Trailer Parking for Brockway Summit to Tahoe City

Brockway Summit was much easier, but must get there early to park. This is a very popular mountain bike staging area, since people like to ride to Watson Lake and back. The good trailer parking area is off Highway 267 just up the hill from the TRT at Mt Watson Road, where you would pull in for Robie Park.


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There is a small Sierra Pacific Industries building and area that is probably used for a site manager's trailer and other temporary structures when they have logging operations going in that land. Just take care if you use this area and respect SPI's property. You can see this area in the image below.


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Finally, we ended up at Tahoe City near highway 89. I brought the trailer to the Public Utility District office on Fairway Drive, which had a very large parking lot that was unused since the offices were closed for the weekend. It was close to trailhead, and there was plenty of untended grass that the horses could mow.


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Trailer Parking for Kingsbury to Spooner Summit

Tracy did a great write up on the trail and the overall adventure, but I wanted to address trailer parking in detail. We left our trailer behind at the beginning of each ride and then called a taxi at to drive me back to the rig. Due to a poorly executed street fair that closed highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe we used North Shore Checker for both trips. Both their guys were great, and it all would have been fine if not for the traffic backups from the closure of 50.


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The above satellite view of Kingsbury North staging area should give you a good idea of the parking. It was in a residential area and most of the other vehicles there were accessing the OHV trails with their dirtbikes. We had room to park and it was pretty easy to get back out. The below image is the street view from where we parked. You can get an impression of the available spage to turn around.


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There is a steep grade on the road in and out of this area, but it was only a 100 yards or so.


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In the satellite view, you can see the large area where we parked overnight. Note that there is really only one way in and out of this area, and you do need to back your trailer down the hill and follow the dirt road west to get back onto 50. You can pan to the left on the map above and see how the road connects highway 50 at the "normal" TRT parking area. The median divider on 50 makes it impossible to go back out the way that you came in. You can click the arrows to pan around in the street view picture below:


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Tahoe Rim Trail - Kingsbury North to Spooner Summit - June 21

We arrived at Kingsbury North staging area around 11am on a Saturday. The parking area was pretty full, but we managed to park our rig on the side of the road. Would not have had much room for any other horse trailers. Or, if you get there earlier, yes there would be room for probably 4 or so. All we did was tack up the horses, and start riding to Spooner. The plan was to ride the 12.2 miles to Spooner, call a cab, have Logan take the cab back to Kingsbury, and then move the rig to Spooner and spend the night there. On our way in the morning, we stopped by Spooner with our rig and dropped off some hay and water for the horses to eat while I had to wait for Logan to come back with the trailer. I figured it would take about an hour, so we just dropped one flake of hay each and about 15 gallons of water.

The trail was gorgeous! Incredible Views of the Lake! We went really slow, i.e. walked and ate a lot of grass, so that the humans could enjoy the surroundings. It took about 5 hours at a really slow pace to get to Spooner, but the footing for 2/3 of the trail was really great and could be trotted. 1/3 of the trail was granite boulders and rock gardens, technical rocks. But nothing 'too hard' for the horses. I would suggest a savvy trail horse for this whole trail. The view at the top of the ridge was breathtaking.... There was a thunderstorm passing through, so the wind was also strong up there. Still had some snow off to the side of the trail on June 21, but the horses licked it and got water. There were NO WATER SOURCES on this trail!! Pack your own water, and water for your dog. Plan to drop off water at the finish line, as there is not a hose or a water tap at the staging areas either. Lots of wildflowers! The grades of the trail were moderate, you had steady, consistent climbs, nothing too steep. It was about 1600' up in 6 miles, and about that same height down spread over another 6 miles.

So when we get to Spooner, I called the cab. The cab company said, sorry, road is closed in S. Lake Tahoe for a street party, we can't get you until at least 8:30. Oh no.... what to do? Ride back another 12 miles? Reasonable for the horses, but our dog would have liked a break. Well, I kept calling and found a cab out of North Lake Tahoe to come and pick us up. It took Logan and hour and a half just to get back to the rig because of traffic on the road and cost $80. So over 2 hours later, the trailer arrived and we got the horses tucked in for the night. I should have left more water. There was green grass everywhere, but not enough water. The sky had been threatening all day, and it was raining just a little bit here and there, but passed by the time Logan arrived.

