Caples Creek Loop Trail

this is a great trail!!! I was able to do the whole loop in about 4.5 hours. I took time to take in the scenery and have lunch also. this is a great day hike.

Scenery is beautiful, gets a little tougher when you’re strolling through snow.

Well maintained trail.

Such a great trail! We did a two day backpacking trip, low key and so refreshing.

We went around clockwise, camping by the Government Meadow overnight. We stayed on top of a rock formation (which was a mistake, way too windy) but I would recommend it as a place to catch a killer sunset! There are plenty of nice flat open spaces near the creek, they are easy to spot as logs are usually arranged around the remains of a fire pit.

There is a lovely open area to set up camp about 2 miles in, if you go counter clockwise, on the other side of a bridge. It looks like you could lounge around this mellow part of the creek, and it would be great for swimming on a sunny day.

We picked up our permit at the Ranger Station in Pioneer. It added an extra 30-40 minutes to our drive coming from SF, so if you can get your permit at a station off of 50, you'd save yourself some time.

It was a beautiful day to hit this trail for the first time. It has a few good strenuous sections but all in all it is not too challenging. Good mixture of sun and shade and the meadows are stunning. Very quiet with few other hikers!

Nice trail. Well marked. Quiet and lots of wildlife. Longer than stated, our gps clocked 10 miles and we only stepped off trail once.

Great trail. The meadows were gorgeous- should have blooms in another week or two. Did see a big rattlesnake in the dry area before Government meadow. This was my first time on the trail. The route through the meadows is the easier way to go, although taking the bridge first and heading up via the old Silver Fork loop would be a helluva work out! I appreciated the earlier comment about the log crossing (easy). We camped near the falls, which was nice but noisy. If you want to camp where it's a bit quieter, turn right as you come off the log crossing. There's a nice space near there that's adjacent to deep water. Or better yet, continue over the ridge and down to the river - a few nice spots along there. Definitely doable as a single day hike, but the overnight was nice. And it's only 20 min off Hwy 88 via Mormon Emigrant/Silver Fork Road, so it's easy to go enjoy a Bloody Mary at Kirkwood Inn when you're done.

Nice trail! It was my wife and dogs first backpacking trip and they loved it!! Camp set up at creek with wire BBQ grill for over the fire pit that we made good use of!!

This is an awesome day hike to do with athletic dogs. We had to cross the river on a fallen log and got lost afterwards. The first part of the trail is fairly well populated as you make your way through Jake Schneider meadow, and gets harder to follow as you get towards Government meadow. Once you hit the backpacking campground along Caples Creek past Government meadow, prepare for some adventure. You have to walk down the river a bit, in the direction of flow, without much trail to speak of, until you hit a large log that crosses Caples Creek. This log seems totally safe and we crossed one at a time, my pregnant wife, our 20 and 60 pound dogs, and myself. The log is elevated above the river by a fair bit, and would be quite slippery when wet. After the log the trail was non-existent, but we wandered into it eventually. You have walk back up the river, against the flow, to reach the trail. My wife and I spent 20 mins trying to mark the trail a bit better, so hopefully others wont get as lost as us. After that you are in for a treat, as the second half of the hike feels deeply remote and you climb up to some beautiful vistas. GPS highly recommended, mine recorded 11 miles, which included some wandering, but be prepared for something in the 10-11 mile range.

Great hike!

We’re new to the area, so it was good that we came prepared with a gps because we lost the trail a few times. The rivers were absolutely stunning, though, and the peak climb was manageable even with our 8mo old daughter in the backpack. Nice change in scenery too, from old wood forest to rushing waterfalls and plenty of rock scrabbling for young kids. There was a ton of dead wood in the forested areas, which made it easy to lose the trail, but overall, it was a great full-day hike. Oh, be sure to let someone know where you are, no cell phone signal and w only met 4 people on the hike.

very decent, not so steep hike. awesome forest. took us 4 hours

9.6 mike loop. Awesome trail.

Great hike. Just be prepared that parts of the trail aren’t clearly marked, so using GPS can be very helpful.

I enjoyed this hike. I kept track of distance on my Fitbit and it said it was 10.6 miles. For the most part it’s a easy walk. Be prepared for the switch backs. Parts of the trail are a little confusing, but great scenery!

It was 100* plus degrees in Sacramento. So we decided to head up the hill towards Tahoe. We found this trail and truly enjoyed it. Rivers, meadows, beautiful tress with very interesting bark. Mostly shade. We decided to do the loop. 9.3 miles with some very steep switch backs more then half way through. We were exhausted. It took us 4 1/2 hours. We are in pretty good shape but new to hiking.
I think when we do it with friends we'd go out and back. Not do that loop. It climbs to 1700 ft elevation
But this hikes tops our list of favorites

Trip #3

So beautiful - even on a hot day the trail stays fairly cool because it's mostly shaded.

We had an amazing time!! My first backpacking trip and I am hooked!

This loop trail has a little of everything I love about hiking in the lower Sierra. Access is easy, the trail is in decent shape, the views are fantastic, wild flowers are everywhere, and wildlife is abundant. Access to water is plentiful. Backpacking is easy and good camping spots are easy to find. If I had any complaint it would be that horse traffic chews up the trail surface a bit, but this is normal in this area.

This trail is gorgeous! Lots of flowers, can hear the creek the majority of the time and at times take in stunning views of the creek, medows. This trail is mostly in the shade which is a big + on hot days. Happy trails!

Yes Hannah. There is a beautiful place to camp if you take the loop clockwise all the way to Caples Creek 1/2 way through the loop just past Government Meadow. Then follow the creek down stream until you see the down tree to cross and after crossing go back up stream to the sandy beach at the creek's bend. There's also many other great spots along Caples Creek. Enjoy!

Caples and silver fork were huge! We made it to the crossing just past Governor’s Meadow. When you get to the creek you need to head right about a hundred yards. You'll have to scramble over a small side creek before getting the crossing on the huge log to make it to the other side of Caples creek.

Brian Foote, did you see places to camp if we were to backpack and stay somewhere on the trail overnight?

Thanks!

Maybe the best trail I've hiked in the last 25 years. Hats off to the trail maintenance crew with all the down trees from this past heavy winter. Made the 9 mile loop. Water was raging!

Toni MacKinnon, I went clockwise and ended up finding a crossing memorial weekend as I camped out for two days.

Beautiful scenery, great 3-4 hour hike. The crossing at the half way point is a large fallen tree. If you're looking for a second bridge, we didn't find it. Very easy to cross when you find it the log. Came across 3 rattle snakes on the trail. Keep a close eye on the trail. Scenery and water flow is amazing. Little snow left at 6900 ft.

Absolutely gorgeous and so much water!! Be sure you bring mosquito repellent

Bob Williams,

Which direction did you go when you did this? Thanks!

Toni

I've went twice. Loved it. Saw a huge bear in the first meadow. I'm not able to find a crossing at the point where the trail is supposed to come back down. I had to retrace my steps to get back. Maybe during low water you can wade across. In May 2017, no way.