- This time I'm taking historic Gold Rush routes up into the Sierra for some brand new scenic adventures.

It's all coming up right now on "Wild Nevada."

- [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] And by Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark and Susan Herron, in memory of Sue McDowell, Lloyd Rogers and Gaia Brown, Stanley and Neila Shumaker, and by individual members.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Chris Orr, and I'm starting this trip in between the communities of Genoa and Gardnerville at the base of Kingsbury grade.

It's a route that a lot of people know for its access to Lake Tahoe, but it's got a long history on its own, and it's the perfect place to start a trip about historic routes and the adventures they provide.

(upbeat music) At the Kingsbury Grade Historic Marker, I meet Dennis Little.

Dennis, thanks for meeting me out here.

- Oh my pleasure.

- You know, I've driven Kingsbury Grade a dozen times, well, a dozen times every year, but I feel like I don't understand the story of it, and I didn't realize that actually Kingsbury has a lot of history.

- It certainly does.

It really is the heart of the development of the Carson Valley in a strange roundabout way.

- What is that history and how did the Carson Valley really build up around the Kingsbury story?

- Well, I think we need to go back even centuries before this with the Washoe Tribe.

The Kingsbury Trail was originally the migration route for the tribe to move to the lake in the summer and to return to the valley during the winter months.

So it has a history.

We have to credit the Washoe people as we weren't the first to create or claim it.

- People today think of it as a little bit of a challenging road when you're accessing Tahoe just because it's so steep and there's so many curves.

I imagine that that is even more challenging with wagons and some of the older methods of transportation.

- Definitely, it's child's play for the new Kingsbury Grade compared to what the early pioneers and settlers had to face.

Just a side note, it took two days to get up to the top in general before the road was developed.

- Really two days to access?

- Two days on foot with mule team and horses before they started improving the road.

- So how did it go from an indigenous trail to a gold rush trail?

- It wasn't really intended as a gold rush trail.

Most of the people seeking the gold country were going down the Carson Route, down 88 and up over the Carson Pass.

They had hawkers coming down and barkers saying don't be a fool.

Don't go down that road.

Come on up here.

It's shorter.

It's 50 miles shorter.

Reality, 15 miles, so a little creative advertising.

And with that, an interest developed.

Only mules and people on foot and perhaps a horse led by a person were up there.

This is 15 miles shorter.

Give them credit.

They weren't completely wrong.

However, when you look up, and the high is like and a zillion times higher.

- Yeah.

- Many of the wonderful pioneers had this vision of gold, fame, fortune, gonna strike it rich, when in reality they ended up working in the mills, in the mines, were day laborers and didn't strike it rich.

So we had the original Washoe Trail, and just about the time the road petered out, wasn't really, the gold rush was over.

It would've probably gone into obscurity, but something fun happened, the discovery of silver in Virginia City.

So all those brave pioneers and immigrants going up and over to the gold fields started coming down.

- You know, and it's really interesting because people that use Kingsbury Grade today, it's really more of a recreational route.

- [Dennis] Yeah.

- Because it is a little slower, it's a little curvier.

I know the cyclists love to use it, and it's interesting that 15 miles of extra steepness is still part of the flavor of even the modern Kingsbury.

- Yes, up until recent times, the very last segment to be improved by the state of Nevada was the very pass where we had two instant switchbacks that the locals just referred to as the "Oh No Curves."

So even in the modern times it was very, very exciting.

- It's great to know that the roads have stories.

- The roads have stories.

(upbeat music) - It's time to head up Kingsbury grade.

And though I've traveled it many times before, this time I have a new sense of its history.

(upbeat music) I've always thought that Kingsbury offers one of the most scenic and enjoyable approaches to Tahoe.

The windy route means that it's a slightly slower drive, which to me means it's easier to enjoy the views.

(upbeat music) (driving music) From Kingsbury Grade, I head south on Highway 50 for less than a mile before turning onto Lake Parkway, and then it's left into Van Sickle Bi-State Park.

The park straddles the border of California and Nevada, and as you enter the park, you can choose which side and which state you are visiting.

(upbeat music) I actually head into California to meet with Kevin Prior, the Land Division Director at the Tahoe Conservancy.

Well, Kevin, thanks for meeting me out here.

I've never been to this park.

This is new to me.

- Oh, really?