We set up camp in a big open area about 200' from the HW 50. We were the only ones there. To get to the landing, drive about 1/8th of a mile past the Spooner TRT Trail head, and make the first right turn onto a dirt road, and follow it straight up the hill. The turn is right after the divided highway begins. Tons of room for horses! When you leave in the morning, back your rig down the hill so that you can pull through to the TRT staging area to easily make the left turn out onto HW50.

Other Trail Users: This was a Saturday, so it was busy. We passed about 15 mountain bikes and about 20 hikers. There are OHV trails all around the Rim trail, so make sure your horse is accustomed to the noise of motorcycles.

Dogs: Pacman did fine on this section. Take lots of water as there was not even a puddle for him to drink out of. Very little small rock for the pads, the rocks that are out there are boulders which he did fine on. We started him out in doggy boots, but he was not moving well, and I think he got overheated in them (dogs sweat and cool off through their pads), so we took them off and he did much better. He did carry his back pack with water and first aid kit.

Photos: http://rosetrace.com/KingsburySpooner/KingsburySpooner.html

Map:


GPS Track file: kingsbury-spooner.GPX

Tahoe Rim Trail - Brockway Summit to Tahoe City - June 22

In the morning, we packed up our horses from our camp spot at Spooner Summit and headed to Brockway Summit. We pulled off on the dirt road right about 1/8th mile past the TRT trail head parking on 276 at the top of the Summit - it has some antennas, weather stations, and leads to Robie Park. We found a good vacant lot that had a Sierra Pacific sign on it and parked in there, about 100' from 267. We were the only vehicle at 8 am on a Sunday.

We saddled up and headed towards Tahoe City. This time, we did not drop provisions as we heard there is plenty of grass and water in the Truckee River. But we did pack lots of water again, for fear there may not be much on this segment either.

The trail winded through lovely forests that gave us sporadic, but majestic, Lake views. Within 5 miles, we can to Watson Creek which provided the horses with water and grass and a break. So far, the footing has been nice forest floor - dirt - with moderate grades, so we trotted a bit more on this section since it is a lot longer at 19.2 miles. Within a mile or so, we arrived at Watson Lake. We didn't stay long since the horses and PacMan both had a good drink and break at the creek. I noticed a turn off trail between the creek and the lake, and I though this was the trail that would connect you to Robie Park. Yes, that was the case when I looked at the map afterwards. That would be a fantastic place to park if you didn't want to do the whole 165 miles as Logan and I intend.

After Watson Lake, the high spot for the day, we went downhill for a while and started to see more bike traffic. Turns out that this is one of the nicest places to bike on the whole TRT. I can understand that as the footing and grades for the horses was fantastic as well. The view of Lake Tahoe were so amazing as we switchbacked down.

At the headwaters of Burton Creek, we found more green grass and a few water holes. I am afraid if you wait a few more weeks that water will disappear. Heading towards Painted Rock, we got the most spectacular views of the Truckee River Canyon, and Squaw Valley, and Granite Chief and the rest of the Crystal Range. The granite on the mountains is so massive.

Coming around Cinder Cone we encountered some of the most rockiest trail I have ever seen. Shale, pumice, lots and lots of smaller rocks. I took lots of photos so that you can see for yourself. I didn't boot up PacMan because he looked fine over the rocks, but at the first sign of soreness, we were ready with his boots. The rock section is probably about 3-4 miles long as you head into Tahoe City, and I mean it is rocky. Good thing each horse had on Epics on all 4 hooves.

Once we arrived at Tahoe City, we headed towards the Truckee River to get water, but we noticed that HW 89 was in the way. So I found a nice grassy area and let the horses eat. Logan got in the cab and had the rig back within an hour. Cab ride cost $50. A lovely woman who lives near the trail head stopped to talk with me the whole time Logan was gone, and she helped hold the horses and get them untacked. Then we headed home after a quick bite to eat.

This section was started at 8:30 and finished at 4:30. We walked through the rocks, and trotted some on the good footing. I just really love the views so we went slower than some would take it. TONS OF WILDFLOWERS this time of year!

Dogs: PacMan did fine. We carried water for him and offered it to him every hour. We took a couple 30 minute breaks in the middle for him to rest. I though he woul have a problem on the rocky section, but no worries. Of course, he has a gravel driveway and a lot of the trails we ride on are graveled, so his pads are really tough. I would recommend dog boots for the rocky sections for most dogs.

Other Trail Users: Lots of Mountain Bikes. Maybe 30? Limited hikers, perhaps 10?

Photos: http://rosetrace.com/BrockwayTahoeCity/BrockwayTahoeCity.html

Map:


GPS Track file: brockway-tahoe_city.GPX