Fallen Leaf Lake trail network to be revamped

Improvements are coming to Fallen Leaf Lake dam and surrounding trails. Photo/LTN file

Upgrading the trails around Fallen Leaf Lake and creating new ones could take five years, with the first phase beginning next week.

This summer a new bike path from Fallen Leaf Campground to the Pope Baldwin Bike Path will be built. (The latter trail is better known as the Camp Rich paved path.) Several trails on the north end of Fallen Leaf Lake will receive upgrades, and others will be rerouted and reconstructed. A number of user-created trails will be decommissioned.

The trail along the west side of Taylor Creek that runs north and south will remain, but be improved. This includes slope stabilization. The Clark and Church trails will also stay.

The polo field parking lot near the entrance to Valhalla has been incorporated into the Tallac Site plans. Improvements to the Camp Richardson paved trail will be part of the Camp Rich plans. While the projects are separate, the Forest Service has an eye on the big picture so everything is designed to flow together and complement the other.

Expect temporary closures or restrictions in the areas being worked on. The U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land, is warning that noise and visual impacts may affect the Fallen Leaf campground and surrounding areas.

Two of the goals of the project are to reduce congestion and user conflicts. These trails are heavily accessed by locals and visitors. The hope is that with more trails it will better disperse users.

The entire project area encompasses 14,960 acres on the South Shore.

Future work will include reconstruction and rerouting portions of the Mount Tallac Trail, new trailheads and parking areas developed in several locations along the Highway 89 between Camp Richardson and Spring Creek Road, and the last one-quarter mile of the Camp Rich trail will to be moved to a more appropriate crossing and access point on Highway 89.

The 80-year-old dam at Fallen Leaf Lake-Taylor Creek will also be revamped to allow for cyclists to ride over it without having to lift a bike up steps.

Plans call for a new trail connecting the Pope Baldwin Bike Path from the Spring Creek Road area to Fallen Leaf Lake, a trail connecting the Fallen Leaf Campground area to Angora Ridge, and a trail connecting Angora Ridge to the North Upper Truckee neighborhoods. All of that is dependent on money.

The work scheduled for this season comes from the Forest Service Legacy Trails Capital Maintenance and Improvement Fund.

More info about the project is online.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report