Taylor Creek’s Surprise
By Victoria Beninga
During a camping trip to South Lake Tahoe with friends the week before the fire last year, our friends took us to a remarkable place. It was built in 1968, and in all my years of visiting South Lake Tahoe, I had never heard of it. All of us grownups and our children absolutely loved it, it’s free, and fortunately it was not damaged by the fire.
Did you know that Lake Tahoe has enough water in it to cover the state of California with 14 inches of water? Did you know that Lake Tahoe has 63 streams running into it? One of these streams is named Taylor Creek. The Taylor Creek Visitors Center is located on the lake side of Highway 89 three miles north of South Lake Tahoe. There is a trail to the left of the Visitors Center called the Rainbow Trail, and if you take a walk on this trail along Taylor Creek, you get a nice surprise.
The Rainbow Trail at elevation 6,300 feet elevation is a very easy ½-mile walk. There are facts about Taylor Creek posted along the way. For example, Taylor Creek contributes clean water to Lake Tahoe because of the creek’s combinations of forest, meadow, marsh, stream, and sand beach. On your walk, you can relax on benches with carvings of coyotes, birds, fish, beavers, and bears.
First you come to an observation deck where you can see Mt. Tallac towering in the distance with its summit at 9,735 feet. Because of the way the roads are built, the snow on the mountain was in the shape of a huge cross.
After you admire the view, you continue on the trail that takes you through a serene aspen forest. Next you pass over a marshland. Butterflies are everywhere. After that, you walk over Taylor Creek on a wooden bridge. The children were excited to see a rainbow trout in the creek that was about 18 inches long and weighed about two pounds. They also admired lots of cute little baby fish swimming upstream, wiggling their little tails as fast as they could. Now you are almost to the surprise.
Next you come to a man-made rock wall lining a ramp that you walk down until you are underground. At bottom of the ramp, you walk into something totally unexpected: a room that looks like an aquarium. The first thing you see is a 12-foot high clear wall that allows you to see into the stream. You can see above the stream, the water line, and below the stream. There are fish contained behind the wall, and the stream is free-flowing, so you can see the fish actually swimming in the moving stream. This room is called the Taylor Creek Stream Profile Chamber.
There is also a replica of a stream habitat. A mural around the room shows what the area looks like during all four seasons. The children and adults have fun finding the hidden creatures. For example, you can look into a cave and see bats hanging upside down or look into a hole in a tree and see a frog. There are many more hidden creatures to find. This room is very child-friendly. The children get very excited at seeing fish underwater, and can touch everything as they explore the stream habitat replica.
There are no pets, food, drink, bikes, or roller blades allowed in the Stream Profile Chamber. There is a donation box if you want to donate to the upkeep of the Stream Profile Chamber.
Once you have finished exploring the Stream Profile Chamber, you are ready for your walk back to the beginning of the Rainbow Trail. There is an area that has some functioning snow data equipment. One piece of equipment is the Snotel, which helps predict the annual water supply.
There is an area where you can jump on squishy land to see if air bubbles appear in the water. The kids tried it, and it looked like so much fun that I decided to try. When I jumped, our friend said, "Wow, an earthquake. It was 7.0." I didn’t hit him because he was the one who told us about the Stream Profile Chamber.
There are other trails at the Taylor Creek Visitors Center. You can walk on the Tallac Historic Site Trail, Lake of the Sky Trail, and Smokey’s Trail. They also offer presentations in the Lake of the Sky Amphitheater, as well as other children and family programs.
For more information on the Taylor Creek Visitors Center and the Taylor Creek Stream Profile Chamber, call (530) 543-2674 or go to go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/recreation/visitor-center/.
Photos courtesy of US Forest Service - Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU)
Ó Victoria Beninga 2008