Loch Levin/Salmon Lake

Yes; Salmon Lake really was that beautiful. Lower Loch Levin is stunning also. Read on. :)

This week, I went up to Tahoe for a hike with my son. It was his first hike with me, and he did a great job--enthusiastic and interested from beginning to end. Very cool.

We went to the Loch Levin group of lakes (Upper, Middle, Lower, and Salmon) because:

1. I love glacial lakes, and I thought my son would like them too,


2. this hike had four lakes from which to choose,


3. the trail was relatively low elevation and so little chance of losing it due to snow.
   

Below: At the trailhead, Loch Levin trailhead signage is a little subtle; it's a tiny wooden sign opposite a parking lot, clearly a trailhead parking lot, near the Big Bend turnoff on 80. Follow the signs to Big Bend, and then, once at the parking lot, look on the mountain side of the road for a tiny wooden sign.

The hike starts out with a fairly rigorous granite trail, plenty of uneven terrain and loose rocks, and the cairns (and the map/compass) proved invaluable in helping us keep on the trail in the early stages.

Below: The trail offers you a variety of terrains upon which to hike; pretty early on, a small section with a lush fern covered forest offers needed respite from the granite sun exposure, railway tracks to cross, dried loam, some damp riverlets, and (mostly) fairly rugged, uneven, loose granite. Below is an example of the granite/riverlet erosion type of trail you'll encounter on your way to Loch Levin lakes.

Fairly quickly, you come to a pretty good sized creek with a small but musical waterfall, and a paddling hole my son deemed to be the 'best swimming hole in the world.' It's worth pausing to see this little water wonder in the middle of all the granite. You don't have to cross it, but if you come during snowmelt time, it's worth watching for a few minutes.

About the railway tracks; they're 1.25 miles, and it's a fairly busy train track. Just keep your eyes and ears open to avoid tragedy.

We placed a quarter on the track on the way up to see if we could find it again upon our return. (No luck; I think it flew off to the side somewhere under the weight of the train.)

Apparently, the train tracks were built by hand in the 1860's by Chinese laborers. They're still a major thoroughfare today for train traffic.

Below: My son enjoying his well-deserved lunch on a granite slab at Lower Loch Levin. It's a fairly steep trail from the tracks to this lake; you'll climb from 6000 to 6800 feet in 1.25 miles.

We had the lake to ourselves for lunch. We bumped into perhaps six total other hikers during the entire hike. The trail gets much busier on weekends, but on weekdays, it seems to be a secluded pretty little spot to enjoy.

On our way up to the lake, we did see an unaccompanied brown lab, busy and intent on his way back down the trail. No owners in sight, however, and no inquiries about a lost dog, so quite the puzzle.

Below: Another view of Lower Loch Leven: you can see water lilies and some leaves on the surface of the lake.

Below:: Just past the end of the lake, you'll see a sign indicating the way to Salmon Lake and to both Middle and Upper Loch Levins. You can see that the three lakes are very close together.

My son, however, chose to go to Salmon Lake, not on this sign although there was a clearly established use-trail to the left of the trail here, and so off we went to Salmon Lake--our ultimate destination and well worth a visit. As always, glacial lakes are stunning, and I had heard good things about Salmon, and I was looking forward to seeing it with my son.

Plus, it turns out that the lake has lots and lots of bouldering for an active teen. :)

Below: My son noting the number of catfish in Salmon Lake.

I think Salmon Lake's worthwhile-ness gets a little lost in the Loch Levin discussion sometimes, but it's a beautiful granite lake, and it's surrounded by views ranging from Castle Peak and Donner to the northeast and a stunning view of a baisin off to the southeast.

I highly recommend you try it out on your way to the other Loch Levin lakes. Visiting Salmon adds 1.8 miles round trip to your hike.

It's also fun and beautiful place to sit on a granite overlook with a decent map to try to figure out the surrounding landmarks, and its beauty (and close access to the Loch Levin lakes) really deserves a visit.

Stats:

• Time from Truckee (we stayed up here last night): about 30 mins


• Time from Reno: about 60 mins


• Time from home: about 90 mins (highway 80).


• Weather: stunning--mid 80s, no wind, blue sky. Take sunblock and a hat since much of the trail is exposed.


• Trail: no water at trailhead, so be prepared.


• Elevation Change: 5,680 to 6,850 (1,070 feet)

Distance:

• Trailhead to rail tracks: 1.1 miles
• Trailhead to Lower Loch Levin: 2.5
• Trailhead to Salmon Lake Trail: 2.6 mile
• Salmon Lake Trail to Salmon Lake: 0.25 mile
• Exploring Salmon Lake granite: 1 mile

Total mileage: about 6.7 miles

Spending time with my teenage son: priceless

Trail notes:

• Hiking poles a must--lots of loose granite, lots of granite scrambling.


• Sunblock, hat, and bug repellant also highly recommended.


• Arrive before 9 or 10 on weekends to get a parking spot; only about 10 spots total.


