Mon, Jul 14, 2014
|
With: | Jim Burd |
With just over 1,400ft of prominence, unofficially named Haakens Peak is the most
prominent peak I had yet to climb in the Tahoe region and was high on my list of
hikes while in the area for a family reunion. Of the 36 folks that assembled for
the occasion, my brother Jim was the only one with the desire to join me on the
15mi outing. Most were either ill-suited or strongly disposed against the
early start time, preferring the late-night party atmosphere that prevailed over
the event most evenings. It took about 45min to drive around the south side of Lake
Tahoe and Emerald Bay to reach our trailhead
at Meeks Bay on the lake's west side.
Starting off at 6:45a, we plied the trail that follows north of Meeks Creek and
the wide, glacier-carved valley leading away from the bay in a southwesterly
direction. The trail follows an old road leading to the
upper end of the valley where it becomes
a single-track after a mile and a half. After a short uphill to around
the two mile mark, the Desolation Wilderness
boundary is encountered.
We passed by
a group of Boy Scouts taking their time in packing up camp. Most of them looked to
be waiting around while the laggards in the group got their act together and their
tents and gear packed away - it reminded me of one of my dislikes with camping in
such groups. More gradual climbing ensues before the trail
crosses
Meeks Creek to the south side where it
meanders to the 7,400-foot level
and
Lake Genevieve at the 4.5mi mark. The lake is the lowest of a series
that lie in a higher valley to the southeast, situated between two high ridges
reaching over 9,000ft. The eastern ridge formed by
Rubicon Peak and
Jakes Peak overlooks Lake Tahoe and makes for a fine outing. I
had traversed that ridge more than seven years earlier
as a winter outing. Today's outing was on the west side of this high valley,
along the ridge that forms part of the Pacific Crest. As we paused here, viewing
the ridge for the first time, I laid out the full plan for Jim.
The highpoint was located at the southern end of the ridge with two bonus summits located to the north. I explained that the easiest approach to the highpoint would follow the trail past the lakes to near Phipps Pass before ascending to Haakens Peak from the south. I intended to tag the bonus peaks along the ridge from the north and then descend down to the lakes after reaching Haakens. Jim looked at the undulating ridge between Peak 8,721ft and Crag Peak and thought it looked more tedious than fun. I couldn't really argue with him, but it wasn't going to change my mind in any case. He chose to follow the trail past the lakes. I told him if we didn't meet on the summit that I would build two small cairns to let him know I'd been there. In that case, he said, "I'll chase back down to catch up with you." A fair plan.
I took the trail fork heading north around Genevieve (this trail is depicted on the
15' map, but oddly left off the 7.5' maps though the trail is in good condition),
leaving it after a quarter mile to start up the ridge. Parts of this ridge were
brushy at the start, but with careful route-finding I had little trouble. The
ridgeline proved more interesting than tedious and I enjoyed the next two hours as
I made my way along it. Forest cover helped cut down on the brush in most places
and where the ridge grew difficult it was easy enough to bypass these places by
dropping a short distance on the west side. Peak 8,721ft, the furthest
north, was
reached after about 50 minutes. The rocky summit was free of
trees with nice views looking down on
the lakes to the east and south
along the crest to the higher summits. Unofficially named
Crag Peak was another 35min along the ridge with a drop of just over
300ft to a saddle between it and the first peak.
Haakens was another
20 minutes further south with only a minor drop along the way. The scrambling was
never more than easy class 3 and would probably be rated class 2 were one to take
the easiest options.
Up until I reached the top, I had referred to the summit as Peak 9,310ft. To some
surprise, there was an ammo box
containing a register dating to 2010. From reading
the
first page
of the register, I gathered that someone had named the peak after
their infant son, norse for "Chosen One". They had even installed a sign at the
peak which had since been removed. I figured anyone that goes to that much
trouble to name a peak deserves some help, so I've used the name in this trip
report and my peak database. We'll see if it sticks 20yrs from now. I checked the
last page but did not find Jim's name. I was going to settle in for a longish wait,
but after about 15min I found the flies hovering about the summit area simply too
annoying. I built the two small cairns, took some photos of the fine views
(
N -
E - S
-
W) and started down.
I whistled and shouted periodically as I started off to the southeast, intending
to follow the ridge towards Phipps Pass, but veered off that course as I followed
the easy terrain in a more easterly direction. Hearing no response and thinking a
more direct route down to Stony Ridge Lake would be significantly shorter, I
changed tact to the northeast as I made my way down through a cliff area that
looks more difficult from below than it proved to be from above. Along the way I
passed by several flowering meadows and descended some fun granite slabs,
getting
myself from the summit down to the trail in a respectable 40min. It was now a just
a matter of following
the trail
back to Meeks Bay, taking me two hours to cover the six mile distance.
The trail was far more popular
in the afternoon than it had been in the early
morning and I passed by almost a dozen parties along the way. I never bothered to
ask them if they had seen a lone, bearded hiker ahead of me, figuring I'd probably
run into him back at
the TH.
With some cell reception, I left him several messages
to give him my expected return time so he could judge where I was.
I had guessed that the cliffs may have proved too much
or perhaps he had napped along one of the lakes and decided against going to the
summit. It was only when I found the van deserted and neither Jim nor his gear
anywhere abouts that I realized he was some time behind me. It would prove a very
long time. Jim had indeed gone to the summit, reaching it near as we could tell,
about 15min after me. After noting my cairns and my signature in the register, he
had gone back towards Phipps Pass on his return. Hiking once again on the trail
past the lakes, he concluded that I was either behind him or very far ahead of him.
He asked various parties if they had seen me, but none had and he began to conclude
I was behind. Consequently he began to wait at various points and his return
dragged on longer. Being more than an hour ahead of him once on the trail, it was
not surprising that he came across no one having seen me. By the time he returned
to Meeks Bay I had been 2.5hrs in the van, alternately napping and finding small
things to do to occupy my time. I hadn't realized he had left his phone in the
car and my texts were for naught - that
might have helped save us an hour or so. In any event, we weren't all
that pressed for time. It was my turn to make dinner for the clan and even with
Jim's late return after 3:30p, there was plenty of time to drive back, shop for
groceries and whip up a taco/burrito fiesta. Salud!
This page last updated: Tue May 12 09:23:10 2015
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