Shirley Canyon Trail

Near: Tahoe City
Trip Type: Day Hike
Length: 8 miles
Elevation: 6,300 to 8,800 feet
Vegetation: Forest to open ski slope
Last Visit: Mid October, 2017

Olympic Valley from some open slabs of granite on the Shirely Canyon Trail 

This hike was actually a hilariously botched attempt to hike Granite Chief via the Granite Chief Trail with an inadequate map.   We ended up fumbling across an ambiguous set of use trails along a creek and emerging on to a marked trail we didn't know existed.  By the time we realized we weren't on the trail we wanted, we were well up Shirley Canyon trail and enjoying it enough that we just kept going.  This trail climbs along a pleasant creek with lots of pools and cascades, climbs some open rock slaps under granite cliffs and emerges at a large pond on the edge of ski area.  Following some access roads up the ridge takes you to Emigrant Peak.  From there a loop back down the Granite Chief Trail is possible.  For most of the hike a ridge to the south hides the unsightliness of the nearby questionably named ski area, making the hike much more pleasant than a casual look at the map suggests.

Rules:

This trail sits in the Tahoe National Forest.  Dogs are allowed off leash if under effective voice control.  Carry out all waste.  Dispersed camping is allowed.  No permits required for hiking or camping, but a permit is required for campfires and camping stoves.

Trailhead:

We started up the Granite Chief Trail from an easy to miss trailhead at the intersection of Squaw Valley Road and Chamonix Place.  There are several other possible places to get on the trail off Christy Lane, Apache Ct, Chamonix Place, and Squaw Peak Road.  Our trailhead has the advantage of being just across the creek from a huge parking lot.

Route:

It turns out that the lower part of Granite Chief trail has been rerouted in the recent past to make way for development around the ski area and a new, parallel trail (the Shirley Canyon Trail) has been cut up the canyon to the south of the GCTs route.  So the Forest Service maps of the trail are out of date.  Make sure you've got a map with both trails on it before you head up either trail.  Unfortunately I've yet to find a map with all the trails in the canyon on it.  CalTopo's got some, but not all of the trails you'll run into.  Squaw valley's got some obnoxious false-perspective maps on their website that show most of them though.

Our route starts skirting behind some maintenance buildings and around a ropes course.  About 1/2 mile in it crosses an unmarked trail heading up hill to the right.  From some maps it appears this is one of a couple alternative routes of the GCT joining an upper trail just a bit to the north.  We stayed heading west here and soon encountered an area of criss-crossing use trails along Squaw Creek.  Unaware there was any other major trail nearby we just followed the most well-worn path and ended up on the Shirley Canyon Trail.  From there we just followed the periodic blazes and signs up the SCT to Shirley "Lake".     From there we followed an access road steeply up the ridge directly to the south, but from Squaw valley's maps it looks like you can also take the Solitude Trail to that ridge.  The Solitude Trail is not on an CalTopo layers, but it leaves the Squaw Valley trail at a signed intersection with the Shirley Canyon Trail just above Shirley Lake.  Once up on the ridge, we followed the road up behind a few ski lifts to a pair of minor peaks overlooking the ski bowl.

We were running low on time so we headed back down the way we came, but from a saddle between these two peaks, there's a trail running over to the PCT just under Granite Chief.  So it looks pretty easy to make a loop of the Shirley Canyon Trail, PCT, and Granite Chief Trail.

CalTopo Map: https://caltopo.com/m/3L4T

Small waterfall along the trail.

A section of Squaw Creek.  This little creek has tons of cascades and pools to play in.  Would be great hike on a warm day in early summer when the water's still up.

Shirely "Lake".  I've positioned the trees to hide the ski lifts...