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The South Upper Truckee Road Trailhead

Big Meadow Trail Junction

Up from South Upper Truckee Trailhead

We find the Big Meadow Trail Junction .23 of a mile South of the Dardanelles Lake Junction as we continue hiking South and up 2.81 of the 3.39 total miles to Round Lake from the South Upper Truckee Road.

As I have mentioned previously, the trail re-routings between the South Upper Truckee Trailhead and the Burnt Flat have extended this figure a bit. I estimate that the route has been lengthened by up to .7 of a mile, maybe up to a total of 3.5 miles from trailhead to the Big Meadow trail junction.

In & Out
from
Big Meadow Trailhead
on
Highway 89

The Big Meadow Trailhead on Highway 89 is 2.68 miles to our
Northeast from this trail junction.

Road Map of Big Meadow Trailhead

Meiss Country Roadless Area Hiking Map

South
to
Round Lake

.58 of a mile South up to Round Lake.

North
to
South Upper Truckee Road

2.81 miles North down to the
South Upper Truckee Trailhead.

South Upper Truckee Trailhead
to
Meiss Cabin in Meiss Meadow

Miles
and
Elevations

New trail junction post

New trail posts were installed at the Dardanelles Lake and the
Big Meadow trail junctions during 2009.

Comments? Post up
your Experiences Here.

Trails Forum
Big Meadow Trail Junction

Comments-Questions-Experiences?

Lake Valley and Meiss Lake
The trail North down to the South Upper Truckee trailhead is labeled "Lake Valley" on this new trail junction post, though the valley is now know as Christmas Valley by the locals. It was Lake Valley before a development in Meyers was themed on Christmas, and the valley was renamed Christmas Valley by Meyers developers.

The trail continuing South up to Round Lake and Meiss Cabin beyond this junction is labeled as "Meiss Lake." This is a bit misleading, as we first arrive at the Meiss Cabin trail junction in Meiss Meadow and must turn North from there before bending a U-turn off the trail North across an expanse of Meiss Meadow to reach Meiss Lake.

Check out the map.

There are videos and more images of the terrain climbing to Meiss Meadow on preceding and following trail guide pages.

Big Maps
Linked to Guide Pages and Detailed Maps
Take note that the Red Dots on ALL Maps link to the trail guide page for that location. This allows us to use the regional maps as grand indexes for each section's trail guide pages. We can easily and quickly review trails flipping through the regional maps.

The Black Dots marking our trail routes on the 30 Minute Maps link to the detailed maps of each section of trail. This allows us to use regional maps as indexes for the detailed maps covering each wilderness area from Tahoe to Whitney.

Labels pointing to maps North and South link to those maps, creating a chain of maps stretching from Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney that are linked to each other, trail guide pages, and more detailed maps.

Tahoe Rim Trail
Counter-Clockwise hikers on the Tahoe Rim Trail (hiking Northeast here) will veer Right at the Big Meadow Y-junction Northeast towards the Big Meadow trailhead. Clockwise hikers (hiking Southwest here) will continue straight through this junction continuing South up to Round Lake and on to where this trail Tees-out at Meiss Cabin.

Big Meadow Trail Junction

Elevation
7920

Mileage
2.81 miles North to the
South Upper Truckee Road Trailhead.

2.68 miles Northeast to the
Big Meadow trailhead on Highway 89.

.58 of a mile South to
Round Lake.

2.7 miles South to
Meiss Cabin and the TYT-PCT-TRT trail junction in Meiss Meadow

Road Map of Big Meadow Trailhead

Comments

The colored dots on this map correlate with trail guide pages

The Big Meadow Trail Junction

Hiking to the Big Meadow Trailhead
from this
trail junction

The Big Meadow trail junction with the Round Lake Trail sits 2.68 trail miles Southwest of the Big Meadow trailhead located on Highway 89. It is mostly a downhill hike from Big Meadow Trailhead to this junction. The next .58 of a mile South to Round Lake is a Intermediate 3 difficulty climb.
It's easier trail South of here up to Round Lake than the hike up to here from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead.

The hike up from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead is a Intermediate 1.

To the
Big Meadow Trailhead
by Road

The Big Meadow Trailhead is located on Highway 89 2.79 miles South past the Portal Drive turnoff to the South Upper Truckee Trailhead.
This puts the Big Meadow Trailhead 5.29 miles South of the junction between Highway 50 and Highway 89 in Meyers.

