The Hills
The short entrance road to Spooner Lake branches off NV 28 half a mile northwest of Spooner Junction, passes the fee station (2020 fees $10 per vehicle) and ends at an extensive parking area beside the lake, which was created in 1924 by construction of a dam across a small creek. The reservoir is not particularly scenic, being shallow, muddy at the edges, and completely surrounded by trees and bushes, without any mountain peaks in view. A two mile trail loops all around the perimeter, partly through pine/aspen woodland, in other places right along the grassy shoreline. All other trails in the state park are rather longer, climbing far into the forested hills above Lake Tahoe (known as the
Marlette-Hobart backcountry), and offering good, long distance views, though the landscapes lack the stark granite scenery of the southwest (the
Desolation Wilderness), which is the premier hiking destination in the Tahoe area. In the park, the second most visited location (after Spooner Lake) is the larger
Marlette Lake, set in a wooded valley at 7,823 feet, and also artificial, formed by a dam across Marlette Creek - another small drainage that drops down steeply to Lake Tahoe. Marlette Lake is 5 miles from the park entrance, along the dirt
North Canyon Road or the parallel (slightly steeper)
North Canyon Trail. Like Spooner, Marlette was created to supply water to the logging industry, sending water northwards via a long flume starting just below the dam. The
Marlette Flume Trail runs alongside the waterway for nearly 5 miles, while the
Red House Flume Trail follows a continuation channel further into the hills, on the east side of a 4,000 foot long tunnel. Other paths include a section of the
Tahoe Rim Trail (which traverses close to the high point of the mountains and so has the best views), and the
Chimney Beach to North Canyon Trail, a lesser-used, 5 mile route that descends precipitously from a ridge just south of Marlette Lake to a hidden beach beside Lake Tahoe. Most trails in the park are also open to mountain bikes and horses.