Press & Awards
Janet Phillips has been named “2019 Reno-Sparks Citizen of the Year” by RGJ
The Truckee River rushes over the spillway at Lake Tahoe Dam, meanders and then plunges through the Truckee Canyon down to Reno, an elevation drop of 1,700 feet. But building the modern-day path along the Truckee has been an uphill effort, one that has been going on for 16-plus years.
From the Reno Gazette Journal, Dec 29, 2019 <Full Article – Links to Reno Gazette Journal website>
At the forefront of the project is Janet Phillips, president of the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail. This past October, Phillips and her organization — and the countless volunteers, engineers and construction crews — were able to tackle one of the trail’s most intractable sections.
Anyone who has ever driven along Interstate 80 through the canyon has done so at freeway speeds, keeping one eye on the guardrail and the other on the semi in the next lane. Thanks to Phillips’ vision and effort, residents and visitors are able to visit the canyon at a pace more suitable for enjoying Northern Nevada’s majestic, previously inaccessible vistas. The path connecting Tahoe and Reno-Sparks also connects Northern Nevadans with the natural environment.
That’s why we have named Janet Phillips as RGJ’s 2019 Citizen of the Year.
From The Tahoe Weekly:
The Grandeur of the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail
The article excerpted below was written by Tim Hauserman and posted to The Tahoe Weekly on October 30, 2019.
You can read the full article at The Tahoe Weekly website here >
On Oct. 3, a new section of Tahoe-Pyramid Trail was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting. Now through a combination of paved bike trails, bike lanes and single track, a rider or hiker can make his or her way all the way from Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City to Sparks.
This last segment, the Floriston Trail, was the most challenging to build because of a combination of tricky factors: the Truckee River, a steep and narrow canyon, Interstate 80 and railroad tracks, all vying for limited space. The trail was late to the party — all the prime real estate was already spoken for. Given those parameters, the trail builders did an amazing job of constructing a narrow trail on the steep slope. They used rocks, wood bracing and some guide rails to build a gently descending trail in a location that had seemed impossible to use.
For the next several miles, the trail parallels Interstate 80 along the top of the steep canyon. The views of the river and ridge are quite spectacular.
Eventually, the trail rounded the bend and reached the edge of the Truckee River where I took a deep breath in, exhaled loudly and marveled at the grandeur of the area.
Read the full article at The Tahoe Weekly website >
Nevada Magazine:
Megg Mueller profiles the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail
The excerpt below is from the September – October 2019 issue of Nevada Magazine
Read the full article at the Nevada Magazine website here >
©Megg Mueller
“Bi-state trail will span 114 miles, connecting Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.“
“Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America, known for its clear, crystal-blue waters created by snow melt from the surrounding mountains. Pyramid Lake is an endorheic salt lake—a prehistoric vestige of the once great Lake Lahontan—that sits in the desert about 100 miles northeast of Tahoe.
Tahoe Pyramid Trail Founder and Visionary
Photo Credit: ©Jeff Ross
These two disparate bodies of water are joined by a common thread—the Truckee River. The Truckee is the only outlet of Lake Tahoe, flowing northeast for 121 miles from Tahoe City, California, through the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range into Nevada where it ends its journey at Pyramid Lake.
For 21 years, Janet Phillips kept track of the Truckee River in her job as director of water resources for Sierra Pacific Power Company (now NV Energy). After she retired in 2001, her love for the river took on a new life.
“It’s a beautiful river and there should be a path next to it
Janet Phillips. I think people should appreciate what we have here. It’s a unique and wonderful thing.”
Knowing the river as intimately as she did, she knew there were many established trails, access roads, and paved paths in the cities the river flows through, but they were unconnected. She envisioned a trail that parallels the river from its start to its end, and the idea for the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail was born.”
(opens in a new tab)”>Read the full article at the Nevada Magazine website >
The Tahoe Pyramid Trail: A Dream To Build A Trail Along The Truckee River Takes Shape
Bliss Life Media online also profiled the Trail in their September issue:
https://www.blisslifemag.com/2019/09/09/278289/the-tahoe-pyramid-trail-a-dream-to-build-a-trail-along-the-truckee-river-takes-shape Bliss Life is a relatively new (4 years) media company that seeks to “put Reno-Tahoe on the map as a new hub for style, culture, entertainment, wellness, business, community, amazing food and libations…and all things BLISS!”
EDAWN President’s Award
Janet Phillips, President of Tahoe Pyramid Trail being presented the President’s Award by Mike Kazmierski, President of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) organization. At the October 18, 2018 EDAWN awards dinner held at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada Janet Phillips was presented the President’s award. The President’s award is EDAWN’S way of recognizing a “game changing” contribution to the Northern Nevada’s economic development efforts. In Mike Kazmierski’s presentation he noted that outdoor recreational opportunities have a high priority for those looking to locate in the Reno-Sparks area and the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail is a prime example of fulfilling these needs. Janet Phillips established the none profit to support the development of the trail and has been working diligently since 2003 to complete it. This is my way to honor Janet for her years of effort.
Janet Philips, TPT President received the 2017 Trail Champion award from California Trails & Greenways Foundation.
Way to go, Janet!
TPB-4nationalawards
Janet Phillips, President of Tahoe-Pyramid Trail has received 4 major national awards under her leadership! (2018)
