Continued...
Following a fun previous day, the second day went from good to bleh. After a
few early successes, I was finding more roads in the Lake Tahoe area closed due
to snow and COVID-19 concerns, and was having trouble finding interesting
things to climb. In the end, after yet another Forest Service road was found
blocked by snow, I decided to call it a day early and head home. At least I'll
have a better idea what to expect on my next trip to the area.
Picnic Rock
Found just east of Brockway Summit, this peak is easily accessible via the
,
with located SSW of the summit along SR267. I started off on the
trail, but eventually tired of its switchbacks (graded for horse, bikes and
foot traffic) and headed up more directly to the summit. The forest understory
is mostly clear and easily negotiated. offers a pretty good
view of Lake Tahoe to , the higher peaks along the south rim
still topped with plenty of snow. On the way down I simply skipped the trail
and made a beeline for the TH, taking only 15min for the
vs. twice that for the ascent.
Peak 7,350ft
This minor summit lies close to the CA/NV border, above the casinos at Crystal
Bay. The Stateline Fire Lookout once stood about 2/3mi to the south. Both are
located within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, a special zone around the
lake administered by the USFS. A TH is located on the Nevada side off Lakeview
Ave, a popular way to visit the lookout site. A sign on
indicates the
area is closed due to COVID-19 concerns, but it appears to be ignored
regularly, at least by the half dozen other parties I was sharing it with.
The parking is limited so I don't really understand the concern here as there
is little danger of crowding. It took less than 15min to walk the lookout road
to
where there are nice but no signs of a lookout save
a few concrete pads. The FS has built rock walls and installed some railing and
information plaques. I was the only one there in the early morning hour.
After taking in the nice , I turned north and followed a
series of along the ridge to the higher Peak 7,350ft. Near
the lower south summit is marked with chalk on various
holds. I could not really tell how popular this site might be, but I'd guess not
very. I continued to the highpoint, half-covered in forest, but with some views
of the lake looking and a modest boulder making a pleasant
perch. After a short break here I returned via the use trail to the saddle
between the two summits, then struck off down the untrailed eastside slopes,
steep and moderately brushy, more for the adventure than as a shortcut though
it proved adequate for both. I was
before 8:30a, having taken just over an hour on the outing.
My next effort was to drive around to the west side of the lake and attempt
to drive up to Barker Pass near Homewood. This paved road provides easy access
to the Sierra Crest and a number of peaks on either side of the pass that I
had yet to visit. Unfortunately the road was gated right at SR89 and I was
unable to drive the ten miles up to the TH. I needed a new plan. I decided to
head north to Interstate 80 and then visit some summits west of Donner Summit.
The next two summits were found on the drive north along SR89 and the Truckee
River.
Fir Crags
This one is exceedingly silly, not really sure why its even named on the topo
map. Located on the west side of the river, I didn't even think it was
accessible without a river crossing until I drove past
that services a handful of summer home found on the other side. I pulled a
U-turn in the middle of the highway and found a small parking place signed for
No Parking Nov 1 - Apr 30. It was less than a week outside that window, luckily.
I walked across and , turning left to
follow the dirt road to its end. None of the homes were
currently occupied, most boarded up. In fact I could have driven in on the road
and simply parked next to the rounded bump that constitutes Fir Crags. There is
really nothing craggy about it - one climbs 50ft up a slope to
with a few moderate-sized boulders overlooking the river.
Painted Rock
This was the most involved summit of the day, also along SR89 and the Truckee
River though on the east side this time. It's about 1,500ft of gain and a
little over two miles to the summit from where I parked at a bridge where the
highway moves from the east side of the river to the west side. Parking is
found just south of the bridge. An
gets one to the paved river bike
path that goes under the bridge. I started on this, but a better way would be
to cross to the east side of the highway and immediately gain access to a dirt
that climbs up towards Painted Rock and Peak
7,668ft. I had thought this would be a mostly cross-country effort, but it turns
out there is a network of above the highway. These
connect with spur jeep roads higher up
that might be accessible from Mt. Watson Rd to the east. None of
these would be currently open to jeeps or bikes as there was too much snow still
above 7,000ft. I used a combination of trail, road and cross-country travel to
make my way to in about an hour and ten minutes. The
craggy summit has weak views due to surrounding trees, though one can see
distant views of and a decent view to the
Sierra Crest south of the Alpine Meadows ski area. There was a forlorn-looking
under some rocks at the summit, the
plastic tub broken and the contents exposed to the elements. I could see no
reason why the summit had the name Painted Rock - there was nothing that looked
unusually colored and the summit isn't even visible from a distance of greater
than about 100yds in any direction. I next turned my attention to Peak 7,668ft
to the south, about 1.5mi away and a few hundred feet lower. Unfortunately,
there was a good deal of snow between the two. I had managed to reach Painted
Rock with almost no snow travel and I hadn't carried my snowshoes with me
thinking there would be very little. Now that it was after 11a, I was finding
the snow softening and I was beginning to posthole as I headed to Peak 7,668ft.
I got only perhaps a quarter mile before abandoning the idea - it just wasn't
going to be much fun postholing through 3/4mi of snow with soaked boots. I was
back down to by noon, with half the day still remaining.
I drove west on the Interstate to Cisco Grove, exiting for the Lake Valley
Reservoir where I was interested in some of the surrounding peaks including
Monument Ridge and Black Mountain. More bad news. The road around the
reservoir was open but blocked by snow after about a mile. I turned around and
then attempted to drive south over the dam for Black Mtn. This was gated and
signed for No Trespassing as PG&E was planning upgrades to the dam and wanted
to keep the public out until the end of the year. A bit frustrated, I decided
to call it a day and drive home, not a bad thing in the end. At least I had
a good first-hand idea what the snow conditions were like in the area and could
gauge that it would be another month before the backcountry roads begin to
really open up. I could find other things to do in the meantime...