Tahoe Pyramid Bikeway Verdi Upstream Section

For a thrilling hike, full of new sights and sounds, we headed west from Reno to Verdi to explore the newest section of the Tahoe-​Pyramid Bikeway. Opened in 2013, the Verdi Upstream section follows the Truckee Meadows Power Authority (TMPA) utility road approximately three miles from the gravel parking area at the south end of Quilici Ranch Road to Fleish Dam and Bridge.
We walked parallel to the California state line, Truckee River, Interstate 80, and the Union Pacific Railroad. Along the way, the whistle of a freight train heading west and an Amtrak train heading east punctuated the background sounds of the rumbling interstate and roaring river.
The wide and graded service road passed the Fleish Power Station, side-​stepped into California, and wandered beside the Truckee River Flume and Steamboat Ditch. The power station, built in 1904 to supply electricity to Virginia City and its mines, runs on river water diverted upstream and carried to its turbines in the timbered flume.
The climax of the hike came at the end, with a crossing of the Fleish Bridge. The 200-​foot long pedestrian span suspends above the spillway of the Fleish Dam, which impounds the Truckee River for diversion into the Steamboat Ditch and Truckee River Flume. Our footsteps on the narrow wooden deck created out-​of-​sync waves, that generated an electrifying finale to our thrilling hike.