The Bench along the Tahoe Rim Trail is a destination full of beauty. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

My chest tightened as oxygen seemed to be missing. It’s not a good sign when you feel the elevation just walking from the car to the trailhead sign.

Suddenly I doubted my ability to make the 11.2 miles.

At one point it’s like walking through a Christmas tree farm in the wild. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

This was a day after birthday hike last weekend. I wanted to see what I was still capable of. I wanted to go someplace I hadn’t been before. I wanted to be immersed in incredible scenery.

Goals all accomplished. Bonus was seeing a bear.

I finished with an elevation gain of 1,901 feet. Lowest elevation was 7,191 feet and highest was 8,816.

Gorgeous views of Lake Tahoe are the reason to make this hike. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Destination was The Bench along the Tahoe Rim Trail. It can be accessed from Spooner Summit or Kingsbury Grade. I opted for Spooner because the round trip was shorter.

I ran into people doing a one-way, which would have been ideal if I could have handled added mileage. That would have required asking a friend to join me. On this day I wanted to enjoy Mother Nature on my own, going at my own pace.

I find out-and-backs interesting because terrain seldom looks the same going in both directions, so no biggie not to do a one-way.

Playing peek-a-boo with a bear. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

So expansive are the views of Lake Tahoe it’s almost like you can see all of the shores.

Glimpses of the lake come into view quickly, but the best is right before The Bench. In fact, The Bench doesn’t have the best scenery—it’s super good—but even better is before you reach it—at least from the Spooner side.

At one point it was like walking through a miniature Christmas tree farm. It made me wonder why the U.S. Forest Service doesn’t thin these pines before they grow so large they come a firefighters’ nightmare.

Even when Lake Tahoe isn’t in view, the scenery is beautiful. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Much of the trail is compact dirt with some forest duff. There are rocky spots, but nothing horrible—as in it never crossed my mind to pull the poles out of my pack.

The destination is an actual bench. Two plaques are on the wooden bench that was erected by Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe. The bench was installed in 1988 by the service club in memory of Malcolm Winans. The other says: “Dedicated to the memory of George Wilson for 44 years of outstanding service” to the service club, dated 2008.

It was a mix of hikers and mountain bikers on the trail; all courteous as we shared this swath of Mother Nature doing our own thing.

While some of the foliage was changing color, especially at the trailhead, this isn’t one of those fall hikes where flora is the focus.

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Deets:

• From the South Shore, Spooner South trailhead is on the right side of Highway 50. It’s at the top of Spooner Summit just past the intersection of Highway 28.
• The steepest section is at the start.
• You’ll cross a dirt road. Just keep an eye out for TRT signs.
• TRTA rates this hike as moderate.