Mount Tallac Trail: the whole of Lake Tahoe from a summit you can walk up
Mount Tallac rises straight off the west shore of Lake Tahoe, and the trail to the top runs 4.75 miles one way by our measurement, climbing 3,304 feet past Floating Island Lake and Cathedral Lake to a 9,738 foot summit. What each stretch is like, what the permit rules say, and what you can see from the top.
Mount Tallac rises straight off the west shore of Lake Tahoe, and from almost anywhere on the south shore you can pick it out. The trail to the top is one of the best known hikes in the Tahoe basin, and it earns the view: you climb out of the pines, past two lakes, and onto open granite with the whole lake behind you.
We measured the mapped route from the trailhead to the summit at 4.75 miles one way, climbing 3,304 feet. The summit is published at 9,738 feet. It is not the highest point in the Tahoe basin, which is Freel Peak at 10,886 feet, but it is the one people recognize from the water.
Through the pines to Floating Island and Cathedral
The hike starts in forest at about 6,429 feet. The trail climbs steadily and reaches Floating Island Lake at about 7,218 feet, then Cathedral Lake, which sits tucked under the headwall at about 7,610 feet. Both make reasonable turnaround points if you want a shorter day. Cathedral is where most of the climbing still ahead of you becomes obvious.
The northeast face
Above Cathedral Lake the forest ends. The trail swings onto open granite and switchbacks up the northeast face, and this stretch holds most of the day's gain. As you climb, the basin opens behind your shoulder and Emerald Bay comes into view. There is little shade once you are above the trees.
The summit
The angle eases near the top. From the summit, Desolation Wilderness runs away to the west in lake after lake, and Lake Tahoe fills the view the other way. The Forest Service gives the lake's deepest recorded depth as 1,645 feet, and measures it at 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, with 72 miles of shoreline, sitting at around 6,225 feet at lake level.
Desolation Wilderness itself covers 63,960 acres and holds roughly 130 lakes, jointly administered by the Eldorado National Forest and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
What the map shows
One detail worth knowing if you navigate by GPS: the mapped line near Cathedral Lake comes from a hiker's tracklog rather than a survey. The OpenStreetMap contributor's own note records modifying the path west of Cathedral Lake after losing the trail in snow. Follow the trail on the ground rather than the line on your screen.
The aerial imagery in our video was captured in July 2022, snow free.
What to bring
Sun protection, more water than you think you need, and warm layers for the summit, which is windier than the trailhead on most days. Pack out everything you carry in, and bury human waste 6 to 8 inches deep and at least 200 feet from water, trails and campsites.
