After an absolutely incredible day of kayaking on Lake Tahoe, Vy and I decided to take a gamble. We had both fallen in love with Chimney beach, so we decided to try to spend the sunset there. We quickly loaded up the kayaks and rushed over to the Chimney Beach trail in hope of finding a parking spot. As always the Butternut (our jeep) used her magic Jeep power to find us the only parking spot in a full lot. We were like the seagulls from Finding Nemo ” MINE! MINE! MINE!”. If you want to find out some awesome facts about Lake Tahoe, click here.
STATS:
Where:
Chimney Beach trailhead–State Hwy 28 Carson City, NV 89703
Coordinates: 39°09’49.0″N 119°55’49.0″W
Parking:
You actually park at the Secret Harbor parking lot. The trailhead starts from there. It is a small, paved lot. You can also park on the street and walk in. Parking is free. There’s a restroom at the trailhead.
Distance:
1.2 miles out and back
Elevation Gain:
231 ft (Downhill on the way out, uphill on the way back)
Level:
intermediate. The trail isn’t that challenging, it is just steep. Watch your step. Try not to slip.
Estimated Completion Time:
depends on how much time you want to spend on the beach. The hike up and down is about 40 minutes max. You could spend all day here. We just came for the sunset.
Ideal Weather:
best to go from April until November. Be sure to check the weather below before you head out.
Ideal Time:
early for parking. If you’re going for the sunset, make sure to get here at least an hour before to allow time for parking and to hike down the trail.
Dog-friendly:
Yes! There were tons of cute pups playing in the water that day!
THE TRAIL:
Once you park, head toward the paved road that has a metal gate blocking it. Go through the gate, you’ll see the dirt trail to your right with the sign that says “trail to beach.” This is the main trail to go down to Chimney Beach. You can also access Secret Cove (clothing optional) and Secret Harbor beach from here. Good shoes will come in handy on this hike.
Chimney Beach trail is well defined but can be slippery and rocky in some spots. The loose topsoil can have you slipping if you aren’t careful. That being said, we both hiked down in our sandals with no problem. We’ve also seen people walking down with E-Z ups and heavy ice chests. As long as you’re paying attention to the trail, you should be fine. The way down is pretty easy but the way back can make you breathe a little heavier as it is a steep climb up. I can’t imagine it’s super fun for those people with all the beach gear to carry them back up again. 
For the most part, the trail is quite easy. It has a bunch of switchbacks that keep it from getting really steep. You just follow the trail to hike down to the lake from the parking lot. Once you’re facing the lake, there are two options. If you go right, it will take you to Chimney Beach. If you go left, it will take you to Secret Cove, Secret Harbor, and Creek Beach. This area used to be part of the 30 miles of privately owned lakeshore, but luckily, it is now open to the public. Be warned, Secret Cove is a clothing-optional area so steer clear of that area if you don’t want to see naked people.
We decided to go toward Chimney Beach. The famous Chimney Beach is named after the leftover chimney from a 100-year-old caretaker’s cabin. Nowadays, all that remains of the cabin is the stone chimney sitting on the sandy beach. Once you make that right, you will just follow along with the coastline. There are several forks on the trail but they all seem to join back up again. As long as you are staying along the coastline, you should be fine.
There are two sandy beach areas before you reach the actual Chimney Beach. There were a lot of people in both places. We really wanted to go over to the giant boulders on Chimney Beach so we kept going. The trail will curve around a bit toward the hill once you see the creek and will lead you to a little makeshift bridge made up of two pieces of plank wood. Once you cross over, you’ll climb up a little set of stairs and the trail will open up to a set of trails with wooden posts leading the way. Just keep going toward the direction of water and you’ll be fine. This part of the trail is tricky though if you’re heading back in the dark. Make sure you pay attention to this part of the trail for the way back. If you are facing the hill, go right! Google map GPS does work down there and we found it’s super helpful to find your way back.
We got down to the beach with about an hour to spare. That’s the one thing I love about summer, it doesn’t get dark until late. The beach was super crowded earlier in the morning when we pulled up on our kayaks, now almost empty. The squirrels were out and active. We met Blue, the cliff jumping puppy. As we mentioned in our kayaking on Lake Tahoe article, there is a cliff jumping rock here. It is high but fun to do if you’re up for it. There were also tons of giant ants crawling everywhere so be careful! Take your time and explore the place between the giant boulders. It is super gorgeous.
The sky was slowly starting to change colors. It looked like someone had taken a handful of crayons and smeared them across the sky. Most of the people that were there earlier had left. We felt bad for them because they were missing out on quite a show that mother nature was putting on for us. The sunset was breathtaking. The sky just didn’t seem to want to quit with the fiery colors. It went on for a good hour after the official sunset time.
I can see why some people went back to their cars before dark. It can be a little bit on the disorienting side once it gets dark. My best advice is to use either use google map or any hiking app such as Mapmyhike or Strava etc. to track your way down. This will make the way up a lot easier. It isn’t a difficult route, but for some reason, it looked a lot different in the dark. There were definitely a couple of moments where we stopped and asked: “did we go this way?”
Make sure you bring flashlights if you were going to stay for the sunset. It gets very dark. There were also lots of bugs. Vy got attacked by a couple of big ones. One of them clung on to her sweater. You would have thought that she saw Sasquatch with the way she took off running. The temperature drops quite a lot once the sun goes down. We saw a couple of big flying shadows. They looked like bats. One last tricky part of the hike is to remember where to make that left turn to go back up the hill. Again, Google GPS is your friend. Use it! It’s definitely worth it though, so if you’re in the area, we highly recommend this spot for amazing beach and sunset.
You can hear Dustin’s interview about Lake Tahoe on the Between The Mountains Travel Podcast here
Happy Adventuring. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our Youtube channel, and sign up for our newsletter!
RECOMMEND GEAR:
Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.
• Sunscreen:
We use eco-friendly, reef-safe sunscreen. Alba Botanica Hawaiian Sunscreen or Sun Bum Sunscreen
• Comfortable hiking shoes, preferably with treads
Good hiking shoes are great for the rocky trail, but you’ll be okay with just sandals.
Vy’s shoes are North Face HedgeHog GTX.
Dustin’s shoes are Coleman Tasman Hiking Shoe.
• Water
If you’re planning to spend some time down there, it’s good to bring plenty of water. The beach gets hot during the summer days.
Vy uses the Camelback L.U.X.E. Dustin uses the Clik Small pack (sadly Clik is no longer around).
• Lunch and snacks
This is a great spot to spend most of your time. Bring food if you’re planning to.
• Swimsuits/Beach gear
If you’re planning to go play in the water
• Jacket
It gets cold when the sun goes down.
• Headlight and/or flashlight. This is mandatory if you want to go watch the sunset
We both used the Black Diamond Cosmo.
CAMERA GEAR:
• Camera:
Sony a7 III
• Lenses:
Sony 24 -70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T Zoom Lens
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX
• Drone:
DJI Spark, Fly More Combo
One Comment
answer noun
Intresting, will come back here once in a while.