Stanford Rock is a 10.6 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Tahoe City, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
Loved this hike! A few things to know before you go: we went clockwise which I recommend. This means you start on the mountain bike path which is redone and very nice! This is not a hike to wear headphones though as you want to be able to hear bikers coming. The changes to the trail do add a bit of mileage but overall is worth it for the gentler slope. I typically hike a 35ish minute pace and we had 25 minute miles the whole time!Additionally, this loop does not show the offshoot to actually get to Stanford Rock, going to the vista adds about 1.5 miles round trip. We found it took 6.5 miles to get to Stanford rock up the mountain bike (shared use!) path so be forewarned! You could definitely do this as a 12-13 mile out and back. We continued on the loop and racked up a little over 15 miles (ended with a short walk along the road) but it was well worth it! The views of the lake to start and then into Ward Canyon were awesome and we also loved how few people we saw. Agree with others that things are not well marked so definitely have your all trails downloaded or some other GPS device. Overall highly recommend and I will likely be bringing others on this hike soon!
This is the TAMBA trail. Very dusty but gradual incline and great shade. Views from the top are worth it
Lovely place to hike. Not crowded at all - although there were quite a few mountain bikers. Local volunteers from a mountain bike group built a great detour trail that bypasses some of the steep area, so it's truly a moderate (not hard) hike (although we did an out and back, not the loop). The only hard part was crossing the creek from the parking area on the road to the trail. I'll bring water shoes next time. Great views, nice wildflowers.
With the AllTrails map I actually had no problem finding my way on the trail. I liked the hike, but didn't love it. Once I got a few miles in I was the only person which was nice, and it was beautiful. Not a ton of lake views, and getting to the top felt a bit anti-climactic since it wasn't that different of a view. Lots of mosquitos so I didn't take any stops, but that's true everywhere in Tahoe right now. It was a medium-hard hike that I would recommend, but I wouldn't rave about
Apparently parts of this trail were modified this year, so in order to complete the entire loop we actually hiked 13-miles round trip, including a quick gaunt off the trail to the top of the Stanford Rock viewing area. This was a beautiful hike the entire way....multiple, gorgeous vistas throughout, shaded forest areas, open meadows, etc. Lots of bikers on the switchback assent, which was 5.92 miles.
Getting up was no problem around 3.5 miles in, the snow makes it difficult to get around on. A bike. Since I was hiking it wasn’t too bad probably a dozen patches here and there. I got to Stanford rock which was very difficult due to the train being covered in snow but itv was worth it and the view was awesome. I came back down the same way I went up. All together took me 5 hours but I was going very slow and stopping often. In a month or so it will be a perfect hike.
Great trail!! Hiked from the top of Sugar Pine Rd up to Stanford Rock trail. Great little lollipop loop. Didn’t start the recording for a 1/2 mile in.