Tahoe

From Big Meadow to Lake Dardanelles, CA

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This is a moderate 8-mile out-and-back hike that we did on Memorial Day 2018.

Trip log:

  • 08:38am - Start out from Big Meadow Trailhead
  • 09:02am - Hit SCOTSS LK & MEISS MOW Junction, take the one towards MEISS MOW
  • 09:05am - Reach Big Meadow
  • 09:59am - Hit the second junction, take the direction to “LK Valley”
  • 10:04am - Hit the third junction, follow the sign “DARDANELLES LK”
  • 10:48am - Reach Lake Dardanelles
  • 12:43pm - Start to hike backs
  • 02:46pm - Back to the trailhead

Cold Creek Trail to High Meadows

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Trip log:

  • 09:58pm - Start out from High Meadows Trailhead
  • 10:10am - Reach the first bridge crossing Cold Creek
  • 11:41am - Reach High Meadows and take a break
  • 11:55am - Move on along Monument Pass Trail
  • 01:01pm - Stop moving on because of too much snow and end up climbing to the top of a pile of rocks aside the trail
  • 01:30pm - Climb down the rocks
  • 01:43pm - Back to the trail
  • 03:53pm - Back to the car

Pyramid Creek Geological Area

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Trip log:

  • 02:19pm - Start out
  • 02:26pm - First waterfall
  • 02:35pm - Cascade Vista
  • 02:56pm - Reach the boundary of Desolation Wilderness
  • 03:19pm - Hike back
  • 03:33pm - Take a 10 minutes break by a small waterfall along the way
  • 04:11pm - Back to the parking

Burton Creek State Park

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Map showing the trails in the park

Trip Log:

  • 12:48pm - start hiking
  • 03:23pm - finish the hike

By the time we arrived at the entrance of Burton Creek State Park it was already noon, so we decided to choose a relatively easier loop following the signs showed on the map: 1-> 15 -> 21-> 19-> 12-> 11 -> 18 -> 8 -> 7 -> 2 -> 1. After passing the Junction 11, we immediately felt the snow on the trail was much thicker. Hiking in the snow is similar to walking on a sandy beach in that to move forward we had to fight harder.

This trail bears no drastic altitude change, so we still calmly took time to play in the snow and eat some food. Next time we want to try one of the trails that leads to a scenic overlook, which should be more challenging.

Mt. Tallac Trail: Out-and-back Day Hike

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Trip log:

  • 07:02am - Start out
  • 07:59am - Breakfast break (stayed longer than actually needed because of the lovely lake view)
  • 08:48am - Move on
  • 10:20am - Summit Mt. Tallac
  • 12:21pm - Hike down
  • 02:45pm - Back to the parking

Mt. Tallac is known as one of the most popular trails in the Tahoe region and since it was busy summer weekend, we started the hike early in the morning with the goal of avoiding big crowd. To our surprise, we soon encountered a group of young people who were already ready to go back home. They had started between 4am-ish to catch the sunrise!