Two, two, two peaks in one…trip
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:10 am
Freel peak is the highest peak in the Tahoe region. That is a good enough reason for us to make the climb.
We started the day by driving up Oneidas street off of Pioneer Trail. The road ends at a locked gate. This is the trailhead to the trout creek route up to Armstrong pass. Then the trail joins the Tahoe Rim Trail and continues up a decent grade to the saddle between Freel and Trimmer.
We didn’t go that way. We took a much more direct route. Jeffery Schaffer details this route in his book, “The Tahoe Sierra”. This is hike #102 on Page 277. He describes this route as, “…a very steep 1.7 mile climb to a saddle”.
The trail starts out as an old dirt road.
Eventually the road becomes a single track.
The trail is pretty straight forward and easy to find but there are some thick aspen jungles where the trail is a little hard to follow.
All at once the trail goes from being steep to really steep. Schaffer claims this section has a “…grade averaged 26%, which qualifies this hike as the book’s steepest – as well as its highest. It therefore deserves a very strenuous rating, and since you climb it in thin air, you had better be in excellent shape.”
Not only is the trail very steep but it is also quite sandy. Schaffer calls this loose gravel “Grus”, and goes into a very lengthy and detailed description about the processes that created the Grus.
After this steep climb you should reach the saddle. This is where the use trail you just followed meets up with the Tahoe Rim Trail and the trail to Freel Peak.
From here you have a good view of the Sky Express, the highest ski lift in Heavenly. I will never jump off of this lift again without glancing over at Freel.
If you make it to here you only have about 1 more mile to the summit of Freel. We were happy to have made it to the top.
One has an excellent view of Hope Valley with the Mokelumne Wilderness in the background.
To be continued…
We started the day by driving up Oneidas street off of Pioneer Trail. The road ends at a locked gate. This is the trailhead to the trout creek route up to Armstrong pass. Then the trail joins the Tahoe Rim Trail and continues up a decent grade to the saddle between Freel and Trimmer.
We didn’t go that way. We took a much more direct route. Jeffery Schaffer details this route in his book, “The Tahoe Sierra”. This is hike #102 on Page 277. He describes this route as, “…a very steep 1.7 mile climb to a saddle”.
The trail starts out as an old dirt road.
Eventually the road becomes a single track.
The trail is pretty straight forward and easy to find but there are some thick aspen jungles where the trail is a little hard to follow.
All at once the trail goes from being steep to really steep. Schaffer claims this section has a “…grade averaged 26%, which qualifies this hike as the book’s steepest – as well as its highest. It therefore deserves a very strenuous rating, and since you climb it in thin air, you had better be in excellent shape.”
Not only is the trail very steep but it is also quite sandy. Schaffer calls this loose gravel “Grus”, and goes into a very lengthy and detailed description about the processes that created the Grus.
After this steep climb you should reach the saddle. This is where the use trail you just followed meets up with the Tahoe Rim Trail and the trail to Freel Peak.
From here you have a good view of the Sky Express, the highest ski lift in Heavenly. I will never jump off of this lift again without glancing over at Freel.
If you make it to here you only have about 1 more mile to the summit of Freel. We were happy to have made it to the top.
One has an excellent view of Hope Valley with the Mokelumne Wilderness in the background.
To be continued…