May 2024
News From the Trail

Trail Tracks

May is National Bike Month! It began in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists to encourage people to ride bikes for the many healthy benefits it provides. Growing up, bikes gave us the freedom to explore our neighborhoods, to meet up with friends and if you were really lucky, ride your bike to school.

My love of rivers started when I was young! I’m from Michigan and we had lots of rivers and lakes to explore. We’d jump on our bikes and no matter what direction we went, there often was a body of water involved.


There was a river that we discovered on one such exploration we called Horseshoe Bend. It winded down with many twists and meandered through woods and open areas and there we were, floating down the river with not a care in the world. The sun would surely dry our clothes before we got home and no one had to know we had gone beyond…


Our bikes were everything growing up. Our freedom machines to explore and discover not only our surroundings but ourselves. This may not be the motivator to run your errand on your bike but it may be the motivator to help out with one of our youth programs that give children an opportunity to ride a bike and explore.  


The Kiwanis Bike Program and the Reno Bike Project are two that help provide safe bikes to children (and give “Bike Riding Classes for Kids) who may not otherwise be able to obtain a bike:


There are other programs that teach bike-handling skills, and for those so inclined, are introductions into junior racing programs:  


And if this article does motivate you to get that bike out, fantastic!  The Tahoe-Pyramid Trail follows our Truckee River. Pack a lunch and ride the TPT and have a lovely day!

Mary Beth Roselli, President of the TPT Board

Annual Update on the
Tahoe-Pyramid Trail

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Thursday, April 25th at the McKinley Arts Center for our annual meeting and our “State of the Trail” update! We had so much to report. One of the biggest pieces of news presented is that we are waiting for the last pieces of approval on an NDOT TAP grant for a feasibility study for a trail from Sparks to Fernley and a Pyramid Lake connector.


Our goal, when putting in for the grant, was to make it an alternative transportation trail, one that would be paved and would make a great commute to TRIC and beyond.


We are in the process of an audit by NDOT for the grant and once we pass that, we will move forward with finding an engineering team to conduct the feasibility study to determine the best route for our trail. When we have final approval, we will let everyone know! A big shout out to our team that put that grant together, under the leadership of Cheryl Surface!

Another great piece of news that we talked about is exploring a possible new trail that would keep bikers and hikers off the road from Mayberry Park to Verdi / Quilici Trailhead. Our new board member, Christina Thayer, is the Washoe County Trail Program Coordinator and is helping to spearhead this effort. We have such a talented team that is passionate about the future of the TPT.  


Have you seen the QR code for our survey on the TPT and on our website? We worked with UNR’s Geography department to determine the best way to collect data on trail users. Professor Nussear from the geography department, his students, and our board member, Sam Limerick tackled this issue for the TPT. One of the main questions when applying for grants and funding is how many people use the trail, and land managers are always trying to capture that information.


The UNR geography students helped us try to answer this question with valuable data. Their class project ended recently and the results were amazing. Hopefully, we can post the storyboard they completed, with details of the survey in a later newsletter. More to come on this project.

So please, when you are out on the trail and you see the QR code on our signs for our survey or visit our website that has a link, take a few minutes to complete the survey. We love your feedback. And, if you ride the TPT with Strava, we see you!
(And you can always take the survey when you are not on the trail… Here is our Trail Survey link >)

It was a great pleasure to talk with so many people who are trail users and enthusiastic about the future of our trail.  And that future depends on your involvement and financial donations.  We can’t do it without you!


Ride for the Love of Cookies!

Some of our Cookie-Baking Volunteers from 2021!

This is always a great event and we hope to see all of you from previous years and hopefully meet some new people. Please spread the word! As many of you know, the first grant money that Janet Phillips received for the TPT was for that bike path in Mogul that drops you into Verdi.

When: Sunday, May 19th from 10am to 11:30 am
Where: Crystal Peak Park in Verdi (map)


We Are Still Looking for More
Volunteer Cookie Bakers!

Can you make 2 or 3 dozen homemade cookies? If you can help, please email us at info@tahoepyramidtrail.org

(We will pick them up or arrange for you to drop them off before the event)

Recent Event Recaps

  • Thanks to all those who stopped by our table at the recent Banff Film Festival in April. We hope you all enjoyed the incredible films at this wonderful event!

  • The California Trail and Greenways Conference was attended recently by several of our board members who gained important information and knowledge from the sessions. We are looking forward to incorporating the many new and creative ideas into our plans for improving the TPT.