Tahoe Rim Trail: Showers Lake Miles: 15.3 Recommended Days: 2 Elevation Gain/Loss: 1485'' Type of Trip: Point-to-point Difficulty: Moderate Solitude: Moderately populated Big Meadow to Showers Lake; moderate solitude Showers to Echo Summit Map: Tom Harrison''s Lake Tahoe Recreation Map, The Tahoe Rim Trail Elevation-Profile Trail Map by Take It Outdoors! Best Seasons: Summer through fall Location: Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Permits: No permits are required for this trip on the Tahoe Rim Trail Challenges Water is limited but available. Sources include Round Lake, Showers Lake, Upper Truckee River, and numerous small streams in the bowl to the northwest of Showers Lake. Be careful on the northern half of the trail as water is much less prevalent. Bears in the area look forward to enjoying your food--carry your food in a bear canister to deter them. How to Get There From the intersection of US 50 and CA 89 in South Lake Tahoe take the combined route 8 miles south and then turn left onto CA 89 as US 50 heads over Echo Summit. Proceed 5.5 miles on CA 89 to the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) Big Meadow Trailhead on your left.

From the trailhead parking lot, the trail begins across the street. Take This Trip This trip has something for everyone: several mountain lakes perfect for swimming, spectacular volcanic rock formations, and incredible wildflower displays in Meiss Meadows and in a bowl just north of Showers Lake (mid-July is your best bet). In fact, that bowl may be the most magical mile of the TRT--it has cascading streams, leftover snowfields, castle-like rock formations, and wildflowers galore. Trip Description Get ready for some of the best miles you will find on the TRT. Your journey begins at the edge of the parking area, where a short stroll brings you to a crossing of CA 89. Across the street you hike uphill through boulders and Jeffrey pines, western white pines, and firs. Soon you pass aspen groves and a stream and in about 0.7 mile reach aptly named Big Meadow.

A pleasant walk across the meadow brings you to another mile of uphill trekking, through a thinning forest, providing more room for wildflowers and bushes. You reach a saddle and begin seeing beautiful mountain views on a steep descent to a junction. Here a right turn takes you to Dardanelles Lake, at just 1.4 miles each way, a very worthwhile goal or side trip. The TRT continues straight ahead past intriguing volcanic mudflow formations to Round Lake, a fairly large mountain lake good for camping and swimming but with a green to blue hue caused by the volcanic sediment. The Dardanelles, a spectacular volcanic cliff, reaches skyward to your left. Fortunately, you will have many more glimpses of this interesting feature as the hike progresses. For the next 2 miles you pass through several meadows loaded with wildflowers in season as well as lots of aspen trees.

Your views are enhanced by the high ridges on both sides of this large valley. Often they hold patches of snow late into the summer. Then you reach a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) where, opposite an old cowboy cabin, a left turn would take you to Carson Pass in just under 3 miles, but your route heads north in the Upper Truckee River Canyon and Meiss Meadows on the path shared by the PCT, TRT, and even the Tahoe Yosemite Trail (TYT). Meiss Meadows is loaded with wildflowers in season and views of the high ridges above. The meadows and the shallow lake that bear its name are worthwhile destinations alone. Eventually your gentle walk brings you to a crossing of the Upper Truckee River. It''s a sparkling stream and great water source (especially now that cattle are no longer allowed in this meadow) but a potential challenging ford early in the season. Across the river you soon begin a climb away from the valley and up to Showers Lake.

Parts of the next half mile are steep, but you are rewarded with great views of the valley below and the Dardanelles in the distance. Enjoy some of the thickest patches of lupine, paintbrush, and fireweed you may ever see. Showers Lake is a very pleasant little lake, bordered by meadow and marsh on one side and granite slabs on the other. If it is not crowded, it is an excellent choice for a campsite. If the lake is crowded, press on past it to the highlight of the trip--a bowl about 0.75 mile wide with an amazing combination of castle-like volcanic rock formations, wildflowers, snowfields, and dozens of little creek crossings. In the early season, many of those streams sport beautiful cascades from the lofty slopes above. A gentle climb across the bowl leads you out of the lushness and into a more sandy saddle.

Now at close to 9000 feet you pass scattered western white pine, lodgepole, and hemlock as you gently ascend. Then you find a mostly viewless up-and-down hike along the top of a broad ridge, passing several junctions. At 4.4 miles from Showers Lake you reach Bryan Meadow, with about 4 miles to go to Echo Summit. From the meadow your trail heads uphill fairly steeply for 0.5 mile before a steep descent. A rock outcropping to your right provides views over the South Lake Tahoe airport to Lake Tahoe in the distance. Your trail levels off and you pass perhaps the last good campsite next to a creek before beginning a steep descent along the edge of a granite canyon.

An ancient juniper provides a last view of the Dardanelles, as well as Round Top peak which can hold snow well into late summer. After a grueling 2-mile drop you reach a bridge crossing and more level terrain. A pleasant section with tiger lilies and assorted other wildflowers and Benwood Meadow through the trees to your right now awaits you. Just 0.75 from the end you reach a junction. Turn left and head through tall Jeffrey pines to the finish at a large parking lot. Build-Up and Wind-Down Tips Lower Echo Lake is just another 2.3 miles of hiking or a short drive from your finishing trailhead.

Here summer cabins perch above a beautiful mountain lake surrounded by granite. The lake provides a water taxi across to Upper Echo Lake, as well as fishing and a small store. I still remember fondly a sandwich and ice cream from the store on Day 11 of a thru-hike of the TRT. Here on the PCT/TRT you are just a few miles from Desolation Wilderness. From Echo Summit, South Lake Tahoe is just a few miles away and loaded with restaurants and everything else you could need, perhaps more than you need. Just north of South Lake Tahoe on CA 89 you can go to Taylor Creek. Here a stream profile chamber, which provides a view of the creek through a glass pane, is prime territory in the early fall to watch the spawning of the kokanee salmon.