It is 36°F at the trailhead this morning, with a feels-like of 32°F. Wind is 1 mph with gusts to 8. AQI is 31, Good. The fire risk is essentially zero — the nearest active heat detection is 538 kilometers away, which is a polite way of saying there is nothing burning anywhere near Lake Tahoe right now. There is a 15% rain chance today, which I would normally pay attention to except that today is the worst day in the next five-day window, and tomorrow it drops to 2% and stays there.
Today is a 70. Tomorrow is a 100. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are also 100s. If you have read me before you know I do not call something a 100 lightly, and the algorithm is calling four straight 100s for Marlette Lake. That is the kind of forecast you do not see often in May, and it is the kind of forecast that should make you cancel something else.
Kipper is coming. Marlette is a USFS trail in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, which means dogs are not just allowed, they are expected — this whole region is dog country in a way that the National Parks 90 minutes south of here are not. You will pass other dogs on this trail, and you will pass mountain bikes (it is bike-legal), and the etiquette is good in both directions. Bring a leash for the parking area, you can let off-leash on most of the trail if your dog is solid on recall, and bring water — the lake does not count as drinking water and there is no spring or filter station along the route.
One correction before I continue. The site previously listed this trail as no-dogs, which was wrong, and I want to flag that openly because I am the one who wrote it that way last time. Marlette Lake Trail is, and has always been, dog-friendly USFS land. Apologies to anyone who avoided it on my recommendation in April. This is the article that fixes the record.
What the 70 Means Today, and Why Tomorrow Is the 100
The 70 today is almost a courtesy 70. The reason it is not a 90 right now is that 15% rain chance and the temperature swing — you will start in the low 30s, climb 1,600 feet, and at altitude you might be standing in a passing snow squall at 10 a.m. if the front actually develops. The forecast says probably not. The mountain says we will see.
Tomorrow at 2% rain and a high of 60°F at altitude is a different trail. The snow squalls are gone, the trail is dry, the views across Tahoe are clean because the early-week winds have scrubbed the air. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are clones of tomorrow with progressively warmer afternoons.
If you have flexibility, hike Marlette tomorrow or the day after. If you are locked into today, you can absolutely still go — the 70 is a good number, it just requires you to be ready for the 30% of conditions that are not ideal.
The Trail Itself, the Honest Version
Marlette Lake Trail starts at Spooner Summit on Highway 28, the road that runs along the east shore of Tahoe between South Lake Tahoe and Incline Village. There is a paid parking lot at Spooner Lake State Park, which is the official trailhead. You will pay $10 in cash or by card at the kiosk. They take both. They do not take complaints.
The route is 10.5 miles round-trip with 1,600 feet of gain. Out and back. The first three miles climb gradually through aspen and ponderosa pine on a wide road-grade trail. This is the part where mountain bikers come at you in both directions, and where Kipper has to be in a heel because the bikes are moving and the corners do not have line-of-sight.
Around mile three you crest into the Marlette Lake basin and the trail flattens. The next two miles are honestly the easiest two miles you will hike all year — gentle rolling along the lake's perimeter with the granite ridge of the Carson Range behind you to the east. This is the part where you let Kipper off-leash if your recall is reliable. The wildlife is mostly chipmunks and the occasional deer; bears have been reported in the Tahoe basin this year but the Marlette area specifically is low-density bear habitat.
The lake itself is the destination. It is a high alpine reservoir, surface elevation 7,823 feet, that supplied water to Virginia City during the silver rush in the 1870s. The wooden flume infrastructure you can still see scraps of along the trail is real — it is not a recreated heritage feature, it is the actual remaining beam-and-trestle from the 1870s. I find that detail wildly more interesting than I should.
You can extend the hike by continuing to Marlette Peak (another 1.5 miles and 700 feet of gain, no extra dog issues) for a full panorama view of Tahoe to the west and Carson Valley to the east. Most people do not do this extension. The lake itself is enough of a destination that the extra summit feels like cheating on a good thing.
What to Bring (Dog Edition, Today's Conditions)
For Kipper, I am packing:
- Booties (optional today, worth considering if you go in the next few hours). If there is any patch of refrozen snow on the upper trail this morning, the granite ice-crust will tear paw pads. By tomorrow, with daytime highs at 60°F, this is a non-issue.
- A 2-liter water bladder for the dog. The lake is not safe drinking water without filtration. Don't let your dog drink it directly — there are reports of giardia in Tahoe basin alpine lakes every year, and the dog will not enjoy the cleanup.
