For a short, 2-day trip to the Sierra, I targeted the Tahoe National Forest
around the Webber Lake area. I was interested in a group of ten
summits that lie on the Sierra Crest, part of a long-term effort to climb the
peaks on
California's Pacific Divide. I left
San Jose the previous evening at 5:30p so that I could have a full day of
hiking today. I only got out of the driveway before my TPMS went off, telling
me I had only 8lbs of pressure in one tire. I had just placed my Starbucks
mobile order, too. Seems my flat was related to my previous trip when I ran
over some branches (a common enough occurrence) and got a sharp piece of wood
to pierce the rubber and steel belts. I cleaned out the wound and used my patch
kit to plug the hole and to some little surprise, it worked. 30min later I was
on my way, picking up my drink before heading off.
My coffee
addiction had me camping at Donner Summit that night. I could easily have
driven the remaining 45min to Webber Lake, but I figured this way I could stop
at Starbucks in Truckee in the early morning for another fix. Knowing they
open at 5a, I was up by 5:15a and soon enjoying another venti iced coffee to
power me through the morning. I had figured if I got seven
or eight summits today I would be doing good, but things went quite well and I
ended up with twelve. Mostly this was due to my plugging away all day - I was
surprised to find that I had energy to last me all day, perhaps due in no
small part to the five shots of espresso in my morning drink.
Peak 8,450ft - Peak 8,740ft - Peak 8,812ft
Google maps does not do non-paved roads very well, as it does not distinguish
between well-graded dirt roads and poorer ones. So when it showed me a route
to White Rock Lake that was not what I was expecting, I was suspicious but
curious at the same time. I decided to follow the new route which was shorter
but by no means quicker. It was a fun route which I enjoyed, complete with a
few mud bogs that were deeper than they looked. It would have been far less
than fun without the jeep, to be sure. I ended up at a saddle north of Peak
8,450ft, one of the peaks on my itinerary around White Rock Lake.
runs across this saddle on its way north from the vicinity of
White Rock Lake. The summit of Peak 8,450ft
was only 1/3mi from the saddle, so I parked and headed up to tag it, figuring
it would make the planned White Rock Loop a bit easier. I carried my pack with
me but had neglected to add any water or Gatorade, not really important since
it was such a short hike. It was an easy through
forest to the with a small cairn and wide-open
. It occurred to me that
I could hike the other two summits from there, saving me the extra driving
to get to White Rock Lake. If only I'd brought something to drink. I decided to
go without, figuring I could drink out of a creek or the lake, if needed.
I set off on the connecting to
its higher neighbor to the east, Peak 8,740ft, taking about 45min to get between
the two. At the saddle I crossed over the PCT where it begins to descend off
the ridge. Peak 8,740ft is also wide open to views, with White Rock Lake in
the valley below to and Mt. Lola rising higher to
. I left at the pleasant summit, figuring it
probably doesn't see many
visitors. The third and last summit was Peak 8,812ft to the southeast, on the
other side of White Rock Lake. One could follow the Sierra Crest around
White Rock Lake (and even climb Mt. Lola enroute), but the easiest way is to
to White Rock Lake and take advantage of
on the north side
of the lake. Besides, the low-point on the crest route is only 200ft higher than
White Rock Lake, so one doesn't save much in elevation. It was a 900-foot drop
to the road at the lake, then a pleasant stroll along the road through various
lakeside campsites, none currently being used. At the east end of the lake I
left the trail, crossed the
(where I quickly drank some water while franticly fighting off
mosquitoes), and picked up the Mt. Lola Trail heading east. I might have been
better to simply skip the trail and head directly up to Peak 8,812ft, but I was
hoping to use the Warren Lake Trail shown on the topo as going to a high saddle
west of the summit. This trail turns out to be mostly mythical. I should have
been suspicious because it is shown as a smoothly curving trail on the map, just
the style the map-makers use when they denote something like "Location
approximate." I did find a small cairn marking what looked like
near the saddle with Mt. Lola, but the trail forking south
was indistinct and didn't seem to want to head up towards the peak. The
turned out to be pretty easy, and it took only 20min to
reach the summit from the junction. With few trees, the views are open all
around - to Independence Lake, to Castle and
Basin Peaks, to the first two summits of the day.
I
off the summit, hoping to follow the ridge down for about a mile
to pick up the PCT going over the west shoulder. There is an intermediate
point to the west that requires a 200-foot climb to stay on the ridge and in
hindsight I should have just done that. Instead, I got lazy and tried to
circumvent this by traversing around the north side. This turned into a lot of
sidehilling that was more work than it would have been otherwise, and because
of steep snow clinging to the northern aspect of the ridgeline, I couldn't
return to the ridge until half a mile later. Oh well. When I finally met up
with the PCT, it happened to be as were going over the
shoulder, one from each direction. With me coming downhill from the northeast,
it made it seem like a very busy location. I followed down to
where I got another opportunity for hydration, then
up 700ft to and between the first two
peaks. The topo map
has a generalized drawing of the PCT in this location, much like the Warren
Lake Trail, but at least this one actually exists. It wasn't yet 11a when I
got back to the jeep. Almost nine miles altogether and a very enjoyable loop.
