Tahoe Rim Trail. Tim Hauserman

your backpack, or make any sudden moves until the horses have passed. While you are stopped, waiting for a horse to go by, it may seem perfectly fine to take off a shirt or rearrange things. As far as the horse is concerned, your movement and changed appearance may add to its feelings of being threatened.

      Most horseback riders will move off the trail when it is easy for them to do so. They don’t expect hikers and bike riders to give way all the time, particularly when the trail is especially narrow or precarious. However, it is the job of bike riders and hikers to step to the side first, and it is important to have a basic understanding of horse and rider psychology in order to be a conscientious sharer of the trail.

       Tim’s Quick Tips for How to Be an Inconsiderate Backcountry Blockhead

       Make a lot of noise.

       While people are relaxing and enjoying the quiet at a mountain lake, yell at your friends on the other side.

       Let your dogs bark; when they take a swim, let them shake off on people you don’t know.

       While you are walking along on the trail, talk loudly so that everyone within a half mile can hear you.

       If you are camping, make lots of noise late at night and again early in the morning. When you are in the quiet woods, it’s party time!

       Loud stereos especially appeal to your average nature lover.

       Camp or sit close to other people. When you encounter a solitary person at a beautiful mountain lake, they obviously need some companionship and nonstop chatter.

       Don’t worry about your garbage; someone else will pick it up. Anyway, it should biodegrade in a couple thousand years. Leave things in your campsite so that everyone knows you were there. It’s a way to mark the good spots.

       Stay on the trail in people’s way when they are trying to get by. If people are riding up a hill, stand in their way so that they have to get off their bikes; they will enjoy struggling to get back in their pedals on a steep hill.

       When you are walking or riding along the trail, ignore someone else who wants to pass. What’s the hurry?

       Wash your dishes and clean your fish in streams and lakes. Fish thrive on detergent and consider bits of processed cheese great delicacies.

       Feed the animals. That way you help train them to get food from the next hiker who comes along. Backpackers get to practice the art of keeping animals out of their packs in the middle of the night. You can train some chipmunks and squirrels so well that they will practically jump into your lap to get a snack. While they can carry bubonic plague, the risk is a small price for well-trained squirrels.

       Leaving food out at night for bears is even more fun. The sound of a bear rampaging through your camp gives you a better rush than a double espresso.

      4 Weather, Water, and When to Go

      Some basic knowledge about the weather and water availability in the Lake Tahoe area and along its Rim Trail will help you plan a safe and enjoyable trip. All outdoor recreational activities in the Sierra are greatly affected by weather conditions. Of particular relevance is how much precipitation, usually in the form of snow, occurred the previous winter. Sierra Nevada winters come in a wide variety of sizes and time frames. In some years, it begins to snow in October and doesn’t stop until June. After a year like that, hiking on dry land is out of the question until the middle of July in most areas. The following winter may not see snow until late January and then make up for it by dropping a lot of snow through May (a great year for late fall hiking). One season might have early heavy snow, followed by light snow, and then warm temperatures after February: This seasonal shift bodes well for those who want to get into the woods early to enjoy great wildflower displays and decent water availability.

Snowpack

      The areas of highest elevation around Lake Tahoe often receive more than 600 inches of snow annually. Several factors determine whether the place you want to go will be out of the snow in the spring or summer, and some general rules govern the area’s snowpack. Winter storms arrive primarily from the west, leaving lots of snow near the Sierra Crest. There is less snow as you travel farther east from the mountaintops. The west side of Lake Tahoe gets considerably more snow than the east does. (The east shore gets about 30 percent less snow on average at the same elevations as the west shore.)

      Cross-country skiing near the TRT

      Elevation

      The amount of snow is greatly determined by elevation. As cold air lifts and passes over higher terrain, the likelihood and amount of precipitation increase. Storms progress across landforms, and temperatures drop as you go up in elevation; the higher you go, the more likely it is that the precipitation will be snow. Over the course of a season, high elevations receive considerably more snow than lower elevations.

      Which Way the Mountain Faces

      Snow melts at different rates depending on which direction the mountain is facing and which side of the mountain you are on; north-facing slopes get less sun and stay cooler, which means that the snow melts more slowly. The difference between the snowpack on a north- or south-facing slope can be quite surprising; it is not unusual to see five feet of snow on a north-facing slope, while on the south-facing slope the ground is bare and wildflowers are coming up.

      Trail Use Tip

      Early in the season, your best bet for a hike or ride is close to the lake or in the Truckee area (lower elevations and in the lee of the mountains), on the east side of the lake (Carson Range), and at lower elevations. As the season progresses, different areas become available for snow-free travel, moving from east to west, and south-facing to north-facing.

      Although the difference between north and south is more pronounced, east-facing slopes are also cooler and have more snow than west-facing slopes. A classic example in the Tahoe area of the north-south difference is Emerald Bay. The Vikingsholm Trail and the trail along Emerald Bay to Emerald Point on the south-facing side of the bay are free of snow in most years at least one month before the trails on the north-facing side of the bay.

      Lee of the Mountains: Away from the Wind and the Rain

      The farther east you travel away from the western face of the mountains, the less likely it becomes that snow will fall. The mountains block and capture the snow and rain, leaving little moisture for the areas to the east. Consequently, the area around Serene Lakes on Donner Summit gets more snow than almost anywhere else in the United States, while just 40 miles to the east, and behind several mountains, Reno frequently