For more directions to find the Big Meadow Trailhead see the South Upper Truckee Trailhead Page, and the google map below.

Comments

Backpacking in and out
through
Big Meadow Trailhead

Hiking 1.61 miles Northeast from this Big Meadow-Round Lake trail junction towards the Big Meadow Trailhead on Highway 89 we come upon a Right-turn T-junction. That trail branching Southeast off the trail to the Big Meadow Trailhead hikes over to Scotts Lake under the Southwest flank of Waterhouse Peak overlooking Highway 88.

Continuing Northeast, straight past this junction for another .87 of a mile brings us to the Big Meadow Trailhead on Highway 89. Big Meadow Trailhead is, as mentioned, located 5.29 miles South of the intersection of Highways 50 and 89 in Meyers.

Comments

Scotts Lake
Excellent Side and Short Backpacking Trips

I have come up this route from the South Upper Truckee trail head through Big Meadow to Scotts Lake in mid-Winter. It is a wonderful little trip, though if you do it on a clear weekend you are almost certain to meet local cross-country skiers and snow travelers around Big Meadow.

Very nice folks. For a few years I was going up there a group of locals would come out and build a huge igloo on the Southwest corner of Big Meadow at the beginning of every Winter.

The Big Meadow route into Round Lake is a local's favorite Winter route.

During mid-week or during bad weather during Wintertime you likely will not encounter anyone at Scotts Lake.

Keep Track of Local Weather Conditions

One Winter I cut my route straight up the mountain into Big Meadow from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead via the Burnt Flat, rather than following the East tributary of the South Upper Truckee River up to the snow-buried Big Meadow trail junction. No need to take the "long way" following the trail route in Winter when Winter itself reveals more direct routes.

Winter opens up many shortcuts through the mountains. After messing around and spending a night at Scotts Lake I backtracked out to exit at Big Meadow. I considered hiking down to Highway 88 in Hope Valley to hitch-hike back, but preferred to snow-shoe to the Big Meadow Trailhead.

This is very pretty terrain during Winter. The better we can withstand it, the more we can enjoy it. That's as true in Summer as Winter.

I have never hiked to Scotts Lake in Summer, but it is beautiful in Winter. This 30 minute map shows the Big Meadow Trailhead, Big Meadow, and Scotts Lake in proximity to our route up to Meiss Meadow via Round Lake, where we will hook up with the Southbound Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trail routes for the hike out of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The triangular shape of the Meiss Country Roadless Area wedged in the Southern end of the Tahoe Basin does not lend itself to backpacking loop trips. In and out backpacking trips along the same route are nice, but repetitive.
The best hiking plan for the Meiss Country is for medium distance trailhead to trailhead trips across the length of the Meiss Country Roadless Area. You can't exceed medium distance backpacking trips in this small area unless you walk across it four of five times...

My favorite route through here is a Winter trip from South Upper Truckee Trailhead to Showers Lake via Round Lake, then out of the Tahoe Basin to Round Top Lake. From Round Top Lake we reenter the Tahoe Basin for the hike back down to the South Upper Truckee Trailhead via Round Lake. This trip is total joy. Well, it involves some hard work, bits of cold, and some route finding challenges, but those are the components of which joy is constructed.

Backpacking the beauty of the High Sierra offers much more that the sum total of its parts...

If you have a hiking partner and two cars drop off a car at the nearest trailhead then drive to the furthest trailhead, and hike back. For instance, drop a car off at Echo Summit on your way to the South Upper Truckee, Big Meadow, or Carson Pass trailheads. Then hike back to your stashed car across the Meiss Country Roadless Area.

As I hitch-hike in and out I worry more about the unknown amount of time it will take to get rides in and out, which is based on how much traffic is out there, than worrying about how to stash my car.

7.5 Topo Hiking Map
Meyers to Carson Pass

   30 min Topo Hiking Map
Meiss Roadless Area
to
Carson Pass Management Area

Miles and Elevations

Comments

South
Meiss Country Roadless Area to Round Lake

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Backpacker Forums

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The Backpacker's Forum.

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General comments or specific information about the South Upper Truckee to Carson Gap section of the High Sierra trails, or this particular location are welcome:

Section
South Upper Truckee to the Carson Gap

Segment
Big Meadow trail junction