Darth Lefty 

My buddy Dan and I are up here for the weekend. I brought my bike. He brought his too, but it’s a 24 speed hybrid with slick tires, and I wanted to ride MTB trails. So I rented him a bike and two seats on the shuttle for us to ride the Flume trail.

When we arrived at the bike shop, they had already sent out all the bikes of his reservation and size. So they refunded the reservation, and gave him a very nice Kona E bike. We rode the shuttle to Spooner Lake, and then we were off.







I somehow had the wrong Flume trail in mind. There are two. The one I thought we were taking, the Incline flume, is probably easier, but it turned out we were taking the Marlette flume. These were originally tiny little aqueducts that were built for the mining and logging industries in the 19th century. So it’s cut into the hillside at about a level grade, a thousand feet above Lake Tahoe. In the middle of the 20th century, there was a defense project here and you can still see aluminum pipes in some places along the trail. But now it’s a dedicated recreation trail, mostly used by mountain bikers.

To get from Spooner Lake to Marlette Lake, there is a 4 mile climb up the southern half of North Canyon Road, a fire road. I was really not expecting this, and it took a lot out of me, given my bum ticker and the 8161 ft altitude. My buddy on his E bike was happy as a clam. He let me try it at the steepest part. I can see the appeal! But it was too weird feeling to switch today. I gave it back to him and H-A-B up to the pass.



From the pass it’s a really quick mile down to 7823 ft. This was a hoot, but I worried for Dan who is not a hobby cyclist but an average hybrid owner. He did all right (foreshadowing!) and soon we were at Marlette Lake. Another level mile around the south end of Marlette Lake and the start of the Flume trail



Flume itself is a fun ride. It’s mostly level single track, coated in DG (alas, the sizzling tires). But it’s very winding, cut into the hillside through boulders. So it’s low risk, high consequence. The views are amazing.



The way from Flume down to Lake Tahoe is another steep fun fire road descent with swales you can jump. Unfortunately this is where it went wrong for Dan. There was a rooty drop in a tree shadow after a fast turn and he panic braked through it. I didn’t see it, I was maybe fifty yards ahead and some hikers coming up flagged me down and sent me back. Nothing was broken but he has barked knuckles and a nice big bruise over his hip bone. Further down there was a lot of sand and heavy foot traffic so we took it easier and rode the brakes.



At the end of the trail we stopped at the sandwich shop that shares the rent with the bike shuttle, and that was quite satisfactory. There are some good local brews too.

Kapusta

Flume is one of the most scenic trails I have ever ridden. Really stunning views of the lake.

Of all the places I have ridden, the Tahoe area is what I miss the most, and most want to return to.

Darth Lefty 

It was a serious reality check for me! The combination of my HCM (and general schlubbiness) and the altitude made for way more HAB than I counted on. I've had ambitions of coming up here and doing more trail but my fitness needs some work. Most of my riding is around a local lake with short climbs and descents up the side walls, a sustained climb of more than a hundred feet is not in my usual repertoire. Another ride this morning, from Kings Beach halfway up toward Brockway Summit, confirmed it. I also think a full suspension bike would be pretty appropriate around here. Not for Flume specifically, which was just fine on the hard tail, but this morning's ride was in an area that doubles as a neighborhood ski trail, and it was well graded on the fire roads but really rocky everywhere.

For the nerds:
e-bike, shuttle, and sandwiches from Flume Trail Bikes. The combination of refund and upgrade for the reservation mishap was really unexpected and appreciated, and the shuttle driver did a good job briefing us.
https://flumetrailtahoe.com/

My bike: 2018 Salsa Timberjack NX 27.5+ with a bag from Rogue Panda, a DVO fork, and a dropper
Dan's e-bike: Kona Remote 130

prj71

Thanks for sharing!! Spectacular scenery!!!

Darth Lefty 

Dan's bruise expanded over the next few days until it looked like a foot-wide map of Australia. His 5yo twins were fascinated by it.