Sugar Bowl to Palisades Tahoe: A Classic Pacific Crest Trail Hike
One of the classic point to point hikes in the Truckee-Tahoe area is the route from Sugar Bowl to Palisades. It’s about 15 miles with around 3,000 feet of climbing, so even though it trends downhill, it’s a stout hike or trail run. It takes you across some of the best parts of the Pacific Crest Trail in the Tahoe area - towering forests, expansive Sierra Crest views, and fields of wildflowers.
How to get there:
Since this route is typically done as a point to point, it’s more logistically challenging than a loop or an out and pack. You’ll either need to arrange a pick up at the Palisades village or do it as a shuttle. If you’re shuttling, you’ll drop one car in the Palisades village and then leave from the Donner Summit parking area. It’s almost doable with public transit using the TART fixed route from the Palisades village and TART Connect within Truckee, but, unfortunately, in the summer, there’s no public transportation to Donner Summit.
The Route:
You’ll start from the Donner Summit PCT trailhead parking area and hop right on the Pacific Crest Trail - Donner Peak section (~1.1 miles, ~540 feet of climbing). This section features the classic steps built into Sierra granite.
If you want to, you can add mileage and elevation on this section by turning off and tagging Donner Peak). Then you’ll continue on the PCT Mount Judah section (~0.8 miles, ~325 feet of climbing). This section has awesome views looking out over Roller Pass, which was one of the few places that covered wagons could cross the Sierra Crest.
Next up is the PCT Judah to Tinker Knob (~5.3 mi, ~1,455 feet of climbing, 675 feet of descending). This section gives you your first views of Lake Tahoe (or “the big lake” as we call it in Truckee”. This section has some long climbs and a downhill that can be a little loose. This is also the only section I’ve had to do a semi-sketchy snow crossing on when I’ve done it (in June and August). Just before the end of this segment, you can tag another peak with a scramble up to the top of Tinker Knob.
The final PCT section is PCT Tinker Knob to Granite Chief has a long descent into a gorgeous valley before climbing back out to the ridgeline (~3.5 miles, ~745 feet of climbing, ~1,200 feet of descending). While this section is beautiful, the climb down is a bit disheartening, knowing you will have to climb back up. This section has had a couple spots to refill water bottles if you have a filter, too. The views of the Granite Chief Wilderness make it worth it!
Here, you’ll turn off onto the final section - Granite Chief Trail which is a steep descent down the trail that Western States 100 runners run up at the beginning of that race (~3.4 miles, ~1,960 feet of descending). You’ll have great views of Olympic Valley as you head down to Palisades village. Along the way, you might be able to dip into Washeshu Creek if it’s still flowing. Doing that was one of the highlights of my June hike! The hike down is hard on your legs after a long day and involves some light route finding on the granite sections.
If you don’t want to do the climb down, you can take the Palisades tram between 10 am - 4:20 pm. Once you’re in the Palisades village, you can grab a coffee and pastry at Coffeebar or a pizza and beer at Fireside Pizza.
If you’re looking for a challenging but incredible hike or trail run that shows you the highlights of the Tahoe PCT, I highly recommend this route.