Peak 7,788ft
Back in the driver's seat, I piloted the jeep down the west side of the saddle,
enjoying the remainder of my which I'd kept nicely chilled
in the cooler. I drove through the very lush on my way to
the Meadow Lake
area, about 40min further west. The road conditions improved when I got to
Meadow Lake Rd (FR86), suitable for any vehicle (there were numerous RVs parked
at campsites on the west side of the lake). Meadow Lake was the site of
,
a mining boom and bust town home to thousands for a few short years
following the Civil War. Hardly a trace of the town remains today. Peak 7,788ft
lies north of Summit City, a rough forest road running over a high saddle on
the west side of the summit. lies within a parcel owned by a
private timber interest (a checkerboard of parcels are owned by the Sierra
Pacific Corp throughout the area), and has been thinned and
culled over the years, with little left in a natural condition. Trees block
views from the top, but the hike is a short one, taking less than ten minutes.
Peak 7,670ft - Peak 7,704ft
I drove back down to Summit City, then southwest on the Baltimore Trail, a
rough 4WD road. The road goes to the old Baltimore Town site south of Baltimore
Lake, but you can't drive it past the saddle northeast of Pt. 7,594ft. Even
getting to this point is pretty rough and I stopped off the road just south of
Peak 7,704ft where it get's serious. It was a pleasant enough hike of about
2.5mi out to Peak 7,670ft, following first along the road, then becoming a
for the second half. The trail descends to
picturesque , becoming the as
it towards , passing over a high
saddle on the southeast side of the peak. The summit is a granite knob with
superb views to the and , overlooking Beyers Lakes
and the high ridge forming Black Buttes. I left a second
here before returning the way I came. Shortly before getting back to the jeep,
I turned off to follow northeast to
Peak 7,704ft, between and Lakes. The summit is
comprised of open granite
outcrops overlooking the two lakes. The spot elevation shown on the topo map
is at the northwest
summit, but I think the point to the southeast may be several feet higher.
After taking in the views, I dropped south off the higher summit to
more directly to the jeep, finishing by 3p.
Hartley Butte
This small rock outcrop southwest of Meadow Lake is named for Henry Hartley,
a trapper who had built a cabin here and had found the gold flakes that began
all the wild speculation about the area. In the end, it was estimated that
some $2M was invested in the area for a return of perhaps $100,000 in gold.
The butte is a short five minute climb to an open, from
where one can take in both Meadow Lake to and Fordyce
Lake to .
Meadow Lake Hill
This short ridgeline rises above the east side of Meadow Lake. A forest road
climbs up from the north and east sides, going over the shoulder on the ridge
.
Like Peak 7,788ft, the hill lies on a private timber
parcel that has been reconfigured over the years with bulldozers and heavy
equipment, reworking much of the summit ridge. Only are
available from the .
Peak 8,166ft - Lacey BM
It was 4p before I finished up with the previous summit but I still had more
than four hours of daylight. I also had seemed to have plenty of energy to keep
going, helped by the driving and snack breaks during the day that helped me
pace myself better. These two summits are found northeast of Meadow Lake, both
on the Sierra Crest. The PCT follows close to the crest in this area,
providing relatively easy access to both summits. To make things easier, a
spur forest road climbs up from the main FR86 on the east side of the crest,
reaching to the saddle between the two summits. Only modest high-clearance is
needed to reach it. I
and on the PCT, aiming
first for Peak 8,166ft. climbs about half the 600ft distance
to the summit before veering left to bypass the summit on the southwest side.
The cross-country is not difficult, the ground covered in shin-high scrub that
is easy to pick a path through. About 20min was needed to reach the pile of
rocks marking with . After returning
to the jeep for a swig of Gatorade, I set off on the PCT again, this time
for Lacey BM. This is a longer hike than Peak 8,166ft,
but more pleasant with
that takes one nearly to the summit in about 35min. A short cross-country
jaunt for a few hundred feet brings you to , all of
about 3ft in height. A reference mark is embedded in this rock but
is found
about a dozen yards to the west in a scattering of rocks where a survey tower
once stood.
Peak 7,770ft
After returning to the jeep, I spent the better part of an hour driving north
to Webber Lake and beyond. I had tried to use some forest roads on the north
side of Webber Peak to access that summit, but the road was gated at the
pavement at Henness Pass. I would find a way up that one the next day. I
continued north up a rough forest road from Henness Pass that connected with
the much better FR12. This I followed up for several miles and off on a spur
road until I could drive no more on the southwest side of Peak 7,770ft. The
hike to the unimpressive takes less than 10min. No view, and
no obvious highpoint.
Peak 7,944
A little more than a mile to the southwest of Peak 7,770ft, Peak 7,944ft is
another ten minute effort through timber harvested forest.
is a
little more obvious, but still no views. The spur road (4580) I drove on to get
closer was brushy and hardly worth the extra effort. Small pines are starting
to grow up in the middle of and will eventually relegate the
road back to nature. At least until the next harvest. It was after 8p by the
time and a good time to call it a day. I drove the short
distance down
to Bonta Saddle where I camped for the night. The last two summits had been
pretty lame, but the day overall was a good one...
Continued...