Fallen Leaf Road is approximately 5 miles (8 km) long, and begins at State Route 89, which runs along the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

The road intersects the highway approximately half a mile (800 m) west of Camp Richardson, a resort and campground on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe.

The road passes the Fallen Leaf Lake Campground, operated by the Forest Service, and then past privately owned meadows.

The road winds around the south end of the lake, past St. Francis of the Mountains, an Episcopalian chapel, and then across a concrete bridge spanning Glen Alpine Creek.

Fallen Leaf Road itself continues northwesterly along the west side of the lake past the Stanford Sierra Camp.

[3] Taylor Creek[4] flows northward, passing under State Route 89, and enters Lake Tahoe at Baldwin Beach.

Fallen Leaf is approximately 380 feet (116 m) deep at its deepest point,[5] which is at the south end, east of the sheer face of Mount Tallac and north of Stanford Sierra Camp.

Mature conifer trees can be found on the bottom of Fallen Leaf Lake, preserved for some 800 years by the cold water.

Some scientists believe that these trees show evidence of a so-called "megadrought" occurring between the 9th and 12th centuries that eliminated or reduced the lake, allowing conifers to grow to maturity.

[8] After the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency banned two-stroke outboard boat motors in the late 1990s, pollution from these engines was virtually eliminated.

[9] As the glaciers receded from the Fallen Leaf basin, they left some dramatic rock formations including Cathedral Peak to the west, and the ridge upon which the Angora Lookout is located on the east (now forested).

Incidentally, Mount Tallac (9,735 ft (2,967 m)) is familiar to anyone who was a fan of the television series Bonanza as it appeared with its characteristic cross of snow behind the Cartwright family as they rode toward the camera.

[11] Most homes that have lake front property have docks and/or boathouses, generally with an older ski boat or a 16–20 feet (5–7 m) sailboat.