Best Trails in Tahoe National Forest

This is a quick & easy hike for the avid hiker, and moderate for the average hiker thanks to a solid uphill elevation climb. However, the views are beyond worth it! There's also beautiful benches & a small rock wall to perch on/enjoy the view from.

we had a great time, really nice hike to perform during spring. we did it on a Monday and met only another group. All alone on Spaulding lake!

Ok.... first let me say, this was an awesome hike with cool streams, waterfalls and different terrain but AllTrails description is off. Way off!! It states its 7.1 mi when at the trail head it states 4.5 mi to fork of river (which we all noticed after the fact). Making it 9 mi. And it's rated as moderate, if you're an athlete or avid hiker this may be true. I work out 5 days a week and would rate it mod- hard. If your local to the area, hidden falls is also rated moderate and that is an easy walk. This trail is not an all skills kinda place and only kid friendly for about 1.5 mi. It was a great hike with cool views just be prepared for the climb out on the way back. Lastly, if ppl say you're "almost there" or "only 20 more minutes"... they're lying!!!! Lol.

One of my favorite day hikes. The trail offers outstanding views and is well maintained. The hike in is all downhill which means you are going to be hiking uphill on the way out but it's fairly gradual. Make sure you give yourself enough time to stop and enjoy the scenery and bring plenty of water and a camera.

The trail is all covered with snow. It is difficult to go to the top the last 200 yards. It can be icy too.. it took us a longer time to hike this trail because of snow.

Beautiful but the trail gets hot and there isn't a lot of shade after the first couple of miles in so be mindful of the time of day your going because the way back is all up hill! Stunning views and the clear, cold water feels great! Lots of wild flowers along the trail, too.

Not for the faint of heart - we had to ford waste deep across the tributary, then navigate lots of downed branches, pass the sign that says "highly infested with ticks carrying Lyme disease" and dodge the poison oak. Otherwise a lovely hike.

Today was tricky and challenging because there is still sooo much snow and as you get closer to the top of the mountainside after the train tracks, it got very mushy and slippery so we had to stop. Even though we didn't make it to the lakes this time, it was beautiful and a perfect day. We did see a rubber boa - exciting! The navigation was pretty difficult on the early part of the trail and then again through the snow, not sure how we would have made it without downloading the AllTrails map and tracking our progress on it. Can't wait to get up there again after some snow melts!

Most scenic hike I've done anywhere in the world. Even more surprising is that the trail head is in Colfax, California. I've driven past it a couple of hundred times on my commutes between San Francisco and Tahoe. Never knew it was there until today. Thank you Alltrails!

There was about a dozen waterfalls in a span of 3.5 miles. The most dramatic one, the trail cuts through the middle and you can look down so far that it disappears, look up and you can see 50 feet or more of falls above you. One of the falls formed a natural infinity pool over-looking the canyon. The cliffs and trail were literally carpeted in different color wildflowers.

About half way through the hike, there's a bat cave. It's almost tall enough to stand up in. I followed it back about 50 feet before I ran out of light.

I saw countless colorful lizards that I've never seen before, a few snakes and tons of birds. The hike ends at the North Fork of the American River, where you could see about dozen large fish swimming a hundred yards away the water was so clear..

The trail follows the river canyon down for about half of the hike where in places the sheer cliff drops off hundreds of feet right at the trails edge.

If you're a hiker or nature person this has to be on your bucket list. Absolutely amazing. This one trail made the subscription worth it.

no marking of trails

fun short trail, great views and history