Well welcome to Van Sickle Bi-State Park.

We're one of the few Bi-State parks in the country here on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, and I look forward to showing you around.

- Well, should we go up the trail and take a look?

- Yeah, let's do it.

- [Chris] Okay.

(upbeat music) You know, it's amazing that you have kind of a rustic trail and mountain experience this close to the hotels.

- That's exactly right.

That's how we designed the park.

This was a commercial equestrian center before we bought it.

So a lot of these cabins were part of that whole equestrian center.

And so it really just kind of gives you that heritage feel.

It's got a gondola running through it.

I like to joke, it's our little European, you know, Swiss village up here because of all the.

- [Chris] Exactly.

- You know, access to the back country.

People who wanna mountain bike come to this park.

People who wanna hike come to this park.

(upbeat music) - [Chris] This is our view spot.

This is beautiful.

- [Kevin] Oh yeah, all of state line, and on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, you can see all the way across to the north shore of Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City and Palisades.

- So it's really a park that is shared 'cause you see both California and Nevada in the same park.

- Yeah, as a Land Manager, that's what kind of makes it unique.

We definitely share a lot of resources.

We rely on Nevada with their kind of expertise with state parks in Nevada, and it's been a great working relationship.

So the people that are backpacking through the rim trail, they can come on down.

There's access points from up on the ridge line down into the town.

- So it really acts as a hub for all kinds of recreation.

- It's a marquee spot here on the South shore that provides a lot ability of people to kind of see different things and experience different things.

- I'm excited to come back and get a little more trail time and see what you guys do in the future.

- We'd love to have you.

It's been nice talking with you, Chris.

- Thanks for bringing me up here.

On the Nevada side of the park, you can hike the Van Sickle Rim Connector.

This trail also offers great Tahoe views and in a little more than a mile a waterfall that is a popular destination.

If you feel like hiking a few more miles, and another two or so, this route connects you to the Tahoe Rim Trail, which of course opens up 165 plus mile long adventure for the more robust.

I don't have enough time left today for the TRT, but I'll certainly be back on it sometime soon.

Next morning I head across Lake Tahoe to Highway 89 to explore some of the area around the historic Henness Pass Road.

(dramatic music) Off of 89, I turn onto Bear Valley Road to access Jackson Meadow Road, where I meet Greyson Howard of the Truckee Donner Land Trust.

Well, Greyson, I don't think we could have picked a prettier spot to meet.

- Yeah, thank you for joining me here today.

We're on the Henness Pass Road overlooking Perazzo Meadow here.

This is another one of the Truckee Donner Land Trust projects in the Northern Sierra that helps protect wildlife habitat, watershed, and a little bit of our region's history.

So we acquired about 900 acres here in 2008.

Watershed Council was able to come in and create this kind of shape that you see now with pools and big ox bows, and that brings up the water table and brings back different plant life.

Snow pack has historically been a really important part of our water supply for Northern California and Northern Nevada, and so wet meadow systems, healthy meadow systems like this can store water a lot better than a damaged meadow system, so that we have cool clean water coming down out of these streams into our drinking water all summer long.

It doesn't dry out too quickly.

- And even though this is a restoration area, this is available for recreation and exploration, isn't it?

- Absolutely, all of the land trust properties are open to the public.

We have a small loop trail down in the meadow for people to explore, and then from there there's also trail that climbs Mount Lola, which is the highest peak here in Nevada County.

- It's a peak I haven't had, so I think I'm gonna have to do that later today.

Should we get going?

- Sounds great.

(upbeat music) - [Chris] We continue west on Jackson Meadows Road for a few more miles until we reach the sign for Webber Lake.

Then in about a quarter of a mile, we make a right and continue for just another half a mile before we see the signs for Webber Lake and the Lacey Meadows campground and day use area.

(upbeat music) So this is Webber Lake?

- Yeah, this is Webber Lake, and we're standing in front of the historic Webber Lake Hotel.

This was built in 1860 by Dr.

Webber as one of the original stops of the wagon route that came over the Sierra.

Kind of interesting to think about this point in history.

There was 24 hour, seven days a week wagon traffic coming through here.

People are staying at this hotel every night on their way to California and the gold country.

So kinda a cool piece of history here in the Northern Sierra.

- You know, and it's interesting because of course people aren't using that path to access the gold country as often anymore, but it's now opening up places like this.

