With spring fully arrived and the snow melting in the mountains, I was ready to finally get into the big mountains! While May is a bit early to really get up to high elevation, I knew that if I could find a hike in the foothills, I could get that fresh mountain air and not have to deal with hiking through the snow! Enter the Spaulding Lake Trail to Fordyce Falls!
This hike had everything I was looking for in an early season, still not in amazing shape, hike. It was fairly low elevation (good because of snow and my lack of acclimation!), it was long-ish, it was not overly steep, and it would give some nice views! So, early on a Saturday morning, I started driving up into the mountains for my first real mountain hike of the year!
Miles/Elevation:
10 miles
1,400 feet vertical gain
About Tahoe National Forest:
The setting for this hike is Tahoe National Forest. One of the many national forests in the Sierra Nevada, Tahoe National Forest receives far fewer visitors than the much more famous national parks, and even though it shares its name with the stunning Lake Tahoe, much of the forest is miles and miles from its namesake lake.
At almost 900,000 acres, Tahoe National Forest contains miles of hiking and mountain biking trails, off roading roads, beautiful highways, and high mountain peaks. If you’re looking for a quiet and secluded backpacking trip, you can find it here. If you’re looking for an off road Jeep adventure you can find that here too!
The trailhead for the Spaulding Lake Trail does not have parking fees.
Getting To The Spaulding Lake Trail:
To get to the trailhead for the Spaulding Lake Trail, take I-80 into the mountains and exit just above Emigrant Gap onto Highway 20. Take Highway 20 for a few miles, and turn onto Bowman Lake Road.
Bowman Lake Road is pretty narrow, and you will need to be careful around the numerous cyclists that frequent the area. Follow Bowman Lake Road for about three and a half miles. The trailhead is not marked, and is not an actual parking lot. You’ll eventually come across a large gravel area on the right side of the road with a gated forest road leading into the woods. This is the trailhead. Park here if you can, otherwise park at one of the other nearby pullouts.
To make it simple, I would recommend entering the Spaulding Lake Trail into Google Maps, and that will get you there, or at least very close. The trailhead is about a 3 hour drive from San Jose and San Francisco, and an hour from Reno. You will need to drive yourself.
Spaulding Lake Trail to Fordyce Falls:
From the parking area on the side of the road, head past the gate and onto the forest road to begin your hike. The first section of your day will be on forest roads, and it will begin to climb quickly.
Always be sure to follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles when in the outdoors!
The climb on the initial forest road isn’t super long, and it’s not too steep so it should be manageable. Before long, you’ll arrive at an artificial canal which I was not expecting. Definitely don’t swim in it, as if you look closely it goes into a pretty small tunnel, which you definitely are not getting out of!
You’re in bear country, so be sure to always be bear safe!
After the canal, the forest road begins descending and comes to an intersection. There isn’t much signage, and there aren’t really any landmarks to guide you, so I highly recommend having a map, especially a GPS map with your route pre-loaded. Alltrails is great for this!
After leaving the forest road, you’ll quickly come across an elevated pipeline, quite possibly from the canal you just saw! After walking under this, there will be a sign on the trail saying the trail is closed, and you will have to take a detour to the right.
On the way back, I actually went through the closed section. It was a bit overgrown, and it looked like there may have been a landslide or something as the trail and hillside was covered with boulders. Probably a good idea to just take the detour!
The detour ends back at the pipeline where you will have to get underneath it, and where the trail is, it’s quite close to the ground! Depending on how low you can bend, you may just have to get on the ground! It’s annoying, but whatever, it’s an adventure! Follow the pipeline uphill to rejoin the actual trail.
From here, you will leave the infrastructure behind and really get into the woods. You’ll soon have you first and probably best view of Spaulding Lake and the peaks beyond. The trail primarily hikes through pine forest on a soft bed of dirt and pine straw. It makes for really nice walking, but it isn’t super eventful!
Always follow basic trail etiquette when on trail!
There are quite a few small creek crossings, but my best guess is many of them do not run all year. Even when I did this hike in May, albeit after a low snow year, many of the streams were very low and were hardly flowing. Earlier, some crossings could be interesting, but for the most part I think it should be fine!
There are a series of intersections and forks in the trail, none of which are marked. Again, it’s a good idea to have a GPS map preloaded to track your route and progress. Basically just keep the lake on your right!
Eventually you will hike beyond the lake, and if you listen carefully, you will hear the sound of flowing water, much stronger than the small streams you have crossed so far. It isn’t really visible from the trail, but this means that you have encountered Fordyce Creek. This is the final section of trail, and while you still have a mile or two, you’re starting to get close to the falls. You won’t have a view of the creek (really more of a river) most of the time from the trail, but it will be on your right for the rest of the hike to Fordyce Falls.
After a mile or two of steady but manageable climbing, you’ll arrive at Fordyce Falls. In the spring, the falls were really impressive, and the flow was really powerful, pummeling the rocks beneath. You would not want to go over this waterfall! This makes a great place to stop and have a snack, and enjoy being out in the mountains!
From the falls, the trail does continue deeper in the woods, or you can turn around and head out. I explored the trail beyond the falls for about half an hour. From what I saw, it was more of the same, hiking through the woods with moderate elevation gain. I do know that there are a series of lakes further out that are a fairly popular spot for backpacks, but that would be a pretty long dayhike.
Once you decide to return, simply follow the trail back the way you came. It should be pretty uneventful, and navigating should be less of a challenge! Not gonna lie, the last little climb on the forest road right before the parking area kind of wrecked me! I chalk that up to it being my first hike at elevation!
Topdown Lifestyle Rating: 7/10
Overall, this is a really nice hike for when you can’t access the higher elevations, but it lacks the great views and exciting trail you’ll more often find higher up. The first section of the hike is kind of industrialized, which is kind of interesting, but is not what I personally am looking for on a hike, and much of the trail is just through the woods, which is fine, but sort of gets old.
Pros:
- Pretty quiet and lightly trafficked
- Nice waterfall
- Smooth, well graded trail
Cons:
- Not a ton of views
- Crawling under pipelines
- At times is monotonous through the woods
Alternative Hikes:
When to Visit Tahoe National Forest:
While Tahoe National Forest as a whole is a four season destination with all sorts of things to do throughout the year, the hike to Fordyce Falls is best done spring through fall. While it depends on the snow in any given year, the trail should generally be passable by April, and should stay snow free until October or November.
You certainly could do this hike in summer, and it would certainly be nice out, albeit a little bit hot, but I think the ideal time for this hike is early in the year before the snow melts at high elevation, or late in the year when the snow starts falling at high elevation. I just think there are better options higher in the mountains!
Links for Further Reading:
Fordyce Falls via Spaulding Lake Trail – California
Ray Bryars
July 7, 2023Can you show me a map Lord!! ??