Tahoe Rim Trail - Barker Pass to Echo Lake Trail Guide

32.5 miles - 7 hours 35 minutes

Definitely one of the best trail runs of my life.  Similar to my Mt. Rose Trail Guide, I took a ton of photos, so I will do a photo essay version of a trail report.

Steve and I decided to run the longest section of the Tahoe Rim Trail in the Desolation Wilderness.  It is 32.5 miles and has probably around 2000-2500 feet of total elevation gain.

We started at 6:40 am.  Here is a picture of Lake Tahoe pre-sunset on the way to the trailhead.

The trailhead is above the Tahoe Pines subdivision.  The turnoff is about 4 miles outside Tahoe City, and then you have to drive 7.5 miles up the hill to get to the actual trailhead.  Our goal today was to get to Echo Lakes.

I ran this with my friend Steve.  He is the only person I know crazy enough to do this kind of stuff with me. 

Nice wildflowers on the trail (about 2 miles in).  The trail is actually through the middle of all of these flowers. 

This gives you a feel for the trail for the first few miles.  Sweet singletrack through the pines.  We made great time through here. 



Our first destination was Richardson Lake (7 miles in).  Nice lake, but I wouldn't drink from it and there were a ton of mosquitos.  For the first 15 miles of the trail, this is about the only notable landmark.  Otherwise, its just running through this pines.  The good news is the trail is fast, so you can keep ahead of the mosquitos. 

This tree looked like it had been here for awhile.  Saw a few of these on the trail. 

Another trail view.  If you stopped, even for 5 seconds, you had about 20 mosquitos attack you.  Definitely a motivator to push the hills hard. 

This is the second lake you hit about 15 miles in.  Middle Velma Lake.  A few campers here, as it can be accessed from Emerald Bay with about a 4 mile hike.  We had pre-planned this spot as an opportunity to cut the run short if something went wrong because you can drop out into Emerald Bay.  However, I was feeling strong (Steve is always feeling strong since he's so much faster than I am), so we forged ahead.   

Lake Fontanillis.  Probably my favorite lake on the run.  Beautiful alpine lake with granite shores.  Still a lot of snow in those mountains.   

Proof Steve and I were here. 

Nice stream coming out of Lake Fontanillis.  We were able to refill water bottles here. 

The trail is well marked.  We are headed to Dick's Pass next.  You can tell from the emblem on the bottom that we are actually on the Pacific Crest Trail as well.  This is one of the sections where the Pacific Crest Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail overlap. 

Dick's Lake.  In the background in the saddle between those two peaks is Dick's Pass.  That's where we are headed next.  It was a bear of a climb.  Pretty steep, so it was basically a hikefest. 

This is a great view of Desolation Wilderness from Dick's Pass.  Dick's Lake is in the front, and Lake Fontanillis just behind it (they are actually connected).  That's where we came from.  There is a ton of beautiful country out there. 

Dick's Pass

This is where we are headed next.  In the foreground is Half Moon Lake (the trail doesn't get too near there).  In the middle is Susie Lake and up higher on the right is Lake Aloha.  From this point, it is about 6-7 miles to Lake Aloha.

One last look back at Dick's Lake.  This was taken from a spot a bit below the Pass where the trail splits to go up the Dick's Peak (I don't know who this Dick guy is, but he has a lot of stuff named after him).  The climb looks brutal, but I would be interested in climbing that peak someday. 

Wildflowers everywhere.  Nice shot with the mountains in the background.  I took over 100 pictures (Steve probably got tired of waiting for me to take them), and could have taken 100 more.  Lots to see out here. 

Susie Lake.  In the far background is Dick's Pass, where we came from. 

Heather Lake.  Just a small climb above Susie Lake.

A sign of things to come.  The bad news about this trail is pretty much that last 10 miles or so is primarily on various types of granite shale rock.  It got VERY old, and was pretty rough on the feet.  It really cut our time down as well, because this type of trail slows you down. 

Nice waterfall above Heather Lake.  Great place to refill bottles. 

Another cool waterfall.

Lake Aloha.  One of the more famous lakes in this area.  It is huge (I am guessing over a mile long) and a classic granite shore mountain lake.  Looks a lot like Yosemite. 

Lake Aloha again.  I have always thought these granite islands look cool.  Sort of feels like you are on the moon or something.  About 7.5 miles to go from here. 

To put it nicely, the trail from Lake Aloha to Echo Lakes sucks.  It is just a huge rockfest, and most of it is barely runnable.  Slow going and not a very pleasant experience.  This was the one low point of the day. 

Upper Echo Lake in front, Lower Echo Lake in the back.  About 3 miles left...

Made it!  This is the trail sign at the Echo Lake Marina. 

7 1/2 hours later.  

So there you have it.  A great day, and I felt really strong throughout, except for a weak spot about 5 miles from the finish where I had a slight bonk going for a bit.  For the record, I ate 8 GU's, 2 power bars, 2 bags of GU Chomps (all told about 1700 calories), about 8 salt tablets, 3 Advil and about 9 bottles of water.  About right for a 7 1/2 hour run.  If I had any advice for someone who didn't want to tackle all 32 miles of this trail, it would be to actually skip it entirely.  Lake Aloha is cool, but the hike from Echo Lake sucks.  I would actually recommend that you take the trail from Eagle Lake near Emerald Bay and hike up to Dick's Lake.  It is only 4.5 miles and you get a lot of quality site-seeing for your efforts.  If you are really fired up, add the 1.7 miles and 1000 feet of climbing and go to the top of Dick's Pass.  You get all of the best views with a 12 mile round trip.