Ride of the Month: Charity Valley
This is part of our Ride of the Month series—where we feature backcountry mountain bike adventures along Orogenesis. Some are multi-day bikepacking routes, some are just a couple hours. If you want to contribute drop us a line.
Ride Stats
Markleeville, CA
Home of the Washoe People
16 miles
4 hours
+800’, -3,800’ elevation gain/loss
60% singletrack, 30% dirt, 10% pave
96% Rideable
Physical difficulty 3/10
Technical difficulty 9/10 (seriously)
Late May-October
Believe it or not, Charity Valley is the route General John C. Fremont and Kit Carson took crossing the Sierra’s Carson Pass in 1844—in a mid February blizzard no less. Hopefully we’ve gotten smarter since then, and are now recommending you ride this route east (downhill) instead of west, using a mountain bike instead of a horse pulling a cannon, and definitely not in February.
This MTB day ride passes through the Virtuous Valleys, where Winema Way splits and skirts the western and eastern flanks of the range as the Sierra Camino and the Sierra Teleli sections of Orogenesis. While the Tahoe region is known for its spectacular granite cliffs and outcroppings, this ride showcases some of its most expansive and convoluted granite terrain. It is steep, chunky, and raw (see videos below) and not for the inexperienced rider. We recommend leaving a vehicle in Markleeville and shuttling (~25 mins) to Carson Pass. There may still be snow on the upper half of this ride through the end of May but it should be all melted out by June.
The Charity Valley ride starts off innocently enough from Carson Pass along Red Lake and the Forestdale Road, before descending to Faith Valley on the Forestdale Divide trail. After a short climb you cross the Blue Lakes Road and join the Charity Valley trail at mile 6.5. (This is an optional start location to cut the ride shorter) Make sure you budget some extra time for the very technical 2.5 miles in Charity Valley—there are lots of fun lines to repeat and slabs to explore. There’s even a small inviting creek with pools for a quick dip in hotter weather.
“We are now completely snowed in. The snowstorm is on top of us. The wind obliterates all tracks which, with incredible effort, we make for our horses. The horses are about twenty miles behind and are expected to arrive tonight, or rather, they are now no longer expected. How could they get through? At the moment no one can tell what will really happen. It is certain we shall have to eat horse meat.”
As you begin to enter the burned area near the Burnside Lake intersection, the trail can be hard to follow, and then begins to descend sharply towards Grover Hot Springs. Stay alert for downed trees on the loose, sandy, descent. You can swing by the hot springs (reservations recommended) or just beeline to Cutthroat Brewing and the Stonefly 3 miles down the road in Markleeville.
Orogenesis Collective Director Gabriel Tiller taking a dive on Charity Valley. (Video credit: Chris MacNamara)
Planned Improvements:
One of the largest Orogenesis gaps exists between Markleeville and Lost Cannon Canyon. This gap is about 30 miles over Monitor Pass: hemmed in by Wilderness, steep terrain, private land, and Highway 89. We’re working with the Alpine Trails Association and Alpine County Community Development to develop a trails master plan. Hopefully someday soon the trail continues through Markleeville and on towards Bridgeport… and eventually Baja California.
Learn More:
This trail is maintained by The Alpine Trails Association, we partnered with them in 2022 to begin post-fire restoration.
Learn more about the Indigenous Washoe People
Read more about Fremont’s 1840’s expedition