The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

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Meeks Bay Trailhead
Backpacker's Resources

Not Much. Come prepared.

Meeks Bay Marina has a few snacks & soda a few hundred yards North of Meeks Bay Trailhead.

There are not much in the way of backpacker resources anywhere around Meeks Bay Trailhead. In fact, the length of Highway 89 South from Tahoe City all the way down to South Lake Tahoe is a beautiful twisting road with few services marking out the convoluted boundary between lake, dense forest, and the rising Sierra.

Local Resources
Our nearby major sources of supplies, gear, food, medical services, and hotels are located to our North and South in Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, respectively.

Tehoma
Four miles North of Meeks Bay Trailhead the tiny hamlet of Tahoma has an excellent deli in its rustic little local grocery store. There's also a decent pizza place in the mini mall on the West side of Highway 89, across from the store and deli. Road Map.

Add Your Report
Local/Tehoma/Meeks Bay Resources

If we need specialized backpacking gear, food, or general grocery store type food to fill out our backpacking supplies we need to get them as we pass through Tahoe City or South Lake Tahoe, again depending on if we approach Meeks Bay Trailhead from the North or South.

Check out the road map below to locate the major nearby centers of resources to our North in Tahoe City and to our South in South Lake Tahoe relative to our position at Meeks Bay Trailhead.

I've always hung out in South Lake Tahoe since visiting during Summers as a kid. Today I still prefer to use Highway 50 to access the Tahoe Basin from the Bay Area, and still stage most of my Tahoe backpacking trips, and even access the East Sierra through South Lake Tahoe.

South Lake Tahoe
Backpacker Resources

Meeks Bay to Echo Summit
Backpacking Miles and Elevations

Meeks Bay Trailhead
INDEX
Backpacker Resources
and
Hiker Information

The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail
FORUM

All backpackers can post text comments, questions, and are invited to share their experiences in this Meeks Bay to Echo Lake section of trail, or post up here about your knowledge of local backpacker resources through the comments links on this page.

Post what you know about Sierra Trails on the
Tahoe to Yosemite Trail backpackers Forum.

Registered Members can post up text, images, maps and videos in the Trails Forum that supplements and updates the trail guide's coverage of the trails all the way down to the Whitney Portal.

Share the important and interesting things you experience.

Check out the Tahoe to Whitney .org Backpacking Trails and Topics forums to review the upcoming trails, and what we will need to hike them.

comments

The Tahoma Store and Deli

Tahoma is a small town located about 4 miles North of the Meeks Bay trail head. It is the nearest place for resources of any substance whatsoever.

The Tahoma Store's deli makes huge sandwiches on fine bread, and has most of what you will need for a picnic lunch.

They have a small grocery store as well.

A bit South of the Tahoma Store there is a tiny shopping center on the West side of the road that has a pizza parlor.

It is behind us from the perspective above.

I had a few pieces in 2009. It was pretty good.

That's about it for Tahoma!

Additions?

information-comments?

Tahoe to Yosemite trail post just South of the Meeks Bay Trailhead.

This is one of two signs that mention the TYT down the whole TYT trail.

Details-Details

If you are driving in, you can easily access the food resources at Tahoma. If you are hitching, it may be hit or miss.

I always like to feed-up before hitting the trail, so this is important to me.

It stretches out my food supply!

If you forgot anything, broke anything, or need any gear or food, your last chance to get it will be in Tahoe City or South Lake Tahoe.

The semi-isolated location of Meeks Bay means I'm likely going to arrive late in the day at the trail head, the way I travel.

Anticipating delays of our arrival time at the trailhead in our plans is wise.

This will affect how far we can get the first day, which will inject some uncertainty into our trip plan for this first section of trail.

Near the Meeks Bay Trail Head

LANDMARK

The Meeks Bay Resort and Marina

The Meeks Bay Resort and Marina sits 100 yards North of the Meeks Bay Trail Head on the lake side of Highway 89.

No trail or hot food, a small convenience store
with chips, candy, and soda.

Updates?

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South Lake Tahoe

Resources Central

In my opinion the center of local resources is 16.2 miles South in South Lake Tahoe. Which location you seek resources from, South Lake Tahoe to the South or Tahoe City to the North, depends on which way you are approaching Meeks Bay.

