Where to hike with a dog near South Lake Tahoe: Pyramid Creek Loop Trail

This hike offers waterfalls, mountain views and a lovely creek: all right off a large highway heading into the mountains of Northern California. 
So it's a great short trek to try on your way to or back from a destination hike, which is how I found it. We were driving to Carson Pass in the Sierra Nevada when I saw the parking lot and trailhead sign right off Highway 50 and promised to investigate on the way back.
It's a pretty short trail, but not an easy one. Not only because it is steep and rocky, but often the trail just disappears and you're scrambling over rock faces with no signs in sight. I found this frustrating, but my husband said he liked that it wasn't "your typical, just-head-straight-ahead-on-this-very-clear-path kind of trail." He enjoyed the challenge of figuring out where to step next, sort of like climbing a mountain.
And the dog of course had no complaints about a creek to run in and drink from, and plenty of nooks and crannies to explore.
The loop is only about two miles, and takes you to the boundary of the Desolation Wilderness while offering views of Horsetail Falls.

Words to the wise:  

• The rocks by the Cascades, which is literally a long rock face with cascading water, are VERY slippery, and if you let your dog frolic there, they might take a scary slip like ours did. She wasn't injured, but it wasn't fun to watch. Likely not a good spot for older dogs to be off-leash. 
• Also, we did see Bigfoot:

  

  My hubby's "most perfect Patterson pose."