Spooner Lake to Marlette Lake

Near: South Lake Tahoe
Trip Type: Cross Country Ski
Distance: 9 miles
Elevation: 7,000 - 8,600 feet
Vegetation: Pine Forest
Last Visit: Jan 28, 2017

Spooner Lake is just a big pond really, on the East side of Lake Tahoe.  A short, flat trail around the lake makes for a nice light walk or ski in the winter.  For a bigger day, take the North Canyon Road towards Marlette Lake.  The road follows a gently climbing stream up a small valley to a saddle point overlooking the lake.  From there you can descend to the lake, but detoured west to a rocky outcropping with outstanding views of Lake Tahoe.  The climb on this route is more appropriate for intermediate to advanced cross-country skiers, but novices might find a trip up the lower portions of North Canyon Road a fun challenge.  There have been sporadic efforts to groom a trail around the lake and up North Canyon Road for classic and skate-skiing of late, but this time no grooming was in evidence. Striding skis were required and I was glad I was wearing BC gear when we had to break trail in the upper portions of the route.

Trailhead:

Spooner Lake day-use area, just north of the intersection of NV 28 and US 50

Rules and Permits:

This route starts at Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park (NV) and climbs into the Spooner Backcountry.  Dogs are allowed at that state park, but must be on leash.  Some fairly aggressive signage around the lake promises hefty fines for leash violations, but every time we've been, we've seen lots of dogs off leash, so it's really unclear if they're really enforced or just used when a ranger wants to go on a power trip and screw someone over.  Either way, I suggest you bring a leash. Camping is only allowed at designated campsites in the park, all walk-in only so no permits required.  A day-use fee is required, though.

Route:

Caltopo map: http://caltopo.com/m/51UB

From the parking area, we headed down to the lake and stayed left to find the earthen dam at the west end.  From there a trail leads down a short embankment into an open meadow.  Here you can cross the meadow and follow existing tracks/grooming around the meadow and north into the canyon, or stay on the road to the right of the creek.

The meadow west of Spooner Lake

Either way you'll be funneled onto North Canyon Road if you try to go north.  A bit less than a mile in you'll see a sign at the junction with of the Marlette Lake trial.  (well, if it doesn't snow much more, you'll see it anyway).

Sign at junction of Marlette Lake trail and North Canyon Road

From there the road climbs a bit more steeply for a little less than half a mile, before moderating to a slow steady climb to some meadows about 3 miles in.

This pictures is not very informative.  I just think it's fun.

Meadows along North Canyon Road

Here the trail crosses the creek and begins climbing more steeply about a mile to the pass just south of Marlette Lake.  From this pass going on to lake would require some descent then climbing back up to get home.  We opted instead to bear left on the Chimney Beach trail/road towards the minor ridgeline to the east. Once on the ridge, we left the trail and continued climbing, spiraling up the minor peak to our left.  We eventually found a great rocky overlook to the west and just below the summit with fantastic views over Lake Tahoe.

The even more buried sign at the saddle overlooking Marlette Lake

The road down to Marlette Lake

Looking northwest over Lake Tahoe

Looking southwest over Lake Tahoe