• The water was very swimmable in both Lower Loch Levin and Salmon Lake. We saw a requisite elderly skinny dipper at Salmon Lake--carrying his swim trunks. Sigh.

Want to know more about the Loch Levin trail? http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/documents/rec/LochLevenROG.pdf

Peter Grubb Hut and Sand Ridge Trail

I've been meaning to hike to the Peter Grubb Hut since last year's Castle Peak hike, and so this week, I finally made it up there. My son and his friend wanted to go snowboarding (in July!) at Boreal, so since Boreal was open this weekend, with a thin ribbon of snow, I dropped them both off there and then I hiked up to the hut.

See that ladder leading up to the front door? I've seen pictures where that ladder is hidden by snow. :) Nothing like that amount of white stuff on this hike, however. Pretty amazing that such a large amount of snow is a regular occcurance, however, to make that ladder necessary.

Below: Ever wondered what the inside of the Peter Grubb Hut looked like? I had, so I climbed the ladder and peaked in.

Pretty basic--nine mattresses and a wood-burning stove. It's meant as a shelter for backpackers and PCT thru-hikers, so the idea is that you'll have all your stuff with you. I can imagine that it seems heavenly to early season thru-hikers, struggling with snow and winter backpacks.

Want to know more about Peter Grubb?
Want to know more about the hut and how to make reservations?

Back to the hike itself, however:

My intended route was to go north on the PCT to Peter Grubb and then to go west and then south on the Hole in the Ground Trail to climb Andesite Peak. The Hole in the Ground trail was completely socked in with snow, however, . . .

. . . so instead I joined a friendly group of hikers from Nevada in their search for Sand Ridge Lake.

A Note About This Year's Trail Conditions: The last few Tahoe hikes for me have been a mixture of pretty soggy and pretty snowy (and consequently pretty hidden) trails, so I was expecting more of the same this week. These types of trail conditions make for interesting hikes with lots of opportunity for map/compass work, yet I'm still looking forward to clear trails later this summer.

No clear trails this week either, unfortunately. It's still a little early in the Tahoe hiking season, particularly since we had a late (and large) snow storm in June. I think most trails will likely be clear in three weeks or so at the earliest.

Below: So--sometimes the trail looked like this--a little soggy in places with plenty of small and large creeks to cross, but very workable.


On the way to Peter Grubb, you climb over the Castle Peak/Pass junction to rejoin the PCT (which leads to the hut) on the north side of the trail junction; plenty of folks there at the junction, regrouping and what-not, but several noted that the Castle Peak trail was still fairly snowy. Not too surprising since it's at 9013 feet at the peak. The trail junction, below, is at 7880 and was free of snow, mostly because it's a south facing area.



Below: for about a quarter of a mile, just past Castle Peak junction but before you reach the hut, the trail looked like this: large snow drifts, hard packed but slippery and slushy.


No trail in sight for about 3/4 mile, but we had plenty of footprints to follow (including a rather large feline print--retractable claws). We just trusted in the human prints and followed them to wherever they were going to lead us--hopefully to the hut.

As usual, hiking poles were essential on this hike. They saved me from slippery falls, and they helped lever me up and down the slippery snow slopes. They helped me jump over big and small creeks, and they helped me work my way up and down the trail.

Below: As we explored past the hut looking for the Sand Ridge Trail west of Round Valley, we left the snow banks and crossed several meadows--pretty boggy at this time of year but definitely beautiful valleys through which to walk. Remember to bring your bug repellant!



Below: in the meadows, we found these weird soil cylinders, not hollow and obviously created by some kind of bug, mole, vole? Some had a few ants crawling around, but none were obviously infested with any type of bug that we could see. Very odd, I thought, but cool.

Since we wandered off the trail multiple times, due to snow banks covering the trail along with unexpected ponds and large puddles, even with a GPS and map/compass, we couldn't find Sand Ridge Lake, but we did find some beautiful views.

Below: here's a granite rock garden on the part of Sand Ridge Trail we did find.

Below: this small snow bank covering the trail illustrates perfectly why you want to avoid walking in the middle of any snow bank in spring time.

See that snow arch above? If you walked on it, you could fall through that structure at any time and end up with an embarrassed grin and wet feet (best scenario) or a grimace and a broken leg (worst scenario).

So--ultimately, I did make the hut, which wasvery satisfying, but I didn't make any other particular destination--not Sand Ridge Lake nor Andesite Peak.

That's ok, though; the goal was to have a long hike at altitude in beautiful surroundings on a great day. I had all that and more--I was fortunate enough to find a welcoming hiking group that allowed me to traipse along with them for the majority of the day.

Hiking stats:

• Drive time: 1.5 hours or so from home
• Weather: stunning--blue sky, sunny, low 80s.

