Ropi Lake Falls

Location

Ropi Lake Falls: 38.8432 N, 120.1289 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. Cross the two dams on Ropi Lake (both with a tree trunk through them) and skirt the southeastern and eastern shore of the lake finally making your way north to where Pyramid Creek enters the lake (~3.1 miles from the trailhead. There was still a lot of snow here when I did the hike, so I don't know if there's a trail here. At the base of the waterfall I found that the best viewpoint was on top of a little rise to the west. However, this meant crossing the creek. Luckily for me there was a large snow drift over a section of the creek that allowed me to get to this small rise (not a good idea if the snow is too thin). Later in the summer, I'm not sure where or if there is a safe creek crossing while the creek is flowing more than a trickle. Also from this small rise I was able to get a glimpse of Pyramid Lake Falls, Toem Lake Falls, Gefo Lake Falls, and Upper Gefo Lake Falls.

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