TRT: Spooner to Kingsbury

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Features Birding · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

• Tahoe Rim Trail

Great panoramic views are waiting to be earned at the top of steady climbs. The tread is generally good, but watch out for short rougher sections.

Accessible from the Spooner Summit or Kingsbury North Trailhead, this segment of the Tahoe Rim Trail provides warm, sun-splashed outcroppings and broad, sweeping views as it journeys across ridgetops. Decorating this granite foundation are forests of fragrant conifers, whispering aspen groves, and charming meadows. Watchful runners might even see various woodland creatures along the way.

Starting at Spooner Summit, the trail rises on narrow singletrack, weaving through the forest and the occasional meadow. In spring, these small openings in the wood are brightened by the bold yellow blooms of mule's ear.

Ahead, a long traverse leading to the trail's highpoint on the flank of South Camp Peak is rewarded with stunning panoramic views that run the full length of Lake Tahoe. This grand overlook also sits close to the halfway point. A nearby dirt road crosses the trail on the way to the steep summit of Genoa Peak.

The descent toward Kingsbury continues more gradually, but the rolling-elevation also has more rocky terrain. The dense woods encompassing the trail occasionally retreat to reveal a narrow scene of the water below.

At the southern reaches of this segment, continue onto TRT: Daggett or follow the Tahoe Rim Trail Connector to the Kingsbury North Trailhead.

Many birds and small animals can be observed along this trail. Larger inhabitants such as marmots, coyotes, and mule deer can also be found.