Hawley Grade in South Lake Tahoe: Waterfalls and History All In One Hike

There are many trails one can choose to hike in South Lake Tahoe, but how many actually have waterfalls and a 160 year old history behind them?

Spring has arrived in the Sierras which means it's time to get out and explore the local waterfalls. Due to the low snowpack this winter the falls won't be around as long as normal. My daughter and I decided to get in an aftershool hike this week on the Hawley National Recreational Trail.

Once you park near the Forest Service gate, you'll find the beginning of the hike pretty flat as it leads you past several summer cabins. You'll hear the rushing of the water of the Truckee River after about 1/2 mile of walking, and you can get off the path to see it. The trail then heads up hill towards Echo Summit. We hiked uphill for about 30 minutes, thinking we're just going away from the water and waterfalls, when we went around a corner and were very pleasantly surprised by a waterfall. It crosses over the trail so we didn't go any further, but once the water slows down in summer this should be easy to do.

The full Hawley Trail goes across this waterfall and ends up at Highway 50 at the top of Echo Summit. You can also access it from that end, and hike down.

The trail isn't very wide so while we're walking along we wondered how wagons once made it, let alone a horse. In the 1860's, when in use, it was wider to accommodate all that passed.

The History

Asa Hawley established a trading post in Lake Valley in 1854 near the Upper Truckee River wall that became known as Hawley's Hill. Construction began for a wagon road as the grade was gentle enough to safely travel, unlike the existing Carson Grade, where block and tackle had to be used to get the wagons over into Lake Valley. The new route was completed in 1857 and further improvements were done by El Dorado and Sacramento counties. Hawley's Grade was, for a short time, the route to take. Built to convey miners and the like to the Mother Lode country, the Hawley Grade was a reverse route as well when the 1859 discovery of silver happened in Nevada territory. As the Hawley Grade's purpose was to bypass the steeper road, so the Hawley Grade was itself bypassed in favor of an even shorter path, the wagon-and-stage toll road down Meyers Grade (today's highway 50), completed in 1860.

The Grade was used for the Pony Express from 1860-61 and along the walk you'll see the historical markers that mark the spot where the Lake Valley House stood. This was a station for Pony Express riders.

How to get there: From South Lake Tahoe, head to Meyers on Highway 50. Turn left on South Upper Truckee and drive past the historic Celio Ranch to the end of the road. You'll see a Hawley National Trail sign and a closed Forest Service road. Park on the side of the South Upper Truckee.

What to wear: My daughter had flip flops on, and I had my Tevas...it is recommended to wear stronger shoes because of the dirt and rocks along the trail. It was a last minute decision to hike...at least we had a bottle of water!