High Sierra Topix

Greetings all. Awesome discussion board you all have here! So here's my situation, I will be at the Phish shows in South Tahoe next week. After the shows we have about 4 days dedicated to backpacking before we head back up to Oregon. Our group are all experienced in the woods and in good shape, but have not explored or backpacked in the Tahoe area before. Hiking to some high alpine lakes would be nice. Maybe hiking a loop? Any suggestions on a 3 night, 4 day backpacking trip in the Tahoe/Truckee area would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'm an avid edible mushroom hunter in Oregon and have heard that the Sierra's have Fall King Boletes (aka porcini)starting in August. Any suggestions on the type of habitat related to this second question is also greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Have a great day.

Showers Lake in the Meiss Country Wilderness from Kit Carson Pass is a good 2-3 night trip that I did a couple years ago. Lots of dayhikers but undoubtedly devoid of the summer crowds near Tahoe. Its located on Highway 88 near the Kirkwood Ski Resort. Good fishing and some incredible views of Tahoe to the North with a little scramble out. My only warning is that the Mosquito situation this year can only be described as "EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE." I suppose the skeeters will be a problem just about anywhere near water in the N. Sierra for some time due the large amount of snowmelt and recent hot temps. Bring a head net and some Deet.

Not much of a Phish fan, but know of many who are...have a good time at the show.

the porcini there prefer fir trees...not so much the ponderosa pines but it seems mostly the (I think) white fir and sometimes doug firs. Most of the soils you will encounter will be either decomposed granite or volcanic type soils. I've had the best luck in the volcanic stuff. I'm not sure how well you will do on porcini though once you start getting up above 8000. There may be some pockets here and there but you will be better off down in the 6500-7000 foot areas. As far as where to backpack around Tahoe, I think if you do a search on this forum and plug in tahoe, or desolation etc., there should be a lot of info.

You might want to check out Desolation Wilderness. I did an out and back from Loon Lake to Rubicon Reservoir a few weeks ago that was beautiful. The mosquitoes aren't too bad but there are a couple of tricky water crossings. There are a lot of good trails in that area.

For the most bang for your Desolation Wilderness buck, I would go in at Bayview TH up to Dick's Lake, next day head over Dicks Pass to Half Moon Lake or Gilmore Lake, next day up to Tallac and out Tallac TH. From 89 you can catch the shuttle back up to Bayview. You could also come out at Echo Lakes from Gilmore or Half Moon, visiting Lake Aloha. That dumps ou out nearest to Hwy 50, so you'd have to figure out how to get back into town. But trust me, I live in South Lake Tahoe. This route has it all granite, lakes, meadows, and views, oh and crowds.