Recently in Tahoe Area Category
It's that time of year again, where us wimmin-folk throw on our packs and go out to play in the dirt for a few days without our men to keep us safe from bears and marmots. Somehow we survive without them - amazing, I know. This year our destination was Fourth Of July Lake in Mokelumne Wilderness, a beautiful lake with beaches, tasty fish, and sprawling campsites. There was no swimming and margaritas this year, however - instead we were treated to a morning dusting of snow, blasting winds, and far below freezing temperatures. And, as always, we had a great time. Thanks Selena for the amazing pan-fried trout!
My camera wasn't out as much on this hike as usual, mostly because I didn't want it to be blown out of my hands. I'll get to the few photos I took sometime...but in the meantime, here are links to Maria's photos and Theresa's photos. They did a great job of documenting both the scenery and the fun.
Dave and I headed up to Desolation Wilderness this Memorial Day weekend with the standard group. As usual, a good time was had by all. Saturday we started at the Bay View Trailhead and hiked over Maggie's Peak to the Velma Lakes region. After some confusion, we all regrouped and set up our campsites at Upper and Middle Velma lakes. On Sunday we dayhiked Phipps Peak, then all came together at the same site at Upper Velma. The tequila and wine came out and we had a great time sharing stories and backpacking plans until the booze ran out. Can't wait for the next one!
David and I spent the weekend up in Eldorado National Forest near Lake Tahoe. Our mission was twofold: do some snowshoeing, and get some firewood. After picking up the woodcutting permit and getting our 2007 fire permits (always good to pick those up early, instead of worrying about it later in the summer), we drove up to Loon Lake. We had our snowshoes along but it turns out we barely needed them. There was about a foot of snow at the lake, and it was almost entirely melted out in the sunny areas. Saturday night we found a decent backcountry campsite near a campground that was closed for the winter season. Too bad there was no snow! It felt much more like a summer weekend in the mountains than February - bright and sunny and in the 60s both days. Photos here: Loon Lake
We decided to head out to Desolation Wilderness this weekend. Although we'd checked out several trails from the Wright's Lake area, we hadn't been in to Gertrude Lake and chose to visit it. No one else was there on this cold and windy pre-winter weekend, so it was nice to have the lake all to ourselves. Temps got into the 20s overnight, and the wind was gusting pretty good - I was happy that we had a sheltered campsite! I snapped a few photos, click on the photo of the tree for the album or here: Gertrude Lake, Desolation Wilderness
Theresa organized a girls only backpack this weekend at Island Lake in Tahoe National Forest. We enjoyed the lake, some tasty beverages, and even did a little bit of hiking. Pictures are here: Island Lake.
In an attempt to escape the record heat of the Bay Area, we drove up to Desolation Wilderness for an easy but incredibly scenic overnight backpack. It was still hot up in the mountains, but at least we had an icy cold mountain lake for cooling ourselves down. Pictures with trip information are available by clicking on the photo to the left or here:
Twin Lakes, Desolation Wilderness.
Enjoy!
I'm a bit behind in updating pictures. Click on the photo to see some photos from our trip to South Lake Tahoe two weekends ago. We decided to do two different cross country ski trails and stayed in SLT Saturday night. Saturday was a ski in along snowed in forest road from Highway 88 to Scott's Lake. It wasn't far, but it was a long ski in since we were breaking trail through a bunch of fresh powder, not to mention the climb. Before we started the ski we watched two people set up a dog sled - the pooches were so excited to get out in the snow and run around.
Sunday we checked out one of the marked (but not groomed) trails at Strawberry Canyon along Highway 50. Although the Forest Service marks the 42 mile tract as a legitimate parking for trail access, the cop that wanted to ticket us didn't think so. Luckily he decided not to ticket, and David showed him the NFS handout that labelled that exact spot as legal parking, though I don't think he cared. He was all concerned about the people who 'lived back in those cabins that needed to park there'. Someone needs to tell him that they were all closed for the winter. Anyways, click on the photo above for the full album.
We spent the weekend up in the snow at Wood's Lake, near Carson Pass. Temperatures were colder than we usually encounter in the Sierra, but the great company, hot chocolate, and down layers kept us warm.
Although it was cold (7 degrees when I crawled into my sleeping bag on Saturday night), the weather was nice - fresh snow blanketed everything and the sun would come and go in between small squalls. The scenery was fantastic.
The only bad part was the drive out on Sunday - below Kirkwood it was storming terribly - visibility was zero and the snow was accumulating fast. I was glad when we got down enough to be out of the snow - but we had to get below 2000 feet to get out of it!
Our photos are in the album here:Woods Lake Snowcamping.
Photos from others who were on the trip:
Last weekend a group of us from the Northern CA hiking group planned on a nice snowcamping trip to Lake Winnemucca near Carson Pass along highway 88. Although there was a storm forecasted for Sunday night, we were only expecting a few inches of snow over the weekend, with plenty of time to get out before the big storm hit. It turns out the system grew and moved in quicker than expected, dumping 2-3 feet of snow on us along with gusting winds.
It was a weekend that tested our gear and skills, and although the experience isn't exactly what I'd call 'fun' it was good test of our limits. Also, if you park at the Meiss Meadow snowpark be prepared to dig yourself out. We were there for approximately six hours and it was never plowed. A car-width path to highway 88 had to be shovelled out, which took all afternoon with several people shovelling.
For Steve's photos, click here.
For Theresa's photos, click here.
For Jason's photos, click here.
Dave only took a couple of photos that can be found in the calipidder photo gallery here.
It was the first snowcamping trip of the season this weekend at Round Top lake. We met 8 Northern California hikers and had a great time! Thanks everyone! Click on the photo above for the full album.
