The Truckee River flows east through town and continues all the way to Pyramid Lake in Nevada — the only river to drain Lake Tahoe. In summer, the river corridor through and below Truckee is a natural gathering place: people swim in the pools below rapids, kayakers and inner-tubers float the more accessible stretches, and anglers work the banks for brown and rainbow trout. The water is cold even in August, fed by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada above.
The River Street Bridge area in town is a popular entry point for casual swimming and tubing. More adventurous paddlers put in at Tahoe City and run the Truckee River Gorge, a Class III section that requires some whitewater experience. Fishing on the Truckee is excellent — it is designated Wild Trout water in several sections — and the river is catch-and-release below the Tahoe City dam. Riverside walks through town connect the river to the downtown without ever crossing the railroad tracks.