4 miles
Distance
192 ft
Climb
-1,572 ft
Descent
00:35:34
Avg time
Trail Supporters, Builders & Maintainers of Christmas Valley Trail

Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
    • Horse
  • Riding Area
    South Lake Tahoe
    , California
  • Ref Number
    #18E05
  • AKA
    Lake Valley Trail, Meiss Meadow/Round Lake Trail
  • Difficulty Rating
    Black Diamond rate
  • Hiking SAC Scale
    T2 Mountain Hiking
  • Trail Type
    Singletrack
  • Bike Type
    AM, XC, Fat
  • Trail Usage
    Multi-use
  • Direction
    Both Directions
    Popular direction shown
  • Climb Difficulty
    Black Diamond
  • Physical Rating
    Hard
  • Trail Visibility
    Always easy to follow
  • Season
    May-November
  • Alpine Trail
    Yes
  • Dogs Allowed
    Yes
  • eBike Allowed
    No
  • TTFs on Trail
    Log Ride, Rock Garden
  • Global Ranking
    #9444 in Mountain Biking
  • Local Popularity
    85 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 5 in Trail Running
    • 60 in Hiking
    • 5 in Horseback

This is a quintessential Tahoe trail--rocky, periodically technical, and remote. The trail gets its name from the adjacent residential community and parallels a branch of the Upper Truckee River through mature pine forest except for a middle burn section. As a downhill trail it is fast, but punctuated with frequent stairs, tight turns, and rock gardens. For the more adventurous, the climb is a consistent but manageable slope with relentless small rock features. Those who conquer the length of trail are rewarded by two sublime alpine lakes. The first is shy of the Tahoe Rim Trail junction off a westward spur to Dardanelles Lake. The second is Round Lake another 0.7 miles south on the TRT.

To ride this trail as a loop, continue on South Upper Truckee up the steep switchbacks to SR-89. Cross SR-89 and continue on the forest access road 1.1 miles to the Big Meadow trailhead.

Access Info

The lower trailhead is off South Upper Truckee Rd just before the road climbs very steeply to SR-89. The trail terminates into the Tahoe Rim Trail near Round Lake. To access the upper end of the trail, park at the TRT Big Meadow Trailhead and follow the TRT 2.2 miles south through Big Meadow. At the bottom of the only switchback descent, the CVT takes off to the north (right turn).

Local Trail Association
More Stats for Christmas Valley Trail bike trail
  • Altitude change
    -1,378 ft
  • Altitude min
    6,545 ft
  • Altitude max
    7,938 ft
  • Altitude start
    7,938 ft
  • Altitude end
    6,558 ft
  • Grade
    -6.4%
  • Grade max
    -46.6%
  • Grade min
    33%
  • Distance climb
    2,851 ft
  • Distance down
    3 miles
  • Distance flat
    2,976 ft
  • Avg time
    00:35:34
  • Avg reverse time
    01:01:00
  • view trail stats
Status:
on May 28, 2020
Dry
Avg: 4.8 (16 votes)

view (518)
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  • Layers  w
  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Ridden Direction
Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
  • > 96%
  • > 90%
  • > 80%
  • > 70%
  • > 50%
  • < 50%
Trail Last Ridden
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.
  • < 2 days
  • < 1 week
  • < 2 weeks
  • < 1 month
  • < 6 months
  • > 6 months
Trail Ridden Direction
The intended direction a trail should be ridden.
  • Downhill Only
  • Downhill Primary
  • Both Directions
  • Uphill Primary
  • Uphill Only
  • One Direction
ContributeDetails
Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.
  • Description
  • Photos
  • Description & Photos
  • Videos
Trail Popularity ?
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.
  • most popular
  • popular
  • less popular
  • not popular
ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches

LEGEND
Trail Difficulties
  • Access Road/Trail
  • White
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Black
  • Double Black Diamond

Trail Report Status
  • Clear / Green
  • Minor Issue / Yellow
  • Significant Issue / Amber
  • Closed

  • Land Owner Overlay
  • Wilderness (typically no bikes in USA)
  • BLM (public)
  • USFS (Wildlife sanctuaries darker than usfs)
  • State land
  • Indigenous
  • Military
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
  • Map Markers
  • trail Trail Head
  • photo Photo
  • place Directory Listing
  • region Riding Area
  • TTF TTF
  • Parking Parking
  • Viewpoint Viewpoint
  • Information Information
  • Warning Warning
  • Directions Directions
  • Sight Sight
  • Restrooms Restrooms
  • eBike Charging Point eBike Charging Point
  • Water Fountain/Source Water Fountain/Source
  • Gate Gate
  • Trail Sign Trail Sign
  • Table or Bench Table or Bench
  • Ladder Ladder
  • Stairs Stairs
  • Bridge Bridge
  • Camping Camping
  • Cabin Cabin
  • Lodge Lodge
  • Bear Cache Bear Cache
  • Dock Dock
  • Ranger Station Ranger Station
  • Summit Summit
  • Other Other
      Directions to christmas-valley-trail trailhead (38.760190, -120.003400)
      update trails status or condition

      Christmas Valley... Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      May 28, 2020 @ 7:07pm
      May 28, 2020
      		 Clear of trees and snow. There were two "creek" crossing both rideable if you wanted to.
      May 26, 2020 @ 3:02pm
      May 26, 2020
      		 Trail basically clear as of Friday. Wet in the meadow.
      May 16, 2020 @ 4:23pm
      May 16, 2020
      Feb 4, 2020 @ 12:56pm
      Feb 4, 2020
      		 reporter
      Feb 4, 2020 @ 12:46pm
      Feb 4, 2020
      		 reporter
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 10 rides
      • 15 miles avg distance
      6 Months
      • 138 rides
      • 15 miles avg distance
      All
      • 271 rides
      •  

      Photos

      more »
      7 |
      Jul 18, 2020 @ 5:52pm
      Jul 18, 2020
      10 |
      Jul 13, 2020 @ 8:00am
      Jul 13, 2020
      100 |
      Aug 13, 2018 @ 7:31pm
      Aug 13, 2018
      174 |
      Mar 20, 2017 @ 11:23pm
      Mar 20, 2017

      Routes with this trail

      titleratingdistance
      TAMBA Triple Crown - Freel Meadows to Armstrong Bypass
      		25 miles
      Tahoe Triple Crown
      		25 miles
      Christmas Valley to Toads
      		21 miles

      5 Reviews & Comments

      • + 1
      flag emilita (Aug 7, 2018 at 15:42)
       We had a blast riding this trail, laughing all the way down. Trail varies from techy to flowy and offers a few truly stunning views. Really makes the most of the four miles. Added on an out and back to Scott Lake and an out and back to Round Lake before descending CV and it made for a really great day.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      flag mtbingadventures (Aug 13, 2018 at 15:39)
       You can get going really fast down this trail even though it has lots of technical rocky sections. It seems to just have that natural fun downhill factor. I love doing this trail every year.
      [Reply]
      • + 1
      flag roaminghazard (Oct 16, 2019 at 10:44)
       This trail is an A+ mix of flow, low speed and high speed rock garden jank and steps. Extremely fun as a DH ride.
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      flag agarbalosa (May 22, 2020 at 23:16)
       Running great at low elevation but several snow patches to go thru as you enter the valley
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      flag astopeck12 (Jul 28, 2020 at 18:40)
       The ideal loop is to ride up from Big Meadows. Riding up Christmas Valley would be for most mortals, a hike a bike.
      [Reply]

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