Rosemary Manning rides a section of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – Experienced mountain bikers had warned us the Kingsbury Grade to Spooner Summit segment of the Tahoe Rim Trail was beyond our abilities.

We didn’t listen.

We didn’t make it.

It didn’t matter.

The three of us accomplished much more. We proved to ourselves that we are better mountain bikers than we thought and we can handle more than just a dirt trail. We liked pushing ourselves to traverse what was new terrain to us.

Admittedly, it does say something about our mountain biking skills when it’s probably going to be faster to hike this section than it is to bike it.

Still, we had a blast.

We were fortunate to run into Clay Grubb at the trailhead. He was the interagency and TRT Association project manager for the Daggett Summit Trail System Project.

A few optional features are along the trail.

This section had few people on it on a Sunday in June.

He told us that going straight up from the trailhead was going to be a bit difficult for us after we told him our ability level. He suggested riding down a bit to the U.S. Forest Service gate to swing around to the trail.

Grubb also pointed out how across the street is another connector section of the TRT that was completed last year.

Rosemary, Sue and I pedaled down to our new beginning point. It starts out as a descent, rolling over some embedded rocks along a single-track trail.

We meet up with Grubb again. He’s out for a jog. He warns us uphill is up ahead.

No problem. And when we did complain on this early section, it had more to do with not having bike leg muscles than the skill to pedal forward.

Not too far in there is an optional feature – as in riding across a log. Not for us – at least not yet.

For the most part it is quiet, isolated and tranquil. Lupine are out – at least they were in late June.

The noisiest part is when a section of the trail crosses an area where dirt bikes are allowed. Those guys were having a blast. It kind of made us jealous how they could just speed along in the dirt.

We were getting more exercise is how I rationalized it.

We pedal on.

At one point we get off our bikes to scamper up a knoll that provides a view of Lake Tahoe.

Finally, we reach a section that is uphill and full of rocks that resemble a staircase. We leave our bikes behind to go on a scouting mission to see if at the top we get a view or the terrain seems more accessible. Neither. We choose to turn around.

Views of Lake Tahoe are visible a short ways off the trail.

We didn’t achieve our goal, but we had a great time.

We don’t know how many miles we went. Kingsbury to Spooner is 12 miles.

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Getting there:

From South Lake Tahoe, go east on Highway 50. Turn right on Kingsbury Grade. Turn left on North Benjamin Drive. This turns into Andria Drive. The road gets a bit rough. The trailhead sign is obvious on the left.

We started just below the main trailhead where the green U.S. Forest Service gate is.