Stanford Rock - Twin Peaks - Tahoe Rim Trail

A most excellent altitude acclimatization ride at Tahoe that starts a bit south of Tahoe City. A somewhat tricky initial river crossing (no wet feet, but it was close) is followed by the climb towards Standford rock. The singletrack is somewhat loose, with an occasional stretch of slightly more rocky stuff, but it’s never overly technical. On average, the climb isn’t too bad, but there are a couple of sections that are pretty steep and will get your heart rate up. I came just out of a cold and had to hike-a-bike a couple of times, but Dirk did just fine. It’s definitely all doable if you’re a bit in shape. On the way up, views of the lake occasionally reveal themselves.

The real fun starts once you reach the summit at Stanford rock, from where you have a great view over the valley, your final way back down, and over Twin Peaks, a rocky outcropping right across the valley in front of you.

After a sharp turn left, the trail becomes far more technical with a bunch of rock steps, winding through trees. This section isn’t very long and ends up at the intersection with the Tahoe Rim Trail. You can just turn right if you want to descend back down, but we felt like doing the short out and back towards Twin Peaks.

After the initial flat on the saddle point, the trail is again fairly mellow and not very technical, yet we had to hike a large amount due to frequent patches of snow. After a while, you reach an intersection with a side trail that goes to the summit of the peaks (the main trail connects to the Pacific Crest trail (PCT), which is sadly out-of-limits to bikes).

This is where we decided to abandon our bikes and hike up. After a flattish section through a field of sunflowers, you meet the rim with a vertical drop straight to the valley. As you follow the rim, you finally end up at the final stretch: a pile of boulders and rocks. Just keep going: it will take only 15 minutes or so of scrambling to reach the top, where a geocache box and a log book welcomes you. Enjoy the views!

After the hike and bike down (riding down on snow is fun!), you’re once again at the intersection.

The descent into the valley is incredibly fun! First a fast section over rather loose gravel, then a long technical stretch with some switch backs and lots, lots of rock steps, going through fields of mule ears in full bloom.

Not insanely difficult like Toads across the lake, but just challenging enough of an every day cross-country rider. We had a blast.

Once you reach the bridge, the singletrack becomes a rolling fire road. Just a few miles to get back to the car.