- Yeah, it's transformed over the years, as you can imagine.

Once the railroad was built, then this became a much less important place for people coming to California, and then it became more of a retreat and a vacation spot.

So people came here to go fishing, hunting, hiking, and you know, famous guests like Clara Barton who founded the Red Cross here, and some famous painters over the years that all stayed here at Webber Lake Hotel.

- [Chris] It's amazing that a place this pretty and with that much history and had that much traffic still looks this pristine.

- Yeah, so we were very lucky.

The Land Trust acquired this as part of about 3000 acres in 2012 from the Johnson family, and the Johnsons really loved this place and really cared for it.

And as we worked with them to purchase the property, that was really a big part of their vision too was to keep it as it is, to keep it as a campground for people to enjoy.

You know, they probably could have sold it to somebody with more money that could have ringed the place with big luxury homes, but you know, their vision and our vision were kind of the same in keeping this as a nice back country retreat for folks to visit.

- And so people can come up, still enjoy the lake?

- Yeah, so we have two camp areas, one here behind you, the North Campground, and then one on the West Shore.

And then it's free for day use as well.

Anybody can come up for the day and just poke around, either hike up through Lacey Meadows or bring a kayak, jump on the lake.

- [Chris] Definitely a nice place to not only start our day, but just to even visit.

It's beautiful up here.

- Yeah, it's a nice little slice of paradise here in the northern Sierra.

(upbeat music) - [Chris] Greyson is sure right about that.

This is a beautiful location to visit and explore.

I feel transported in a place that's so peaceful and truly breathtaking.

And to make it even more impressive, the lake and the meadows are just part of this paradise.

Not far from Webber Lake is Webber Falls.

We make our way down into a steep gorge.

And though this is a short hike, the final approach into the Waterfall Canyon warrants some caution, but the view of Webber Falls is stunning and well worth the effort.

And if you're up for a bit more, you can follow the trail along the top of the falls and have the chance to enjoy the view into Webber Canyon.

(upbeat music) - This is the headwaters of the Little Truckee River that we were looking at earlier down in Perazzo Meadows.

- You know, and it's great to see the docks out here, and people getting to use the lake, so they can come out kayak, boat, fish?

- [Greyson] Yeah, absolutely.

We ask people fill out a self-inspection form for aquatic invasive species just to keep the lake pristine here, but anybody's welcome to come out here for free for day use or make a reservation at the campground and bring a boat or bring a fishing rod and enjoy.

- [Chris] It's such a great project.

- And it's part of our larger mission to protect open space in the Truckee Donner region.

We've done about 45,000 acres so far.

And a lot of that is in this unique land ownership pattern called the Sierra Nevada checkerboard, where when the railroad was built through this part of the Sierra, Lincoln's presidency gave them basically every other square mile of land to figure out a route, and what you don't use, sell it, use the money to build the railroad.

And so we ended up with this pattern of public/private, public/private in a checkerboard fashion.

That worked for a long time.

We had a lot of the private land went to timber companies, and the public lands became what's now the forest service.

But as timber is kinda moving out of the area, we wanted to make sure we didn't have what you call rural sprawl where you have forest service, little development, forest service, where it's this patchwork that isn't very conducive to wildlife, to our watersheds, increases the risk of catastrophic wildfire, things like that.

So this is one of our, our many acquisitions here, but definitely a gem amongst them.

- It's amazing to feel like it's still this pristine after all of those visitors and all of that journey that this location represents.

- It's through people's donations that places like this get protected permanently for us to enjoy, for wildlife to thrive, and for future generations to come back and enjoy.

- Absolutely gorgeous, really beautiful.

And it's really so cool to be able to have this experience without having to hike 40 miles or 50 miles to have it, though I do have a hike ahead today.

- Yeah, yeah, I think you're gonna enjoy it.

You're gonna have a beautiful hike up Mount Lola, highest peak in Nevada County.

You're gonna pass through Coldstream Meadow, and it should be great.

- Well, thanks for bringing me to the lake.

- Absolutely.

(upbeat music) - Webber Lake is a beautiful and pristine destination and with so much to explore and enjoy in the area, I look forward to coming back again.

But right now I have big plans for the rest of the day.

Not far from the lake, I meet Daniel Joannes.

Thank you for meeting me out here, Dan.

But this doesn't feel like a trailhead.

