Mt. Rose ^2x P2K SPS / OGUL / PYNSP / WSC / GBP

Continued...

Ryan's first effort at Mt. Rose had been several years earlier, when too much lingering snow along the route caused us to turn back. There would be little snow this time around, and being two years older it would not be nearly the effort for him as it was back then. Still, he rated it a tough day.

We drove in from Carson City where we'd stayed the previous two nights. It was a relatively short drive on US50 to the east side of Lake Tahoe, then a nice drive north through Incline Village and up to the Mt. Rose Trailhead at the summit of SR431 where we arrived at 7a.

The first half of the trail is very pleasant with little elevation gain, nice walking through forested slopes with nice views of Mt. Rose and the surrounding terrain. It took us an hour to reach the cascade just above where the trail crosses the creek. Here the trail takes a curve to the right to avoid some cliffs above, then starts gaining elevation in earnest as it climbs to the saddle at the boundary of the Mt. Rose Wilderness where we arrived just before 9a. We took a break here for water, snacks, and a short rest.

It took most of another hour to make the final mile and a half to the summit of Mt. Rose. The views open up above treeline, but unfortunately they were obscured a great deal by smoke from numerous fires burning around Northern California. For the third day we found no register at the summit. Darn. Might have to start going after the more obscure peaks...

On the way back down we passed by more than a dozen parties making their way in various fashion to the summit, many with dogs, all of them friendly. Some were surprised that we had gotten such an early start. 7a is early? The whole outing took us just about 4.5hrs. It was Ryan's highest summit to date, just topping Mt. Lassen, but I suspect we'll beat Mt. Rose on our next trip to the Sierra in a few weeks. He did a much better job of refraining from the "Are we there yet?" syndrome, and I can't recall him complaining the whole hike. Maybe he's getting used to this? Maybe even enjoying it? Time will tell...

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