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Dollar Creek Trail receives funding for grooming this season, future seasons uncertain

TAHOE CITY, Calif. – When Justin Sheaff started grooming a trail in his neighborhood around 15 years ago, he never imagined it would turn into what it is today—a winter recreation hub and destination for people living or visiting North Tahoe.

“Every year it would grow a little bit more,” he explained.

The Dollar Creek Trail is groomed by a grassroots endeavor in the winter, providing many recreation opportunities.
Provided / Justin Sheaff

Now, the grooming has grown to cover the over four mile Dollar Creek trail, which in the summertime is a paved shared use trail. The winter grooming doesn’t stop there, a connector leads to the Tahoe Cross-Country center, loops around the water tanks and ties in the surrounding neighborhoods, parking lot and other surrounding trails.



The trail typical receives its first groom starting in November or December and its last in early May, but it can be later if snow is still around. Sheaff’s team grooms it close to every day if the conditions allow.

But this wasn’t always the case. Having a snow-cat was the result of a prior construction project Shaeff’s company had completed. He decided to put the cat to use instead of getting rid of it and would groom around his neighborhood as he had time or as the snow dictated.



“And then it grew and grew and, you know, it got to the point, [where],” Sheaff said with a chuckle, “there’s upset people when it’s not being groomed.”

As it grew, so did the expenses. “It’s not a cheap endeavor,” he said. Fuel, maintenance, storage, repairs, and wages all started adding up. Eventually the county required insurance, which added a significant expense.

“At a certain point,” Sheaff said, “it got out of control, which is where we went looking for funding the last couple years.” He had previously been covering costs out-of-pocket through his company.

In stepped the North Tahoe Community Alliance, which granted $125,000 in Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) funds for the grassroots endeavor. TBID funds are collected on purchases at North Tahoe activity providers, restaurants, and retailers. It’s a way both day visitors and overnight visitors contribute to North Lake Tahoe’s vitality through a meal out or cross country ski rental, as examples.

Although a significant boost, this funding covers about half the total annual costs of the grooming operation.

“It’s expensive as you can imagine,” Sheaff said. It begs the question, why keep doing it?

For Sheaff, it’s partly personal, “It brings everybody together.” This became apparent from the start.

An initial reason for starting the trail grooming the 15 years ago was to quell conflict between motorized and non-motorized recreators that occurred when people walked in snowmobile tracks.

“And it really worked,” Sheaff reported, “all of a sudden, you had motorized users stopping and talking to non-motorized users.”

Additionally, the conflicts you typically see on groomed trails generally, he said, weren’t there. “You had the walkers that were getting along with the skiers, that were getting along with the snowshoers, and the dog people.”

He attributes all the peace to a characteristic of this trail that separates it from many cross country winter trails, “We double it down.”

This trail isn’t one, but two snow-cats wide. “The idea is that by making it wide,” Sheaff explained, “you alleviate a lot of the conflict, if you will, on the trail, between user-ship.”

It provides room for everyone, whether you’re walking with your dog, cross country skiing, striding, fat tire biking, snowshoeing, or snowmobiling.

The Dollar Creek Trail is groomed in the winter, providing opportunities for fat tire biking, cross-country skiing and other activities.
Provided / Justin Sheaff

The parking infrastructure allows individuals from all over the basin to come, whether it’s from Truckee, Incline Village, or the west shore.

“So it’s really just sort of brought people together,” Sheaff said. “That’s the whole premise behind it, was, bringing the community together. The byproduct of that was that it became really big.”

A text message thread with around 40 phone numbers pings throughout the community whenever someone notices the trail has been freshly groomed.

“My wife laughs all the time,” Sheaff said, “‘The text message just went off. You groomed.'”

The trail’s growth has not only benefited the users, but local businesses as well. One requirement for TBID funds is they must be spent on programs and activities that directly benefit the businesses paying the assessment.

Amy Wood at Tahoe Dave’s in Tahoe City says the groomed trail provides another spot they can send their customers to. “The more our team has the tools to provide to the visitors and the customers, the better,” she said.

The company often recommends the trail to their cross-country ski and snowshoe rental customers. Both recreations increased significantly during COVID and Woods hasn’t seen the popularity taper off yet.

Not only is the trail another option for customers, this location provides a more casual environment for first timers to dabble in both of those sports. It’s also a serene location away from the resort crowds, where Woods says people can find their own little sanctuary in the woods.

According the Sheaff, Airbnbs and hotels have also started sending people to the trail. “It brings people to town and gets them active, gets them outside.”

Some visitors have said through a survey that it’s been the highlight of their stay, despite having ski resort passes. It was just what the kids wanted to do, they’d say. That’s likely due to the sledding hill the operations team makes for the kids.

The trail sits on Placer County, and is free to access and park, which offers a fun outlet to those who can’t afford more costly winter recreation.

“It provides so much to so many different people,” Sheaff said. “You could have a wallet full of cash or a wallet full of nothing and still have the exact same great time.”

Another positive characteristic of the trail that he points out is its location, which is opposite of Palisades or Northstar traffic.

Yet, the trail that provides a path to fun memories for so many, may have an obstacle of its own. “So the reality is,” Sheaff explained, “it has to get funded if we’re going to continue doing it.”

Another option would be to significantly cut back on the frequency of trail grooming, which itself is hard because so many have come to rely on it. For some, the trail provides their only exercise opportunity in the winter when the roads are too icy and dangerous to walk.

But Sheaff says, “There’s a lot of people that believe in it.” That has been showcased by the community members who have stepped up to help the grassroots effort over the years. Several community members created a GoFundMe years ago to help cover the costs. While this has provided a way for visitors and the local community to get more involved in keeping it going, it struggles to generate adequate funds.

However, the efforts didn’t stop there. Another community member created a QR code for a survey that helped the effort receive the TBID funding. Still, another created an Instagram page.

Although the future of the Dollar Creek Trail Grooming is uncertain, this year’s TBID grant assures this winter’s grooming. Future season grooming will need to be assessed on a funding basis, but Sheaff remains positive.

“We are hoping that the TBID grant funding will bring positive exposure to the program through community engagement and feedback,” he said, optimistic that potentially the county or other agencies will take notice and provide a way for future grooming for years to come.


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