Good day, my hiking aficionado friends. Today I’d like to turn you on to two incredible Lake Tahoe hikes. 

If you plan to be in Tahoe a couple of days, these two hikes are very much worth it. 

As always, the early bird gets the bucket of worms. The number 1 rule of Hike Club is you don’t talk about Hike Club. But the number 3 rule is: Always get there early. 

The two hikes we’ll be talking about today are The Rubicon Trail in Emerald Bay State Park and the Angora Lakes hike. 

The Rubicon

From the parking lot you’ll go down to the lake and follow the lake left to find the Rubicon Trailhead. An easily navigable trail that hugs the Lake the entire way to Calawee Cove Beach, this 12 mile out and back hike is such a splendid and beautiful stroll with very mild elevation gain. The largest amount of gain will be at the end when you return back to the start of the trailhead, ascending back to your car. 

You’ll see inlets filled with fish, many large and glorious trees, great views of the lake and some islands, a few moored sailboats off the coast, plenty of wildlife…it has it all. Emerald Bay State Park has historical buildings and tours, Kayak rentals, and a really kickass campground. 

And if you’re going to go early to start the hike, you might as well catch the sunrise at one of the lookouts above the park before the park opens. That’s where I took this photo: 

If you’d like to find this exact spot, check out this great blog post by the wonderful photographer Jeff Stamer of Firefall Photography: https://www.firefallphotography.com/guide-to-lake-tahoes-best-sunrise-photography-locations/#:~:text=BESbswy-,Emerald%20Bay,up%20thru%20the%20sheltered%20bay. He lists the best locations for sunrise photos, along with a Google map with coordinates to each location. I captured the photo above in location #5. (Note: There are bears here. I took this sunrise photo about 40 feet from a foraging bear who didn’t mind me at all.)

The park’s website: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=506

Parking is limited throughout all of Emerald Bay. 

Parking – $10 per vehicle for the day, or $3 per vehicle for one hour.
Maximum vehicle length is 18 feet. 
Hours – The park and parking lot are open from sunrise-sunset.
No dogs allowed

Angora Lakes:

I began this hike at about 7am and saw zero people all the way up, and only about 5 people total on the way down. This was in late June 2023 on a weekday. The 5th rule of Hike Club is always go on a weekday. 

A really fun hike filled with flowers and wildlife. Great views of the Tahoe Lake, Fallen Leaf Lake, as well as the mystical valley. It’s a short and easy drive from South Lake Tahoe town, with the bonus of a lower and an upper lake. Two lakes for the price of one. The upper lake has a great long beach, perfect for soaking in the breathtaking view of this alpine wonder while having a bit of a snack. 

Parking near the trailhead is free
7.2 miles out and back
984 ft elevation gain
Takes about 3 hours
Great for hiking or mountain biking
Dogs aren’t allowed 

The AllTrails link for this hike is here.

I feel very lucky that these are the only two big hikes I ended up doing in my few days in Tahoe. I kept thinking to myself, “How did I luck out and find the two best hikes in Tahoe and have them all to myself in the middle of June?” Of course I followed Hike Club rule #5 and rule #3. 

So if you’re in Lake Tahoe for a couple of days, these two hikes will set your mind right. Enjoy!