Lake Tabeaud Hike
	Trip Date:  06/11/2016 Distance: 3.0 Miles Vertical Gain: 100' Group Size: 1 Hike Rating:  Easy   Moderate   Hard   Strenuous	GPX for this trip
	Start Coordinates:   N 38 20.695, W 120 40.065     End Coordinates:   Same as start coordinates Car Shuttle Req'd:   No Parking Directions:   Take Highway 49 to Clinton Rd, just south of the town of Jackson.  Turn east, and follow the road for about 5 miles, turning right onto Amador Ln and following that to the trailhead for about a mile and a half.  Find the trailhead parking at a locked gate turnout on the left. Hazards of Note:   Rattlesnakes, ticks, poison oak. Crowd Factor:   Moderate.  Dog walkers and runners particular make use of this trail. General Notes: From the parking lot head past the green gate and down the road toward the lake in front of you.  At the south end of the dam is a small use trail, which heads to the south.  It will be pretty much a single track trail all the way around the south half of the lake.  There is very little poison oak anywhere near the trail, but there are long weeds that you need to be careful of avoiding and their associated tick residents.  One particular finger of the lake on the south side sports the worst part of the trail, where it drops sharply down some steep rocks into the ravine before climbing back up on the other side.  Once you reach the eastern end of the lake,  the trail becomes a dirt road, and bends to the north, past a PG&E power generation facility at the water inlet to the lake.  past this take the trail that is closest to the lake shore, and follow it around until you reach the picnic and parking area on the north side of the lake.  Continue past the parking area and pick up the trail again, following it to and across the dam until you reach your starting point and head back up the dirt road there to the parking area.
	Views of the Mokelumne River canyon and the 2015 Butte Fire damage from very near the trailhead.
	A view of the lake looking east from very near the start of the hike, just on the south side of the dam.
	Looking north at the dirt Tabeaud dam where the trail drops down to circumnavigate the lake.
	Another view of the lake from the south side, looking toward the main parking area and fishing spots across the lake.
	The most difficult section of the entire hike around the lake was along this finger on the south side where there was a sharp drop down to cross the dry inlet followed by this part of the trail on the other side getting fairly close to the edge.
	At the very east end of the lake is the main inlet of water, and the PG&E power equipment set up to make use of the inflow.
	This particular section of trail on the north side had so many dry pine needles which have fallen onto other trees that it looked a lot like some southern willows.
	GPS Track of the full hike.