Fallen leaf lake parking12/27/2023 ![]() The Glen Alpine trailhead is at the end of the paved Fallen Leaf Road, forking south off Hwy 89, 3 miles from the US 50 intersection in South Lake Tahoe. Several trails branch off to other places further in the wilderness, and Lake Aloha is a favored backpacking destination, yet is easily reached on a day trip. Varied environments en route are home to especially abundant wildflowers, and the whole hike offers spectacular, ever-changing scenery. The path passes a cluster of surviving wood and stone buildings from the resort then climbs steadily alongside a creek to the first of two intermediate lakes (Susie), closely followed by the smaller Heather Lake before the final ascent to the shore of Lake Aloha. The hike begins at Glen Alpine, a historic valley west of Fallen Leaf Lake that was the location of the first Tahoe-area resort in the 1880s, a site long since abandoned. The lake is buried under snow for more than half of the year, high up in the Desolation Wilderness on the southwest side of Lake Tahoe, but is relatively simple to reach for around four months in summer and fall, when the 5 mile trail is quite popular. Lake Aloha must be one of the most beautiful places in the Sierras - a large, shallow lake filled by clear blue water, dotted with a myriad of tiny islands and surrounded by stark hillsides of white granite slickrock bearing very little vegetation.
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