Posted by Karen on 16-Jul-2005
(Click the photo for all 73 photos)
I joined Ron, Jim, Jon, Dick, Lisa, Maria, and her son Francis (age 7) for what was supposed to be a four day backpack trip into the Desolation Wilderness area of the El Dorado National Forest on the western side of Lake Tahoe; Ron had secured permits for us several months ago. We started from the Bayview Trailhead, donned our packs and started up the trail. The Bayview Trail starts off as a steady incline and rises for about 1,800 feet in the first couple of miles. The upside to all this climbing is that you keep seeing beautiful view of Lake Tahoe along the trail. Jon and Dick set off at a fast pace and I didn’t see them again that first day. The rest of us followed at a slower pace. Once you climb to the top of the first leg of the trail, it becomes a bit more level and even goes down a bit. Granite Lake is the first to come into view, a pretty little lake surrounded by granite. We pressed on, enjoying views of the mountains, flora and fauna. When we arrived at the trail split for Velma Lakes versus Dicks Lake, we stopped and rested for a bit. It was an hot day, apparently 95′F isn’t the norm up there! Francis was becoming ill, so Lisa and I refilled water containers while Ron and Jim scouted for a suitable campsite. Even though we still had a ways to go before we reached Dicks Lake, we all thought it better to shorten the hike; and from everyone we talked to, Dicks Lake was swarming and overrun with mosquitoes. We set up camp, fought off the mosquitoes, prepared dinner, hid in our tents from the mosquitoes, joined Jim for slushy margaritas (he knows how to backpack!) and then went back to hiding from the mosquitoes.
Distance: 5 miles. Time: 5 hours. Elevation Change: 1,800 feet.
Posted by Karen on 06-May-2005
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I joined Paul for a roadtrip through Nevada. Paul has traveled this road before, but this was my first trip into Nevada beyond the slot machines of Reno and Las Vegas and it is still the wild west out there! We traveled east on Highway 50. First we came to Sand Mountain, an off-road vehicle park where people were having fun despite the rain. We continued east till we came to the town of Austin, a small little town right about smack-dab in the middle of Nevada. In Austin, we checked out Stokes Castle, a stone tower that overlooks the valley. It was built in the 1890s and the family actually ended up only living it in for 2 months. Leaving Austin, we started leaving the paved road and headed for Pete’s Summit in the Toquima Mountain Range. We stopped to check out Spencer Hot Springs, decided it was way too cold to even think about enjoying them and then continued on to Toquima Caves. We reach the Toquima Caves campgrounds (elevation 7,880 feet) and had our pick of spots since nobody else was around. We quickly set up camp and then headed down the path to the caves before it got dark. There were lots of pretty little flowers along the path. The cave entrance is fenced off to protect the petroglyphs inside. These are American Indian drawings that date from approximately 1000 BC to AD 1500. The whole area is a very pretty red volcanic rock.
Posted by Karen on 23-Apr-2005
(Click photo for all 155 photos)
On Saturday morning Lisa, Paul and I met up with Michael, Richard, Brian, Jason and Howard for a trek up to the top of Yosemite Falls. Yosemite Falls (2,425 ft), the world’s fifth tallest, is actually made up of three separate falls: Upper Yosemite Fall (1,430 ft), the middle cascades (675 ft), and Lower Yosemite Fall (320 ft). The trail was not nearly as crowded as it was when we did this hike last May. Yosemite Falls was absolutely gorgeous and we had lovely views of it for most of the trail up. After we lunched at the top of the falls, we decided to head over to Yosemite Point, which is another mile and 500 more feet up on the other side of Yosemite Creek. The trail to Yosemite Point was still buried under snow, so we scrambled up the granite facing to get there. A steep climb, but I did see my first marmot critter on the way up! To get off of Yosemite Point, we decided the granite facing was too steep to go down, so we took the snow-covered trail back… 98% of my steps were knee-deep into the snow, except for the little bit where I took out my seat cushion and slid down the hill! Once safely off the snow, it was a return trip down the skyscraper-high mountain. Back at Curry Village we enjoyed an early dinner and a sound sleep that night.
Distance: 9 miles. Time: 8 hours. Elevation Gain: approximately 3280′.
Posted by Karen on 19-Feb-2005
(Click photo for all 38 photos)
Joined Gary and Dave from the Sacramento Sierra Club Photography Section for a snowshoe trip out of Carson Pass. This was my first snowshoeing trip and my first “photography” trip, where the goal was pictures and not just hiking. Unfortunately, the weather was not very cooperative. We trekked up the first hill to a great spot for photographing the mountain ranges and right after the guys set up their tripods and equipment (lots of stuff that I don’t have), out comes a big black cloud to block the sun. Don’t worry, it’ll pass… well it didn’t and out came the snow! Anyway, not the best photography day, but had a fun day overall.
Distance: approximately 2 miles. Time: 3 hours. Elevation Change: approximately 400′.
