Aug 30, 2018
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Etymology |
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Mildred Ridge is a P1K in Tahoe National Forest that has been on my todo list for more than a decade. I had done a snowshoe outing years ago to Mildred Peak from the Alpine Meadows Ski Area, but had failed to note the higher summit a short distance to the north. Since then, I've been tackling P1Ks in the state as my sort of default "what should I do this week", and Mildred has slowly been working its way back to the forefront. I had tried to reach it two days earlier from the southwest off Wentworth Springs Rd, but the connecting road was currently closed to the public for reasons unknown. I decided to take an alternate approach from the north off Interstate 80 at Soda Springs, and was driving through the Tahoe Lake Basin to reach it. While I was online in South Lake Tahoe the previous evening, I was looking for another peak I could do in conjunction since it wasn't going to take more than a few hours. I came upon Scott Peak with just shy of 750ft of prominence. It would do nicely.
Starting off around 10:30a, I spent the first 40min hiking various spur roads that took me higher up onto the summit's West Ridge. The roads continue a bit further still, but they meander less directly than the ridge itself and with debris coverage and modest brush, didn't seem to offer any real advantage. I found the ridge a little brushy to start, but it improved as I got higher, a mix of dwarf manzanita, talus, light forest and grass/rock slopes. There was no sign of a use trail but the cross-country was fairly enjoyable. It was after noon before I reached the highpoint, found at the north end of Mildred Ridge (with Mildred Peak anchoring the southern end). There was a Pete Yamagata / NAS (Northern Alpine Section) register from 1991, housed in a rusty and deteriorating can. The contents had been subject to repeated bouts of moisture and mold, rendering portions of the contents difficult to read. I thumbed through the many pages, noting a number of familar names, but didn't bother to photograph each page as usual - just too many entries on this one. The views are nice, overlooking a large swath of the Tahoe National Forest and most of the Granite Chief Wilderness, but no views of Lake Tahoe due to the intervening higher ridgeline of the Sierra Crest. My return route was much the same back down the West Ridge, getting me back to the Jeep by 1:30p. Neither peak was particularly special and it certainly wasn't a banner day, but I was happy to get Mildred Ridge taken off the todo list after so many years. I still had a long drive back to San Jose, but thankfully most of the route was paved, giving me a chance to shed some of the several pounds of dust I'd collected on (and in) the Jeep over the past three days...
This page last updated: Tue Sep 11 13:42:18 2018
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