I have never seen more rock in
one day in all my life.
Camping out at Granite Flats
(NW Tahoe), I started off
(somewhat) early at about 9:30
from Tahoe City, with everyone
else fishing . I headed out
with my collapsible rod,
hoping to make it up to Watson
Lake to do a little fishing of
my own. It was warm already .
.. . the map is the first on
the page here:
http://www.tahoerimtrail.org/trailmaps.htm#one
The trail starts off with an
initial climb of a few miles,
essentially entirely uphill
about 800' with only one very
short break. It's all narrow
singletrack, and completely
covered with broken rock. Some
are embedded, some are loose.
Some are large, some are
small. None round. It was one
of the nastiest, most
technical climbs I have ever
biked (and walked) over. As it
turns out, I could have
skipped this section on the
way up via fire road . . but
it was that much more
enjoyable coming down it.
The trail continues past
Cinder Cone - an enormous pile
of volcanic rocks with a
fantastic view of the lake. I
see the last of the dirty
shale for a minute, after a
snack and a chat with some
riders who broke down the fire
road situation. The trail
continues to roll across the
undulating ridge, picking up a
lot more smooth, embedded
stones in gardens that often
make choice of line
entertaining, and sometimes
not an option.
The rock finally lets up into
some smooth, rolling and fast
single-track down the last two
ridge descents. There were
longer stretches between
mildly to moderate rocky tech
sections - good to point and
rip through or skip in the
air. The trail gets tight
through manzanita at points
and is somewhat exposed for
fantastic views for nearly the
entire way. At the end of the
final downhill, there is a
slow grinder back up for
1/2-3/4 mile, but on dirt. It
finally rolls out to Watson
Lake, where I arrive after a
few careful turns at one of
many sidetrail junctions.
The bad news: Watson Lake is
shallow, fully of weeds, and
apparently stagnant. So no
fish. Boo.
The good news: it made a
perfectly fine swimming hole.
Which was fine. It was pushing
12:30, and I had to eat and
get back to meet my ride. I
was extremely fortunate to
meet a camper at the lake with
enough water to refill my
camelbak. I was nearly dry,
and another 12.5 without would
mean taking the fireroad home
at temperatures pushing 90. Oh
yeah, and did I mention 8000'
for someone who lives at 0ft?
I set back out at about 1:30,
saying goodbye to my dreaded
friend and on a mission to
perfect my farmer's tan. Let's
just say mission accomplished.
The lake is 1460' above and
12.5 miles from the trailhead,
so the way back is much easier
technically; loose stone is
infinitely easier to downhill
than to climb . . and there's
just something about rolling
cleanly over something that
was very challenging to climb.
The only climbs are taken over
generally rolling sections,
and the final runout is
insane. . . partially because
it's in the final two miles
and my arms are rubber. I take
'er a bit easy, remembering
the ~90% of crashes that occur
when I'm, um, anywhere near as
taxed as I am now. I escape
with a knee-to-headset gouge,
a near endo, and call it a
day. I lay down on the lawn,
and have a nice nap waiting
for my ride. A beer, a smoke,
and a fish in the river make
for a nice ending.
cc