Trail Review by Briana Jaskot
6 miles. 1,300 ft. of elevation in the Loop. Located off of Veterans Parkway in Hidden Valley.
Steep climbs, colorful hills and snow free spring trails!
This loop is a great local option to get some early season climbing back in the legs! Most everyone is familiar with the 3ish mile lower loop at Hidden Valley park. But there is a great network of trails just up the hill that offer stunning views of Reno/Mt Rose and some fantastic desert single track! This loop is pretty exposed with very little tree cover, which is why it melt’s out & dry’s out so early in the season. No matter which way you decide to go (Clockwise or CCW) the climbing is steep and takes place in the first 3 miles. If you need to add on a few more miles, once at the top of the climb there are several different trail directions and options to choose from. A perfect 9 miler could be this loop, plus the lower Hidden Valley loop!
Exposed trails that melt out & dry out fast after a storm. Best time to run: fall, early spring when the higher up trails are still snowy/icy/muddy. Terrain is hard packed dirt with a couple of slick sections of loose dirt.
2 Comments
we hike the trails in the Tahoe basin. Early spring we’re still post holing so we decided to check out this HV upper loop. We did, and loved it!! Def steeps both up and down. Views of Rosie amazing! Horses here and there. Perfect weather; only a few peeps, and no litter! Thanks for the write up. btw, where is this road in the second photo? I recently bought mid Altras at RRC because I couldn’t find them in my size anywhere else. It’s my third pair of Lone Peaks! Training for a thru hike late summer.
We are glad you liked it! It is a great area. My apologies about the confusing photo. That last picture was from Death Valley and is in fact not in Hidden Valley (good eye on your part!). It was taken by the Cottonwood Canyon Trailhead parking in Death Valley. I threw it in the mix by accident. That was my mistake (not Bri’s). -Joseph