Spooner Lake State Park

Fig. 01

Description: Spooner Lake is part of the Lake Tahoe – Nevada State Park, a state park of Nevada on the northeast shores of Lake Tahoe that also includes Sand Harbor, Spooner Lake, and the Marlette/Hobart Backcountry area. Spooner Lake is an alpine lake at 7,100 feet elevation, that lies within the 12,242-acre Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park. It is located near the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and Nevada State Route 28, just below "Spooner Summit" (See map above) and northeast of Glenbrook, Nevada, the oldest settlement on Lake Tahoe. Spooner Lake is popular day spot for hiking, fishing, and viewing wildlife and wildflowers. The trail is an easy, flat, well maintained 2.1 mile loop that circumnavigates the lake. The favored route for hiking the trail is to go to the left and circle the lake in a clockwise fashion. In this direction, the first part of the walk is principally in the sun with the latter part passing through more wooded areas. Toward the end of the loop, a sign somewhat south of where the loop began will direct you uphill to return to the picnic and parking area. Views of the Lake and nice groves of Aspens make this a scenic stroll. The site is also the primary starting point for the Marlette/Hobart Backcountry trails as well as the main vehicle entrance to both areas. History: Spooner Lake is a small impoundment constructed in 1927 to store irrigation water. In 1973, Nevada Department of Fish and Game developed the lake into a trout fishery. Regulations changed from zero-harvest in 1982 to a 5 fish limit in 2006. The reservoir, at maximum legal capacity, covers about 78 surface acres and has a depth of nearly 20 feet.  Lahontan cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, bowcutt trout (rainbow x cutthroat), brook trout, and tiger trout (brown x brook) have been stocked over the years.  Lahontan tui chub, however, dominate the lake.

08/06/2012 Trip Notes: The second stop of the day, this was part of a daytrip with Bonnie & Paul that took us along the east side of Lake Tahoe that ended with a very late lunch at Kings Beach. In addition to capturing the beautiful scenic views seen in (Figs. 01, 02, & 03), we also got to observe several Steller's Jays (Figs. 04 thru 07) making their way throughout the Jeffrey pines and white firs in the thick forested areas surrounding the lake. The last picture (Fig. 08) is all that remains of a tree that appears to have been struck by lightening long ago. I have titled it “Nature’s Totem Pole”.

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Fig. 08 Titled - Nature's Totem Pole