Hike to Eagle Lake near Lake Tahoe

Hi Blog,

Friday, May 19, 2017, was our first full day in Minden, Nevada. We are just a few miles south of Carson City which puts us within an easy drive over the Carson Peaks to Lake Tahoe. While we have been to Lake Tahoe a couple times, we always stayed on the California side. This would be our first visit to South Lake Tahoe. After doing a little research on a nice day hike, we settled on the Eagle Lake Trail. We were warned that it could be very crowded, as the first part of the trail follows Eagle Falls. Here is our first view of the falls.

After climbing a series of stone steps, we crossed the bridge over the falls and took this photo looking back down the falls.

Looking upstream, we speculated on how many of the tourists would venture up the canyon in search of Eagle Lake.

Just past the bridge, we entered the Desolation Wilderness. The Desolation Wilderness is a 63,960-acre federally protected wilderness area in the Eldorado National Forest and Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

Desolation Wilderness supports predominantly red fir and lodgepole pine forests with associated species such as Jeffrey pine, mountain hemlock, ponderosa pine, western juniper, and western white pine. These hardy trees take root in excessively rocky and often nutrient-poor soils. Much of the ground surface in Desolation is bedrock granite and soils are limited.

There were a few times we lost the trail over very rocky areas. We also had to compete with all the snow melt. Apparently, hiking trails make great stream beds.

In the photo below, taken as we approached, Eagle Lake is hiding behind the trees. We stopped to watch the outflow as it raced down the canyon.

Despite the crowds, we scored a nice sunny spot for a snack before heading further up the valley. We were hoping to hike up to Dick's Lake or the Velma Lakes.

Before heading further, we walked down to the shore of Eagle Lake. This beautiful glacial cirque sits in the shadow of North Maggies Peak.

As we were taking in the view, a local stopped by to chat.

As we climbed to the upper lakes, it didn't take long to run into snow. We crossed three step snowy sections. When we hit the fourth one, we decided to turn around. We faced the same problem today that we had faced at Lundy Lake out of Lee Vining a couple days ago:  steep slopes covered in snow, with about a half inch of slushy snow on top of frozen ice.  This was very unstable to attempt to cross, and we don't have ice axes, nor did we bring full crampons.  No need to risk a fall. We were already high enough to enjoy some amazing views.  Below, Dave is testing the snow as we cross a steep slope:

We spotted this little ribbon falls across the valley.

From our perch high above Eagle Lake, we could see circular patterns formed by the melting ice.  We believe someone had brough skis up and had skied circles around the melted section of the ice.

We stopped one last time at Eagle Lake in order to enjoy the beauty - in this case of Eagle Creek cascading down as it took the cold water from the lake:

Kathy took an opportunity to test the waters.  We think you can figure out whether the water was cold enough.

The hike back down was more relaxed. There were plenty of rocks and trees to get to know.

We stopped at a viewpoint to enjoy the blue of Lake Tahoe. We learned that Lake Tahoe is not a crater lake. It is located in a basin between the uplifted Sierra and Carson ranges. Eruptions from the extinct volcano Mount Pluto formed a dam on the north side. Melting snow filled the southern and lowest parts of the basin to form Lake Tahoe.

Turning from the views, we found a spot to get close to the cascading stream.  Kathy cools herself in the mist coming off the rapids of Eagle Creek as it races down the mountain toward the falls.

As we finished our hike, we ran into a Forest Ranger. We told him how much we love his office. We asked him if there were other trails in the area. Unfortunately, with all the snow, most of the trails around Lake Tahoe are still not hikeable. However, he gave us a great recommendation for a kayak launch site. We have a couple more days here. So, stay tuned.