You will get what you need along your approach route to the Meeks Bay trail head, independent of which way you come in.
If you are driving South down 89 to Meeks Bay you will pass through Tahoe City, if you drive North up 89 to Meeks Bay South Lake Tahoe is along your route.

Both Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe have large grocery stores,
comprehensive gear stores, and lots of restaurants and hotels.

If you find yourself stuck at Meeks Bay seeking full resources, I'd head South to South Lake Tahoe. The reasons are many.

South Lake Tahoe is located on Highway 50, which is easy hitching East into the Carson Valley or West down to the San Joaquin Valley. Highway 80 sucks.

South Lake Tahoe has Amtrack Bus connections both to Reno
and the Bay Area via Sacramento. Highway 80 does not.

I find it easier to access Meeks Bay from the South, but the best way for you will depend on the direction you approach the Tahoe Basin. You will find no lack of resources approaching Meeks Bay from the North or South.

South Lake Tahoe Resources

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Desolation Wilderness Permits
The Meeks Bay Trailhead into Desolation Wilderness is so busy during Summertime it has its own seasonal permit station. Hit the contacts link below for information about the dates and hours of the Summertime permit stations along the West Shore of Lake Tahoe.

The whole Southwestern Tahoe Basin is very busy during Summertime, not just Desolation Wilderness.

The Desolation Wilderness imposes permit restrictions and a zone quota system to determine the number of permits they split 50-50 between advance reservations made up to six months in advance against those held for daily trailhead availability.

Thus permits for June can be reserved in January, permits for July in February, and so on. We have our annual backpacking calendar to keep track of these things.

One of the benefits of Membership is that I offer the print versions (If I make any) to the members at cost. They are cool and very informative calendars online or on you wall.

The link below leads us to the links to the range of LTBMU Desolation Wilderness information, the Sierra Wild information about Desolation, and the Desolation Wilderness permit reservation system through Recreation.gov:
DESOLATION WILDERNESS PERMITS

I suggest reviewing the LTBMU info first, then the Sierra Wild info before hitting the reservation website. Desolation Wilderness has lots of rules.

We can also obtain permits from local Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Ranger Stations during the non-reservation times of year. Or if we are gambling that we can get a permit at the trailhead during Summertime. In that case I would call the LTBMU to determine my odds of success.
The LTBMU has its main office in South Lake Tahoe and a big office in Truckee just off Highway 80
two miles East of the Highway 89 exit.

There are also Summertime-only Ranger Stations at Meeks Bay and the
Taylor Creek Visitor Center along Highway 89.

To verify the Summer Stations opening dates, hours of operation, and the permit restrictions and limitations at the Desolation Wilderness, check out this collection of Desolation Wilderness and contact information:
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Contacts.

I suggest contacting the South Lake Tahoe Rangers to arrange a custom permit for our Tahoe to Yosemite or Tahoe to Whitney backpacking trips.

For local backpacking permits remaining within the Tahoe Basin we go through the reservation system.
For custom long-distance backpacking permits we contact the LTBMU Rangers.

Don't try to get a TYT permit to scam the Desolation limits.

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Indexes
to
Information
Every trail guide page on this guide is linked to the guide pages to the North, South, and to that section's trail guide index through links at the top and bottom of each page.

The Guide Indexes access information for all the trail guide sections.

Every trail guide page links to the maps and mileage information for that specific location, that segment of trail, and the whole section of the trail we are hiking.

From each page we can quickly access the guide, maps, and miles information for the whole Sierra between Tahoe and Whitney.

Every part of the guide links to every other part.

Every Map is an Index
The maps are the same. Besides each map having red dots linking to the trail guide entry for that location, the black dots on the large-scale 30 minute maps link to the detailed maps.

Each map is festooned with links to the maps
to our North and South along our route, and to the list of maps covering each section.

Every Miles Page is an Index
The miles and elevations pages are the same, with each location linked to that location's specific trail guide entry, and the links at the top and bottom of each of the miles pages bring us to the miles and elevations figures for the trail sections to our North and South.

Interlinked Information from Tahoe to Whitney
These features on the guide pages, the map pages, and the miles pages allow us to easily and quickly browse large lengths of trail guide information very quickly.

Happy Trails!

Trail Guide Index