- Leash for the parking area and the first half mile. Spooner is a busy trailhead and other dogs and bikes are everywhere.
- A snack she actually likes. Marlette is far enough that Kipper is genuinely hungry by the time we get to the lake, and the photographs of her actually eating something are the only photographs I take where she isn't looking somewhere else.
- Dog towel. It is May at altitude. She will get wet. She will get muddy. The car interior will appreciate the towel.
For me, today's 70 conditions:
- Insulating layer plus a wind shell. The forecast says calm; the mountain at 7,800 feet says hold your shell available.
- Microspikes are NOT needed — the trail is reported as snow-free, but pack them if you are going within the next 24 hours and the squall actually develops.
- Hat and gloves. Pack them; you will probably wear them for the first 90 minutes.
- Water: 3 liters. It is dry country and the elevation eats your hydration faster than you expect.
- Trekking poles. Not because the terrain demands them, but because if you hit one slick patch on the upper trail, they save you a trip.
- Camera and tripod if you are shooting. The light angles at the lake basin are best in the morning until about 10:30, when the sun crosses the eastern ridge and the lake surface goes flat.
The Photographer's Note
The east shore of Marlette Lake — which is the side you reach first when you arrive — has the best afternoon light, with the Carson Range catching warm tones from about 4 p.m. until sunset at 7:57 p.m. tonight. The west shore is cleaner morning light if you can be at the lake by 9 a.m.
The granite around the lake is light gray and reflects strongly, so for portraits or pet photography, expose for the dog and let the rocks blow out a quarter stop. Kipper is a white American Eskimo, which reads cleanly against this kind of stone. I expect to come home with one good photograph of her sitting on the granite shelf at the lake's east edge, and I will be happy.
Best Time to Go This Week
Tomorrow morning. Specifically, leave the trailhead by 7:30 a.m. so you are at the lake by 9 a.m. with the morning light still soft. The forecast holds through Sunday, so any of the next four days work — but tomorrow has the cleanest air and the lowest crowd density (Thursday, mid-week). If you are coming from the Bay Area, the drive is about 3.5 hours each way. Doable as a day trip, tighter if you want a relaxed pace. If you can stay over in South Lake Tahoe, even better.
Reno is closer (1 hour 15 minutes from Spooner trailhead) and works as a basecamp for an early start.
What Could Go Wrong
The squall actually develops today. You are at 8,300 feet on the ridge before the lake, and a 30-minute snow squall comes through. You have your shell. You have your hat. Kipper has her coat. You sit it out under a stand of trees, the squall passes, the trail is wetter and slicker, you walk slower, you finish two hours later than planned. This is the realistic worst case for today's 70. It is not dangerous. It is just slow.
Your dog tries to drink the lake. This happens. Most dogs are fine. A small percentage get giardia. The treatment if symptoms appear — lethargy, soft stool 3–7 days later — is metronidazole through your vet, and most dogs are back to normal within 5 days. Don't panic; call your vet promptly if you see symptoms.
You miss the parking lot fee. Spooner is a paid lot. The kiosk is on the honor system in May with envelopes. Do not skip it. Rangers do come through and ticket cars without payment receipts. The $10 is the cost of avoiding a $50 ticket.
You bring a dog who is not conditioned for 10.5 miles at altitude. This is the most common bad-day. A dog who is great on a 4-mile coastal walk is not necessarily ready for a 10-mile alpine hike at 7,800 feet. If your dog is not regularly hiking 6+ miles at sea level, start with the 5-mile out-and-back to Spooner Summit instead.
Bottom Line
Marlette Lake Trail is a 70 today, climbing to a 100 tomorrow and holding for four straight days. This is the spring window. It is dog-friendly USFS country, the trail is in great condition, the lake is full and clear, and the weather is going to be kind for at least four consecutive days.
If you have flexibility, go tomorrow. If you must go today, go anyway — a 70 is a good day, it just asks for the right gear and a little patience. Either way, you have until Sunday before the next weather front, and any of those four days is a day you will not regret.
Bring the dog. Bring the camera. Pay the $10. Drink the water. Don't let the dog drink the water. Take the photo. Drive home.
I will be at the lake tomorrow at 9 a.m. Kipper too. If you see a white American Eskimo on the east shore looking very seriously at a granite slab, that is us.
— Olivia
📍 Live conditions for Marlette Lake Trail →