So why did you have me meet you in the meadows?

- So we're out here today at Perazzo Meadows, which is one of the land trust projects that started in 2008 was the acquisition along with the trust for public land.

And this meadow in particular, there's been restoration, and it helps to protect wildlife species like the Lahontan cutthroat trout that works up the river as well as the Willow Fly Catcher that's an endangered bird.

And the more work we can do to protect the meadows in the Sierra, the better.

It only makes up 1% of the composition of the whole Sierra Nevada.

So when a meadow is in a good condition, that's a priority for the conservation.

- When I think about the Sierra, you're right, I think the mountains, and I think the pines.

But this does feel like part of that experience that you do always expect, and maybe I do under appreciate how beautiful the meadows are.

- Being able to see the wildflowers throughout the season, all the different bird species that you might find or animal species that use the meadow.

It's also important to protect meadows because they helped us slow down the loss of water throughout the year.

- Well, as pretty as the meadow is, I know this isn't our final destination.

We've got a hike ahead of us, right?

- Yeah, so we're gonna challenge ourselves with the Mount Lola hike today.

So let's grab our packs and get going.

(upbeat music) - This hike is close to 11 miles out and back with an elevation gain of more than 2,500 feet, which makes it a challenging hike.

But with great visuals and lots of switchbacks, it's easier not to notice how much you're climbing until you get up out of the trees and see how far up the mountain you've ascended.

(upbeat music) The wild flowers along here are absolutely amazing.

It's like a wonderland.

It's so pretty.

- When you look at this meadow, I think of a great success story of partners working together to do the best management to protect and enhance these wildflowers that we have here.

- Well, and when you see it in its natural state like this with the flowers and the bumblebees and the butterflies and the birds, you understand why it's important to do it because it's beautiful.

(upbeat music) - So an exciting part of this hike is feeling this transition from like a lower forest that is a mix of pine species into some more really old big red fir that we find here.

Looking in front of me, we might have some of these trees reaching ages of 500 years plus.

And as we transition upward, we find ourselves in a couple different little ecosystem types.

We move from kind of the pine and lodgepole with some mix of fir species and then more a true fir mix.

And then as we move up the slope too, we might find some more mountain hemlock and some other tree species.

So a cool part is looking up at these monsters, just think about how long they've been around and how much they've seen on the Mount Lola hillside.

- [Chris] They're beautiful.

Look at all that lichen and moss on them.

That's cool.

- [Daniel] Can barely even see the top up there.

(upbeat music) - Well, this is a pretty epic view already.

So we're not quite to the top though, are we?

- Not yet, we've got a little bit more to go.

A last little challenge before we get to the top, but we've worked our way up through multiple forest types and zones from the low forest with some more pine and up through the red fir forest.

We'll finish out a little bit above the tree line.

So get a lot of that today.

- You know, and as we've popped up out of the trees, you could just feel that this view was coming.

It's beautiful up here.

- [Daniel] Yeah, so should we find our way up to the top?

- Let's do it.

I'm ready.

- All right.

(upbeat music) - This is an amazing viewpoint.

The summit has just great views all the way around.

- Yeah, I love it up here.

You can see all kinds of peaks, Snow Mountain, Castle and Basin Peak, Carpenter Peak, and if you poke your head out far enough, you can see where you started your day down at Lacey Meadows and Webber Lake.

- Thank you for bringing me up.

It's a great hike.

Anytime you wanna come up to summit, I'll come up with you 'cause this is beautiful.

This is great.

- Keeps the mind wandering, right?

- Absolutely.

This summit view is gorgeous.

It's a pristine Sierra view with almost new signs of civilization in sight.

It's just full of mountains and lakes and beauty.

(upbeat music) That's all I've got time for in this episode, but it's been a lot of fun getting to retrace the historic routes of Kingsbury Grade and Henness Pass to beautiful locations like Van Sickle Bi-State Park, and then Webber Lake and up here at Mount Lola.

If you want more information about this episode or any in the "Wild Nevada" series, visit our website at pbsreno.org and stream us with the PBS app.

And until my next "Wild Nevada" adventure, I hope you get to have some adventures of your own.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] And by Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark and Susan Herron, in memory of Sue McDowell, Lloyd Rogers and Gaia Brown, Stanley and Neila Shumaker, and by individual members.

(upbeat music)