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Mount Tallac Trail

South Lake Tahoe, CA · July 2023

Probably my favorite and most frequented mountain, the Mount Tallac trail and summit boast a variety of environments from beautiful streams and lakes to pure rock scramble and fields on the elevated flats. The 5 miles each way and variance in grade provide a challenge that makes each view so much more rewarding. I highly recommend this trail for anyone looking for beautiful scenery earned through an extra challenge.

  1. A rocky stretch of trail past a huge weathered silver stump and a standing pine, with a snow-streaked granite ridge visible through the trees beyond.
    1/8The contrast between vegetation and geology is often blurred with fallen trees and aged wood as pale as the rock faces themselves.
  2. A single-track path through a high green meadow flecked with lupine, running toward a line of pines, with snow-patched Sierra peaks along the whole horizon.
    2/8The trail along one of the countless fields sitting atop elevated plateaus near the peak
  3. A small alpine lake ringed by pines and a grey boulder field, bleached driftwood in the clear shallows in the foreground.
    3/8Floating Island Lake
  4. Looking straight up a steep field of angular grey talus toward a jagged rock crest, the sun flaring at the top of a deep blue sky.
    4/8Rock scramble section of the trail
  5. A hiker with trekking poles standing on the boulder slope, with Fallen Leaf Lake below and the far blue expanse of Lake Tahoe behind.
    5/8View of Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe
  6. A hiker in a yellow t-shirt and daypack pauses on the rocky slope, Fallen Leaf Lake directly below and Lake Tahoe and its mountains filling the distance.
    6/8View of Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe
  7. From a rocky perch near the summit, past the edge of a Patagonia pack, down to Gilmore Lake in its bowl of pines, with snowfields on the peaks beyond.
    7/8View of Gilmore Lake
  8. A hiker in a yellow t-shirt and cap sitting on the summit rocks looking out, with granite ridges on one side and the full blue sweep of Lake Tahoe on the other.
    8/8Sitting on the peak of Mount Tallac

Skills

  • Photography
  • Hiking