By Tim Hauserman
The Sawtooth is a trail built for mountain biking just a stone’s throw from the Sierra Meadows neighborhood south of Brockway Drive. I hadn’t ridden it in years when I made the good decision to give it another go recently.
Sawtooth is a ten mile loop trail, which begins just off Forest Service Road 06. This major dirt road is part of the route for The Great Ski Race. If you were to keep following it south, you would eventually hit the Fiberboard Freeway near Watson Peak and Watson Lake. The Fiberboard is a Forest Service Road between Brockway Summit and Tahoe City, from which a host of popular single track trails spins off, including the Tahoe Rim Trail.
The Sawtooth trail is not difficult when it comes to the amount of ups and downs you will encounter, but most riders will find it challenging because of the rocky terrain and the numerous quick, sharp turns. The trick is to keep enough speed to make it over the rocks, while going slow enough to survive the hairpin turns. It’s a fun ride.
Fairly quickly, the trail makes it’s way over to the top of the Truckee River canyon, where a series of ridge top views of the Truckee River and Highway 89 await. Past the views the trail winds through Jeffrey pine and fir forest, with a thick understory of manzanita and ground hugging squaw carpet. You reach the southern most point on the trail at a crossing of FS 06. Now the trail becomes smoother, with fewer rocky sections and you have a chance to step on the pedals and get some speed going. You will also find a few decent climbs to get your heart pumping. The trail eventually hits FS 06 a second time and you are given an option: Cross the road and reconnect with a portion of the trail you have already ridden, back over a mile of rocky terrain to the trailhead, or roar down FS 06 back to your car. The entire loop should take the average rider about an hour and a half.
Trailhead: Drive through Sierra Meadows to Thelin. Follow it to the dirt and then find the trailhead on your right.
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