Be Prepared to Use Tahoe’s Trail

BE PREPARED TO USE

TAHOE’S TRAIL

AMBASSADORS MAN TRAILHEADS

BY TIM HAUSERMAN

LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLES

Plan ahead and prepare Travel and camp on durable surfaces Dispose of waste properly Leave what you fi nd Minimize campfi re impacts Respect wildlife Be considerate of other visitors

> Use Tim’s Tips for Pooping in the Woods > Read about the harmful impacts of dog poop bags > Explore Tim’s Top Tahoe Rim Trail Picks > Follow Tim’s Tips for practicing Leave No Trace

at TheTahoeWeekly.com

PHOTO A stop at one of the many lakes in Desolation Wilderness along the Tahoe Rim Trail. | Tim Hauserman VER THE LAST 25 YEARS I’VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME ON THE TAHOE RIM TRAIL. WHILE THE TRAIL IS AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE FIRST TIME I SET FOOT ON IT, THE NUMBER OF USERS HAS DRAMATICALLY INCREASED IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS. is has led to more litter, more trail damage, increased re danger and con icts between user groups (bikers, hikers, runners and equestrians). Tahoe Rim Trail Association, with support from Tahoe Fund’s Take Care Tahoe, has initiated a new program to try to help with the problem: Taskforce Trailhead. It brings volunteer trail lovers to trailheads throughout the Tahoe Basin to provide information on the trail.

Volunteers will pass on helpful tips such as where are the views and water, while also reminding users about Leave No Trace principals such as peeing and pooping etiquette for humans and dogs. Oh, don’t get me started about people who leave their dog’s poop bags. What are they thinking? at there is a poop fairy?

In addition, Taskforce Trailhead members will remind people to bring out whatever they take in, and perhaps, bring back some of the litter that other trail users have left out there. e approach will be to provide information gently to those who are interested in it, but not bombard folks as they head out on their dirt adventure. tion, but until you hang out at the trailhead for a few hours you don’t realize how truly busy it is.

More than 100 people passed by our little booth in just a few hours. Users included several thru hikers who had been hiking for days and were carrying amazingly small packs for such a long trip, and a few segment hikers who were taking on the 20-mile section as a day hike. e overwhelming majority of people, however, were just out for their rst fairly quick jaunt to Picnic Rock (or as I call it Flintstone Rocks) a 3-mile out and back.

While it was a bit shocking to see all those people, it was quite encouraging that for the most part, the hikers were willing to stop and chat and were appreciative of what we were trying to do. ey understood the importance of picking up and bringing their dog’s poop out, of not leaving any trash and of not short cutting the trail. And as rst-time hikers, they are just the people you want to reach with information about proper trail etiquette. e only true concern I had was the large multigenerational group that didn’t know how far or where they were hiking and wanted to know where they might nd a restroom on the trail. We explained that there were no restrooms and that it was important that if they had to go, to be sure and get o the trail and bring back out any toilet paper they might have used. e TP discussion initiated a look of shock from several of the hikers, while several others you could tell had already decided that they would rather pee in their pants than go in the woods. is group reminded me of what could be the reason for increased impacts on our trails: a lack of understanding of the di erence between a walk in a city park,

where garbage cans and toilets are readily accessible, and a hike into the undeveloped national forest where you need to bring out what you brought in. It all comes back to treating the land with the respect it deserves. e following week, I set out on my own to the Tahoe City trailhead. It was hot when I arrived at 9:30 a.m. and for the next few hours I saw more people heading back to their cars than heading out onto the trail. I’m sure they had visions of getting wet in Lake Tahoe dancing in their heads. Here, I saw a di erent mix than those at the Brockway trailhead. A passel of locals was heading back from quick runs, as well as a steady stream of mountain bikers who were too focused on getting over the rocky trail in one piece to stop and chat.

But I also ran into a fair share of groups that had never been on the trail before who appreciated all the information I could throw their way. e highlight for me were the thru-hikers just starting out their two-

week journey around the entire trail, although after I was blabbing away for a while about where to nd water and camp, I’m sure they were anxious to get hiking.

If you love Tahoe Rim Trail and would like to make a small contribution to keeping this precious resource beautiful, think about becoming a volunteer for Tahoe Rim Trail’s Take Care Taskforce Trailhead. Given what a tough year and a half it has been, spending a few hours talking about trails to a stream of hikers is quite encouraging. e people you meet are excited about being in nature and think it is awesome that there is a person at the trailhead passing on tips. And hopefully you will impart some good stu into the noggins of a few folks who otherwise may have dropped their litter onto the trail. Sustainable Truckee also has a Trail Host Ambassador program to patrol trailheads in Truckee. | takecaretahoe.org, tahoerimtrail.org, visittruckeetahoe.com 

This group reminded me of what could be the reason for increased impacts on our trails: a lack of understanding of the difference between a walk in a city park, where garbage cans and toilets are readily accessible, and a hike into the undeveloped national forest where you need to bring out what you brought in. It all comes back to treating the land with the respect it deserves.

Tim Hauserman wrote the offi cial guidebook to the Tahoe Rim Trail, “Tahoe Rim Trail: The Offi cial Guide for Hikers, Mountain Bikers and Equestrians.”

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