Mount Tallac

Lies close to the southwest edge of Lake Tahoe in the Desolation Wilderness.
A "cross of snow" is clearly visible on the mountain's face during the winter and spring months.
Of the several trails leading to the summit, the Mount Tallac trailhead is the most-frequented. This 5-mile one-way trail has an elevation gain of 3,250 feet. The trail takes hikers past Floating Island Lake and Cathedral Lake on their way to the summit.
On the southern side, next to Lilly Lake, is Glen Alpine trailhead. While a slightly longer route to the summit, (5.7 miles), this trail brings hikers to Gilmore Lake at 8,300 ft, only 1,400 feet below Tallac's summit.
A popular backcountry skiing peak.

Routes

Mount Tallac Trail (1-way)

33 summits • 5.2 mi • 3,228 ft gain • 6 hr 22 min

Tallac Trail Head to scree pile up.

8 summits • 11.9 mi • 3,326 ft gain • 3 hr 35 min

Cathedral Lake Trail

1 summit • 9.8 mi • 3,182 ft gain • 6 hr 25 min

Mount Tallac 12.7 mi route

1 summit • 12.7 mi • 3,029 ft gain • 5 hr 48 min

Mount Tallac 12.8 mi route

1 summit • 12.8 mi • 3,092 ft gain • 6 hr 18 min

Mount Tallac 7.7 mi route

1 summit • 7.7 mi • 3,403 ft gain • 7 hr 41 min

Mount Tallac Trail

1 summit • 7.6 mi • 2,890 ft gain • 8 hr 5 min

Latest summits

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"Backpacked with group of friends, and talked them into this peak. We dropped our packs at the fork and hiked up to the peak, before dropping down to our overnight destination. The trail is nice, but has a lot of loose rock at the top. Would prob choose a day trip or access from the other side, before a backpacking attempt. The view from the top, definitely worth it! " — colleenmarie512 • Jul 22, 2021

"Sharon and I hiking one her favs around the lake. First climbed as a young child. Nice clear day allowing for great views. Could see the wildfire smoke rising behind the Heavenly area." — Nimblefoot • Jul 22, 2021

"What a gorgeous hike! We were in town for Amber's sister's 50th birthday. After everyone else left, we stayed a couple of extra days to do some hiking. This is one of the most scenic hikes I've been on recently! If only the temps were a little lower." — Kevin • Jun 27, 2021

"Full moon? Then why not start out at 3am? Saw unbelievable sunrise and had summit to ourselves to soak in views of Tahoe and Desolation. We were all pretty happy to be coming down as temps heated up late morning. " — juliemoore • Sep 3, 2020

"What an incredible hike. Long and hot and long and hot. Outstanding views of the Desolation Wilderness and Tahoe. Could not see the smoke from the Gardnerville fire. Did the Tallac route past Cathedral Lake and up. Many people on the trail . Great day. " — puddlepirate • Jul 9, 2020

"Hiked in on the new Tallac trail. Beautiful views of Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe. Floating Island Lake and Cathedral Lake were pretty, too. You can see Pyramid, Price, and Agassi peaks to the west and Freel Peak to the east. Nice view of Emerald Bay State Park as well. Plenty of lakes to filter water, but it’s a short hike so you should not need to do so. It’s pretty rocky, but most of the trail has larger, less movable rocks so it was not that bad. Definitely worth doing because the views were amazing. Did not find a summit box to sign or a peak marker. The trailhead was full when we got there at 9 am. We had to park along the road. " — runningvegan • Sep 23, 2018

"somewhat difficult, but fun trail to follow to the summit. Passed two lakes to filter our water, bouldered up the south flank of the mountain, and was greeted by a friendly marmot at the summit! The only downside was the impenetrable cloud of haze covering all of Tahoe. :(" — sklarguy • Aug 9, 2018

"I had climbed Mt. Shasta and Lassen Peak, the main objectives on my tour of NorCal. Being done in the southern Cascades for the time being, I drove down to the east side of the Sierra Crest. Friday was to be a crappy weather day, so I set my sights on the relatively safe objective of Mt. Tallac. The trail up the cirque was snow covered, so I climbed talus up the right side of the cirque to the summit plateau. At this point, the cloud ceiling dropped and visibility became fairly low, but navigating to and from the summit was straightforward. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to enjoy the fantastic views of the lake due to the fog. A few other hardy hikers made it to the summit, but most of the unprepared Tahoe masses were turning around somewhere before the snowline." — klotito • May 25, 2018

"Started about 9:30am from Trailhead, arrived Summit ~1:30pm, 4 hours for ~ 5 miles with stop at Floating Island Lake and Cathedral Lake for morning lake reflection. Met some hikers started 5:00am, she may back to TH about 10:15am, 7:00am, 7:30am arrived summit about 15 minutes later than me, 8:00am, 10:00pm on the way from Sacramento (started from Sac ~7:30am) arrived summit a little bit earlier than me. One hiker submitted in 2 hours and 12 minutes, almost half of my timing. Back to Trailhead about 5:15pm after ~1 hours on the summit." — keung • Aug 27, 2017

"With NorCal Women Adventurers. There is still snow in the bowl, most people were going up the edge of the snow in just shoes. I brought microspikes just in case but ended up going up the talus on the side of the snow for the first half, then going up the snow when it got a little wider. There is some more snow coverage past the bowl that obscures good portions of the trail. But if you have a map (and can see the summit, really) you can get there pretty easily. Took us about 3.5 hours to get to the summit, about three hours down. Went through 4L of liquid, warm day! Views were pretty great, you can see Desolation is still pretty socked in. Saw a marmot, ground squirrels, and a hawk dive-bombing an eagle in a tree." — kaylam87 • Jul 8, 2017