Summer is moving right along in Tahoe (a little too fast for me). Our weather has been just about perfect lately, although yesterday the winds kicked up a little. It is amazing to see snow still
Lying rather deep on many north facing slopes in the upper elevations. A couple of friends and I hiked along the Pacific Crest Trail beginning at Barker Pass (on the west side of the ridge line above Blackwood Canyon), and headed for Twin Peaks. Just over a mile into the hike we encountered a rather large field of snow covering the trail on a rather steep slope. Other hikers had negotiated the slope and continued hiking, but we decided to turn around and try something else.
There are a number of hikes available from Barker Pass. These include hiking the PCT north or south, hiking to Ellis Peak, or driving a little further west to the Powderhorn Trailhead. We decided to try hiking south with Bear Lake as our new destination. None of us had ever been to Bear Lake, so this sounded like a good plan. The map we took from the PCT, and Tahoe Rim Trailhead, kiosk indicated a road led to Bear Lake from a point a couple of miles down the PCT.
The hike to the road was really very nice. We walked through fields of flowers, open slopes covered with green grass, or slopes filled with two foot tall Corn Lilies. There were stretches in the shade of tall trees, including at least one grove of Hemlock. This stretch of the Tahoe Rim Trail and PCT is very well graded and a pleasure to hike. There were plenty of birds, flowers, and even a honey colored bear to identify along the way. After about two miles of hiking we arrived at the dirt road shown on or map. This turns out to be a pretty well graded OHV trail that is apparently well used by 4×4 owners, ATV riders, and off road motor bikers. With the exception of a couple of bikers, who zoomed by us creating a storm of dust, those traveling on, or in, motorized vehicles were courteous and slowed down when passing us. The mile and a half walk on the dusty road was not exciting, but it led us to Bear Lake. This is a very nice medium size lake with a few camping spots long its edge. I imagine the lake warms up enough for swimming during the summer. It did not appear to be really cold. We turned around and traced our tracks back to the car. This ended up being about 11.5 miles of hiking. If you want to venture out to Bear Lake in a motorized vehicle, get a map. It can be done off the Barker Pass road or from the McKinney-Rubicon Road. Of course, I prefer to walk to these hidden treasures. There is a way to make a loop of this hike that would require hiking beyond Bear Lake toward Ellis Peak.
Looking from the trail at the Desolation Wilderness one see mountain covered in snow. Many of the upper elevation trails appear to remain covered in snow. We met a couple of hikers making their way to Canada from Mexico along the PCT. They reported lots of snow along the route. Apparently this has not slowed them down, but they had been using crampons to negotiate many slopes.
The Truckee River is running very low. It is too low for good rafting at this point in time. Tahoe is full to just below the rim and looks so inviting.
Article by: Andy Wertheim
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