Gefo Lake Falls

Location

Gefo Lake Falls: 38.8413 N, 120.1433 W

Upper Gefo Lake Falls: 38.8415 N, 120.1450 W

USGS Topo: Pyramid Peak

Directions

From the US-50/CA-89 intersection south of Lake Tahoe follow US-50 to the southwest for ~10.8 miles and turn right into the trailhead parking lot. In 2011, there was a $5 day-use fee to park here. To avoid this fee you can park off of either side of the highway (where permitted) near the parking lot. The so-called trail begins off the northeastern side of the parking lot. I say this because despite receiving $5 per car in a popular day-use area, the trailmarkers are virtually non-existant after only a few tenths of a mile. As many reviewers of this hike repeat, as long as you keep the creek on your right and Horsetail Falls in front of you, you'll be "fine". This is true, however, there are many places where you can end up in a dead-end of manzanita brush. My best advice to give is to stay close to the creek as possible. The base of Horsetail Falls is reached after ~1.5 miles. After scrambling up the western side of the creek to the top of Horsetail Falls (~1.9 miles) continue on towards Pitt Lake and then Ropi Lake. The southeastern end of Ropi Lake is reached ~2.7 miles from the trailhead. Although I haven't personally seen the waterfall up close (I saw it from the viewpoint described for Ropi Lake Falls), I would imagine that from here you could walk west skirting the shore of Ropi Lake and Toem Lake and somewhere climbing the ridge up to Gefo Lake before heading to the western side of the lake to approach the waterfalls.

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