a few of the wines they were offering that afternoon.
