Segment 5: Kingsbury Grade to Big Meadow

Segment Length: 23.3 Miles

Start Elevation: 7,520 ft.

End Elevation: 7,300 ft.

High Point: 10,000+ ft. (shoulder of Freel Peak) 

Mileage sign at the Kingsbury Trail Head.

  At 23 miles and some change, this segment from Kingsbury Grade to Big Meadow was another beast of a run. The trail starts at the bottom of the Stagecoach Express chair at Heavenly and proceeds to climb straight to the top of the resort. You pass 9,000 ft. elevation right out of the gate on this segment and you stay there for 20 miles until you finally descend to Big Meadow at the end. Even though this is the longest segment I have run so far (by .1 miles) and it is well above 9,000 ft. for most of the distance, there are also consistent water sources which I have not had on my previous runs. After winding around the back of Heavenly Ski Resort, which is HUGE by the way, I reached my first creek that was flowing out of some stubborn snow fields. Learning from my runs from Brockway to Mt. Rose and Mt. Rose to Spooner, I forced myself to down about two liters of water before refilling my bottles and heading on my way. This turned out to be unnecessary as there were numerous other water sources, but I did notice a huge difference later in the run from staying so well hydrated. The trail climbs steadily for the first 5 miles to Monument Pass where the trail levels out and you finally get a break.

Job's Sister (Left) and Freel Peak (Right).

At the top of Monument Pass you get your first view of Freel Peak and Job's Sister. At 10,881 and 10,833 respectively, they are the two highest peaks in the entire Tahoe Basin. Even after 3 1/2 months of hot California summer there are still massive snow fields left over from last winter on both peaks.

Star Lake.

From Monument Pass the trail mellows out for about 4 miles before reaching Star Lake. Star Lake sits at the base of Job's Sister and is probably the most pristine lake that I have seen in the Sierra. Compared to the high lakes of the N. Cascades, a lot of the lakes that I have been to around here appear to be shallower and more stagnant. You also rarely see trout rising or swimming along the shore like you do at nearly every lake in the Cascade Range. However, it didn't take me more than 10 seconds upon reaching Star Lake to spot a nice size brown trout cruising past the logs at the outflow stream. I took a break at Star to drink some water and relax, and saw trout rising all over the lake in the middle of the day. I didn't see any larger than about 12 inches cruising in the shallows, but based on some of the splashes I saw out in the middle I have a feeling there are some nice ones in there. I am pretty excited to have found a nice fishing lake and I am definitely planning on heading back there with my fly rod and float tube this fall!

Freel Peak (10,881 ft.)

From Star Lake the trail climbs for a mile or two up to another pass at the base of Freel Peak. At slightly over 10,000 ft. in elevation this is the highest point on this segment and one of the highest points on the entire Tahoe Rim. After passing Freel Peak there are 10.5 miles of gradual climbs and descents through dense forests and in and out of meadows. This stretch of trail wasn't particularly strenuous but it was tedious and it felt like it went by in slow motion. On the other hand my legs felt great and I didn't feel at all dehydrated like I have on a couple of the other runs.

The last 2 miles descend steeply, dropping more than 2,000 feet in elevation to the Big Meadow Trail Head. This final 2 mile stretch is some of the most amazing single track mountain biking that I have ever seen, and I passed no fewer than 20 bikers hiking their bikes up the hill to enjoy the 2,000 vertical on the way down. I reached the Big Meadow Trail Head at 5 PM, and with plenty of time to catch a ride back to my car I figured my adventure for the day was over. I couldn't have been more wrong...


Big Meadow is off of Highway 89, a steep, narrow, two-lane highway with no shoulder. To add to the difficulty of trying to hitch a ride on a narrow mountain road with no shoulder, a car would only pass me once every 5 minutes or so. After an hour and a half, with the sun going down, I finally got two guys in their work truck to pick me up. They were heading to Sacramento and could only take me as far as the junction of Hwy 89 and Hwy 50 where they dropped me off. At this point I was happy to be out of the mountains but I wasn't out of the woods. With almost no daylight remaining I got a ride with another guy that could only take me to within a few miles of South Lake. This was great except for the fact that they were doing shoulder work and replacing the sidewalks from there all the way through South Lake. With no light and no place to hitch a ride I ended up having to walk 6 miles through all of S. Lake Tahoe to the bottom of Kingsbury Grade. Refusing to hike another 6 miles and 2,000 vertical feet to the top of Kingsbury, I posted up on the corner and waited for another 30 minutes before someone was willing to pick me up in the dark. After all was said and done I finally made it back to my car at 10:30 PM. As is turns out, running is the easy part!


Thanks to everyone that gave me a ride. Especially Evan, who picked me up in the dark and took me to my car. I hope you enjoy the 6-pack of Mirror Pond.