Tahoe Rides: Pony Express Trail
As far as South Lake Tahoe goes, the Pony Express trail seems to be mostly overlooked due to the popularity of the Tahoe Rim Trail, Mr. Toad's, and Corral Trail for mountain bike fun and excitement. In terms of technical challenge it may not be up there with those classic rides, but it still is more fun than a whole barrel of monkeys and a bit more adventurous with a small amount of routefinding involved.
Some highlights include: a steeper and somewhat rocky descent off of Lover's Leap, some rolling fast sections halfway to Kyburz, a couple of tricky creek crossings (if you want dry feet), and drifting through pine needle blanketed corners. For a mostly downhill ride it contains a lot of climbing; the first few miles from Camp Sacramento to the top of the the hike-a-bike Lover's Leap summit trail, and short steep ascents scattered throughout the Strawberry to Kyburz section. Its close proximity to Highway 50 provides easy access for shuttling, and it parallels the highway for its entire length with many escape points to the road in case of emergencies. A lower elevation makes it an ideal spring ride before Tahoe's trails melt out, and although the upper part from Echo Summit won't be rideable until all the snow melts later on there are still other starting points lower down, and it does extend a bit below Kyburz as well.
Lindsay and I rode this on May 18 with a group of friends, hoping to start at Sierra-at-Tahoe but too much snow drove us farther down to begin at Camp Sacramento. We encountered a few patches of snow before the hike up Lover's Leap but nothing too major. The upper half was in great condition, and below Wright's Road it looked as though somebody was doing a bit of raking and maintenance work, and also building small kickers in random locations on the trail. Farther down toward the car in Kyburz we encountered several miles of very overgrown trail with many fallen logs that is in need of a chainsaw and hedge trimmers for a few days of clearing work. Our crazy downhiller friend Tasa had to take advantage of the easy road access after breaking her frame on a fire road descent, also taking Lindsay down as she crashed in a 4-cross moment. Road rash was the only injury sustained and the rest of us rode without any other incidents.
Lindsay and I rode this on May 18 with a group of friends, hoping to start at Sierra-at-Tahoe but too much snow drove us farther down to begin at Camp Sacramento. We encountered a few patches of snow before the hike up Lover's Leap but nothing too major. The upper half was in great condition, and below Wright's Road it looked as though somebody was doing a bit of raking and maintenance work, and also building small kickers in random locations on the trail. Farther down toward the car in Kyburz we encountered several miles of very overgrown trail with many fallen logs that is in need of a chainsaw and hedge trimmers for a few days of clearing work. Our crazy downhiller friend Tasa had to take advantage of the easy road access after breaking her frame on a fire road descent, also taking Lindsay down as she crashed in a 4-cross moment. Road rash was the only injury sustained and the rest of us rode without any other incidents.
It took us about four hours total to cover approximately 15 miles with several long breaks, and not much getting lost. 4 of the 6 of us rode hardtails, 3 of which were single speeds, so it's definitely a small bike friendly trail because of all the pedaling and nothing too technical or rough. Many short climbs were steep enough to force me to get off and walk with my one gear but that was to be expected, and a few were too steep even for the geared folks, but no long leg-burning climbs to be found on this ride.
We all had a blast--although Tasa might have had even more fun had her bike stayed in one piece and let her ride all the way to Kyburz. I hope we can find time this summer to get back there and clean up a little bit for more fun riding this summer and fall. Come and ride Tahoe with me!
More info on Pony Express: http://www.mtbproject.com/trail/1559208
