In Truckee and North Tahoe, trails are more than a manner of transportation or a form of recreation; they are central to our identity and our summer economy.
World-renowned trails like the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail and the Flume Trail draw hikers and mountain bikers from around the world, and a challenging network of singletrack keeps regional residents coming back to Tahoe summer after summer. As impressive as the area’s trail system is, it is easy to forget that some of the region’s most heralded singletrack is relatively new, and that each summer Truckee and North Tahoe’s trail system is being expanded one link at a time.
The Tahoe Rim Trail was completed in 2001. And trails that have become summer staples for Truckee and Donner Summit residents — singletrack like the Emigrant Trail and Hole in the Ground — were completed in the mid 1990s.
Today, the next generation of trails is being etched into the earth in Truckee and North Tahoe, powered by an army of volunteers, nonprofits, bike industry groups, and governmental agencies.
Several marquee projects — the Rim to Reno trail, the Donner Rim Trail, and Martis Valley’s Waddle Ranch trails — are underway this summer, slowly adding dozens of miles of singletrack to the region and further solidifying Truckee and Tahoe as a world-class hiking and mountain biking destination.
Waddle Ranch
Some of the area’s newest trails have been constructed at Waddle Ranch, the nearly 1,500-acre Martis Valley property owned by the Truckee Donner Land Trust. Matt’s Trail and Erika and Megan’s Trail have added a new loop of singletrack overlooking Martis Creek Lake. Matt’s Trail is named for former Truckee Donner Land Trust Board Member Matt Rusanoff, a fixture in the Truckee community before his untimely death in 2007.
The trails can be accessed either from the dirt roads in Martis Valley or from the trail that extends uphill of Martis Creek Lake from the Martis Creek Dam.
The team of volunteers that built the trails range from a collection of locals to international employees from cycling company Shimano and two-time downhill mountain bike World Cup champion Andrew Shandro.
Shimano employees, brand ambassadors, and mountain bike journalists put the finishing touches on Erika and Megan’s Trail during a mid-June trip to Northstar-at-Tahoe to showcase the brand’s new bike components.
The trail day was part of the Truckee Trails Foundation and Truckee Donner Land Trust’s Good Dirty Fun trail building and maintenance program.
‘Advocacy is in line with our company credo and it’s also part of the outdoor and adventure experience we wanted to create for our group in the Lake Tahoe area,’ said Dustin Brady, marketing manager for Shimano American Corporation, an international manufacturer and distributor of cycling equipment and accessories.
Good Dirty Fun trail days will be held throughout the summer, building new trails and rehabbing others that were damaged by the heavy winter.
Donner Rim Trail
When completed, the Donner Rim Trail will be the little brother to the neighboring Tahoe Rim Trail. The current trail runs from Tahoe Donner to Summit Lake and connects to the famous Hole in the Ground trail on Donner Summit and the Pacific Crest Trail, which can access Sugar Bowl Ski Resort.
The Truckee Donner Land Trust is currently planning two new sections that will connect from Tahoe Donner to Donner Memorial State Park, and then Donner State Park to Donner Summit. The final trail will be approximately 23 miles long. The Truckee Donner Land Trust hopes to begin building new sections of trail again in 2012 after planning and trail approvals are completed.
Rim to Reno
The completion of the Tahoe Rim Trail in 2001 did not signal any slowdown for the trail’s namesake nonprofit association. The Tahoe Rim Trail Association has been busy reworking sections of the trail near Tahoe City and at Daggett Summit.
But the largest project the association has taken on since the rim trail’s completion is a roughly 13-mile connection from the rim trail near Mount Rose to Reno. The Rim to Reno project, being built in earnest this year by an all-volunteer force of trail builders, will connect into the Thomas Creek Trail on the west edge of Reno.
Like all trail work within the Tahoe Basin, portions of the Rim to Reno trail above Tahoe have special requirements. The association is not only tasked with building new trail, it has to simultaneously restore old trails back to their natural state.
‘For every yard of trail we build new, we have to decommission a yard and a half of trail or road,’ said Bill Weik, a volunteer crew leader for the Tahoe Rim Trail Association.
While the Rim to Reno trail will pass through Mount Rose Wilderness, where mountain biking is not allowed, the association has been more and more focused on turning other sections of the trail and its connectors into prime mountain biking singletrack.
‘The old ways of building trail are passé,’ said Weik. ‘It really has evolved. There is more of an artistic design. Instead of just going from point A to point B, we put a little creativity into it.’
Two good examples of new trail that is specifically designed for mountain bikers are projects the rim trail association is undertaking to move four miles of trail from road to singletrack near Daggett Summit and a connection to Van Sickle Bi-State Park in South Lake Tahoe.
The rim trail association depends on volunteers, and will be holding two volunteer trail building days each week on Thursday and Saturday for the Rim to Reno trail once snow makes it accessible. The first trail day is currently slated for Aug. 6. To find more information about volunteering on trail building, and what to bring, visit the rim trail’s website.
Info: truckeetrails.org, tahoerimtrail.org.
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