A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

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adamschneider
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by adamschneider »

brvoyles wrote:I'm not a Granite Chief fan. I would recommend Twin Peaks over it.
What's wrong with GC?
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by Tom_H »

Hi Adam, welcome to you and brvoyles both. I was just in Desolation and the wildflowers were sparse. Aloha has great granite, but I will echo brvoyles on climbing Mt. Tallac. The view of the lake from the top is magnificent. There are two trails up, one from Glen Alpine Spring via Lake Gilmore and the other from the NW corner of Fallen Leaf Lake. It is a great one day hike.

Horsetail Falls has excellent granite. When I drove by today the flow level was moderatel/low. Other places with pretty water on granite are the outlet of Fontanillis as if flows down a pluton, and Cascade Falls (the water on that fall was moderate/low today). Following the Meeks Creek Trail from Meeks Bay, there is some nice granite backdrop for a series of lakes, in particular Genevieve, Crag, and Stony Ridge, though other places mentioned in the thread are even better.
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by brvoyles »

adamschneider wrote:
brvoyles wrote:I'm not a Granite Chief fan. I would recommend Twin Peaks over it.
What's wrong with GC?
I don't care for hiking through a major ski area.
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by Brookies1 »

I will be headed in to Showers Lake, Meiss meadows this Sunday afternoon coming back out Tuesday. Going in from the Carson pass trailhead and I will report back when I get back. Brookies
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by jimandluba »

Adam: Your initial lists and the subsequent reply suggestions are all fine - except for the Frog Lake hike. The mosquitos there this time of year should be quite bad. If you like long hikes and wildflowers and climbing, the Carson Pass south to past Frog Lake to Winnemucca to Round Top Lake, then up Round Top (a Class 2 climb at the top) hike is ideal. A CP Visitor Center volunteer told me today that the trail from the pass to Round Top Lake is now "clear."

The only hike I would add to the ones already mentioned is rated as the second most scenic stretch of the Pacfic Crest Trail: start at Echo Lakes resort, at the south end of Lower Echo Lake, then head north past Lower and Upper Echo Lakes and Tamarack Lake, over a c 8,250 ft. pass, then down to Lake Aloha, at 8,116 feet. The view across the lake to the snow-capped Crystal Range is stunning! My wife and I hike there every year.

BTW, I grew up in Eugene, OR. Have a safe trip. - Jim
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by adamschneider »

I have arrived! :D

I spent the night in the forest below Glass Mountain (near Tulelake) and checked into my South Lake Tahoe motel today, then went over to the USFS Visitor's Center at Taylor Creek to chat with the rangers right before they closed at 4:30. One of them said that if I was looking for a quick 'n' easy hike that I could still do yet this afternoon/evening, I should do Bayview to Maggie's Peaks. I'd been considering a Bayview/Eagle Lake loop, but the ranger said that walking on the road above Emerald Bay wasn't a good idea. (And having been out there now, I agree.)

So I got on the trail at about 5:00, hiked up to Granite Lake, bushwhacked straight up to Maggie's Peak South, found a semi-normal trail back down to Maggie's Saddle, and got back to my car at about 7:45. The big news from the trail was that I saw a bear — my first one ever, actually! It was golden-colored and was clawing at a stump and eating bugs about 50 yards below the trail, maybe 1/4 mile from the trailhead.

Wildflower report: as expected, it's pretty early and awfully dry. Lots of hot pink penstemon above Granite Lake; small-flowered manzanita and some kind of white ceanothus all over the place; quite a few bright red snow plants popping up just above the unofficial vista point between the trailhead and the lake. I followed Granite Lake's outlet stream a little ways below the lake and didn't find much (except for mosquitoes): a few cinquefoil, some labrabor tea, and a lot of corn lily that's just getting started. Very little water in the creek.
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by Brookies1 »

Back from meiss meadows area and the wild flowers are not as good as normal. The skeeters are really bad from about Four lakes all the way to Showers lake. It was real windy last night all night Long which did keep the bugs down. Brookies
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

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Well, I'm back home in Portland now, but in case anyone's curious as to what I was able to fit into my trip, here was my itinerary:

Sunday 6/22: Bayview Trail to Granite Lake and Maggies Peaks South (6 miles, out and back, 1800').

Monday 6/23: Squaw Valley's Shirley Canyon Trail to Shirley Lake, then counterclockwise around Emigrant Peak to the Watson Monument and High Camp; rode down on the aerial tram (6 miles, partial loop, 2500').

Tuesday 6/24: Carson Pass to Winnemucca Lake and the summit of Round Top; descended to Woods Lake, walked out to the highway, hitchhiked 3/4 mile back to Carson Pass (11 miles, loop, 2200').

Wednesday 6/25: Pyramid Creek to the top of Horsetail Falls; visited Avalanche Lake & Pitt Lake in Desolation Wilderness (6 miles, out and back, 1500').

Wednesday 6/25: Explored Chimney Beach and Secret Cove Beach on the east side of Lake Tahoe (2 miles, out and back, 200').

Thursday 6/26: Glen Alpine Trailhead to Lake Aloha via the Tamarack Trail; returned via Heather Lake, Susie Lake, and Glen Alpine Springs (15 miles, loop, 2000').

Friday 6/27: No hiking, I felt wobbly and my feet hurt. Instead I did a little driving tour down to Ebbetts Pass (CA-4) and the Mokelumne River, and then back across Monitor Pass (CA-89) on my way to Reno.
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by giantbrookie »

Now that's a nice sampling of the Tahoe area Sierra. You mentioned somewhat muted wildflowers in your earlier post. How were they on your Carson Pass area trip? The Carson Pass to Winnemucca stretch is usually one of the nicer wildflower displays in the Sierra.
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Re: A week of hiking near Tahoe (coming down from Oregon)

Post by adamschneider »

giantbrookie wrote:You mentioned somewhat muted wildflowers in your earlier post. How were they on your Carson Pass area trip?
They were nice, in spots, but certainly not at any sort of "Sound of Music" level. And the few people I stopped and chatted with all said it was a disappointing year... same as the people on this forum have said.
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