Marlette Lake

On Saturday the 12th of October, the group that went to Winnemucca Lake (plus or minus a few members) met and carpooled to Spooner Lake (Nevada) State Park, to hike the 4½ miles to Marlette Lake, a reservoir a few hundred feet above Lake Tahoe.

The first almost-a-mile of the hike is along the locally-famed North Canyon Road, known for its many cabins and its access to the wilderness area along Tahoe’s east shore. After this distance, we reached the marked trailhead for the hiking trail that was completed only a few years ago.

Half the group is waiting for the other half. Again.

After the group leader took a group picture, we started up the trail. We quickly became spread out. Joe and my own DW were out in front, with me a few hundred yards behind them, and the next fastest group–including a young woman about 25 years my junior–probably about the same distance behind me.

The hike to Marlette Lake is nearly all uphill, with a couple of sets of switchbacks. Not terribly steep, but mostly constant. About ⅔ of the way there, the trail reaches the top of a rise with a somewhat expansive view of the valley and road below.



Approaching the apex;
note the stump.

There’s that stump,
with the canyon below.

The trail continues to climb, and soon I was entering elevations where the early-season snowfall of the previous week was not yet completely evaporated:

Shortly after that, there was snow actually ON the trail!

OK, maybe there wasn’t much snow on the trail, but I did see a bit more before reaching the summit, where the trail starts back down toward North Canyon Road and the lake.

At one point, the hiking trail comes within a few yards of the road, and an access trail–fit for bikers as well as hikers, that leads to the trailhead off of NV SH 28–crosses both. Because this was only the second time I’d been on this trail, and I had no other hikers to guide me, I mistakenly took the access trail down to the road. Since I knew the road led to the lake, by the time I realized my mistake I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to go back and regain the hiking trail. Besides, only the road had views like this:

When I reached Marlette Lake, the north wind had come up, and was quite chilly after blowing across the water. I made my way to a pile of rocks where I expected to find DW and Joe, and I was not disappointed. I was surprised, however, when they told me I was only about ten minutes behind them! I did not expect to have moved so quickly.

We ate lunch there, hounded by this chipmunk:

It was very aggressive, and even climbed on DW’s lap when she wasn’t looking, trying to get a nut from the snack-size bag she had there. Startled, she moved the bag away, and this cute little fellow bit her! Not hard enough to draw blood, thank goodness. No rabies shots for her.

Finally, we had had enough of the wind and rodent harassment, so shortly after the rest of the group arrived, the three of us decided to leave, and take the road back to Spooner Lake. On the way out, I noticed this plea for people fishing there to complete an “Angler Survery”:

Your tax dollars (and donations) at work.

The walk back was pleasant enough, especially after we had crested the summit again and were somewhat protected from the chilly north wind. We discussed all sorts of things, from politics to pop music, from advertising to Zurich (Joe had recently been to Switzerland, although he spent most of his time in the area near Locarno). We made it back home just in time to cook supper! I think we had chili, to warm up from being outdoors all day.