After logging over 40 miles of hiking in the rain on our Olympic National Park trip, I was getting impatient for the snow to melt in Tahoe and wanted to get out and stretch my legs. I had also convinced myself that the high-elevation snow must be nearly gone.

Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek

Given this, I suggested to my husband that we could do an early-season, fairly easy local hike we’d done a few times before: Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek via the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), which is about 11.71 miles total, point to point, but it has less than 600 feet of elevation gain going this direction, so that is why I put it in the “easy” category. It’s easy, it just takes two vehicles and 4.5 hours to do.

After dropping a second vehicle at Tunnel Creek, we arrived at the TRT near Tahoe Meadows at about 8,600 feet, and let’s just say it was clear that I had been overly optimistic about the remaining high-elevation snow at the end of May. 😬

It turns out, the first mile or so of the hike was still buried in feet of snow.

But our hike from Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek kicked off with some bear tracks!

Almost everywhere we looked, we saw snow, which made it very hard to stay on trail or even to know where the actual TRT was supposed to be. Eventually, I relented and put on my microspikes to help with traction in the snow.

I suggested that my husband continue to hike up this section. He reluctantly obliged.

Bah-hahaha! 😂

After I stopped laughing at his post-holing, we diverted and continued on our way, attempting to find some semblance of the actual trail.

My husband did consult his phone with the Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek route map to try and confirm we were at least headed in the general right direction, but regardless, we did a fair amount of bobbing and weaving, because it was really difficult to tell where we were in relation to the intended trail, plus we aimed at finding the “flattest” snow mounds to traverse.

As you can imagine, hiking in snow is extra fatiguing to your legs, but wearing microspikes on your shoes can help.

Hiking on Dirt with Views of Lake Tahoe

Eventually, after trudging through and slipping and sliding along at least a mile of trail still buried in feet of snow, we spotted where the Tahoe Rim Trail was. I removed my microspikes, and we were able to pick up our pace. Then we started getting some beautiful views of Lake Tahoe, too.

We just couldn’t escape our snow woes! Residual snow mounds continued to impede the trail in several other spots, but at least they got smaller and were fewer and farther between as we got lower in elevation.

Hiking on the TRT affords some amazing views of Lake Tahoe. You just never know what you’ll see around every corner.

Tunnel Creek

After a little over four hours, we wound our way down past the famous Monkey Rock landmark to Tunnel Creek at around 6,500 feet, legs fatigued from the snowy obstacles, and maybe a little from the over 11-mile trek.

Somewhere towards the end of our route, a flash of yellow caught my eye. I visually followed it to a tree branch and identified a beautiful male Western tanager! What a great way to end this hike on the TRT from Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek!

TRT: Tahoe Meadows to Tunnel Creek Hike
Total Distance	11.71 mi
Total Time	4:33:09
Total Ascent	581 ft
Max Elevation	8,796 ft