Bicyclists traveling between Tahoe City and Squaw Valley this spring may need to find an alternative route. That's because water traveling out of Lake Tahoe and down the Truckee River has flooded parts of the bike and pedestrian trail along California Route 89.
Residents and visitors rejoiced when Lake Tahoe's snowfall totals hit levels not seen in years, but this summer the impacts of those storms will continue to be seen as the ice melts and the Truckee River continues to rise.
"There are ducks swimming down the bike trail," Tahoe City Public Utility District spokesman Kurt Althof said. "There was literally a duck going down the bike trail this morning."
The amount of water being spilled from Lake Tahoe was increased April 26 to 2,000 cubic feet per second from 1600. Those figures pale in comparison to the amount of water entering the lake as temperatures warm and snow begins to melt, but the impact downstream is evident.
Althof said sections of the bike path are currently submerged in anywhere from 6 to 10 inches of water, and will likely remain that way for some time. "The bike trail is useable, but you certainly can't go from Squaw Valley to Tahoe City," he said. "There are probably 4 or 5 locations where the trail is underwater."
Althof said another challenge with maintaining the bike paths this year is that a lot of snow pushed off of the road by snowplows ended up on or near the adjacent bike path.
"The Fanny Bridge project is getting underway in a month, so it certainly would have been nice to have that option for pedestrians and bicyclists," he said.
The large amount of snowfall the region experienced this year has other impacts on summer recreation as well.
To see the complete article and more pictures in the Tahoe Daily Tribune newspaper, CLICK HERE.
Residents and visitors rejoiced when Lake Tahoe's snowfall totals hit levels not seen in years, but this summer the impacts of those storms will continue to be seen as the ice melts and the Truckee River continues to rise.
"There are ducks swimming down the bike trail," Tahoe City Public Utility District spokesman Kurt Althof said. "There was literally a duck going down the bike trail this morning."
The amount of water being spilled from Lake Tahoe was increased April 26 to 2,000 cubic feet per second from 1600. Those figures pale in comparison to the amount of water entering the lake as temperatures warm and snow begins to melt, but the impact downstream is evident.
Althof said sections of the bike path are currently submerged in anywhere from 6 to 10 inches of water, and will likely remain that way for some time. "The bike trail is useable, but you certainly can't go from Squaw Valley to Tahoe City," he said. "There are probably 4 or 5 locations where the trail is underwater."
Althof said another challenge with maintaining the bike paths this year is that a lot of snow pushed off of the road by snowplows ended up on or near the adjacent bike path.
"The Fanny Bridge project is getting underway in a month, so it certainly would have been nice to have that option for pedestrians and bicyclists," he said.
The large amount of snowfall the region experienced this year has other impacts on summer recreation as well.
To see the complete article and more pictures in the Tahoe Daily Tribune newspaper, CLICK HERE.
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