Gear notes:

• Bring mosquito repellant and, at this time of year, wear waterproof boots. (If you haven't re-waterproofed your boots this season, now is the time to do so. :) I'm going to do mine tonight.)
• Wear gaitors (ankle height gaitors are fine), not so much to keep the rocks out but more to keep any errant water out on creek crossings.
• On snow-covered trail days, consider bringing chalk to blaze a tree to help you find your way back.
• Bring hiking poles--not only do they save your knees on hills (up and down), they can also save you from a wet fall on slippery snow and rocks (on creek crossings).
• As always, take a detailed trail/topo map, particularly in possibly snowy/creeky conditions. Know how to use the map with a compass. The group's GPS ran out of batteries half way through the hike. I used the National Geographic Tahoe National Forest (Sierra Buttes/Donner Park #805). It worked really well.

Distance:

• Jeep trail to PCT: about 2.2 miles
• PCT to Peter Grubb: about 1 mile
• Exploring the valley and looking for the trail: about 5 miles

Total mileage: (jeep trail to PCT to Peter Grubb to Sand Ridge to Peter to PCT to jeep trail to car): about 10 miles.

Future hiking plans for this area:

• hike from Castle Peak along use trail on ridge to Baisin Peak. Come back along Sand Ridge Trail to bag Andesite Peak. That would be a three peak day and still only about 12 miles or so.
• hike to Paradise Lake which looks stunning.
• hike to (and find) Sand Ridge Lake
• explore PCT south of Boreal and hike to Mount Judah and back (8-9 miles round trip)
  

Miwok/Old Springs/Marincello/others GGNRSA

Above: A view of the multi-layered Bay Area ridges surrounding the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This view is from the Bobcat Trail.

And so, this week, Maria and I set off to explore further the trails within the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. I have been there a few times before, so I was anxious to explore some new trails on such a great weather day.



We started off parking at the Rodeo Beach lot, and then we walked past the lagoon and set off down the Miwok Trail (above), a fire road that winds up through the rolling hills of the park. It's a multi-use trail, used by runners, hikers, horses, and bikers. We saw plenty of bikers, a few other hikers and runners but no horses (although plenty of evidence of healthy horse digestive systems).

The trails are a mixture of fire roads and single-track-all of which are exposed with little shade. The hiker-only trails are the least crowded, it seemed, and possibly the most picturesque. They were also single-track--a nice change from the dry dusty fire roads that seemed to be biker-friendly.

Below: The Old Springs Trail offered us a much appreciated break from the dry dusty fire roads of the Miwok Trail. Here you can see an interesting wooden bridge integrated into the trail.



Below: GGNRSA trails are generally well-signed, but it's very helpful to have at least the park map with you (from the Visitor Center). I much prefer to bring the MapAdventures map series for Marin hikes, however; they're more detailed and contain mileage for each section of the trail. You can find these online or at the Visitor Centers in Point Reyes and GGNRSA.

I'm getting the hang of using maps and compasses now that I'm using them more and more on my hikes. Identifying exactly where you are on a map can really add another dimension to any hike.

Below: Some of the trails in the park are part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail--currently 330 miles long or so, but ultimately, the goal will be around 550 miles of interconnected trails. It seems like it could be a great resource for spring or fall trails.


Below: From the Old Springs Trail, we walked up the relatively steep and long Marincello Trail on way to the Alta Trail and ultimately the Rodeo Valley Trail.


Below: we lunched on a granite vista, looking down on the Gerbode Valley, on the Hawk Camp Trail.


Below: The lunch view: In the background, you can just about see the tips of the Golden Gate Bridge peeking out through the hills.


Below: the more we hiked, the more I understood how interconnected (and closely wound) the trails within the GGNRSA really are. As we walked, using the map and the views ahead and around us, we could see and identify trails we had walked earlier in the day.

It was fun to see trails that we were eventually going to walk on the far off hills. The park designers have packed many miles of trails into a relatively compact area.

This area had at some point in the past been designated for development; we're grateful the people back then had the foresight and the fortitude to protect the land for hiking today.

Below: More views of the Bay Area ridges surrounding the north-eastern part of the park. That might be Diablo in the far regions.


Stats:
Weather: stunning--cool breeze on many hills, warm sunshine, blue skies. 80's.

Driving: 90 mins or so from home.

Trails:

• Most trails are well-worn and popular, so expect some company throughout. Not crowded, however, except at the Miwok Livery/Marincello trailhead where it was packed. The crowds weren't on the Marincello trail, however, so they must have chosen other trails to walk on. Perhaps they preferred the paved trail, down to the Tennessee Beach.


• Take water--no water anywhere on the trail or at the trailheads (except for bottle water in the Visitor Center). I took my 3 liter camelback and drank most of its contents on the hike. It's a mostly exposed hot hike on fire roads, so be prepared with more water than you think you'll need.


• The trails are fairly steep in places; many are rolling. Few are flat. Most trails are exposed; take a hat and sunscreen.

Trail Stats:

Miwok to Old Springs Trail: fire road: 2.4
Old Springs Trail to Marincello trailhead: single track 1.3
Marincello to Bobcat: fire road, dry: 1.5

Bobcat to Alta: fire road, dry: 0.5
Alta to Rodeo Valley: eucalyptus trees, fire road: 0.7
Rodeo Valley to Miwok: double single track: 1.9
Miwok: fire road, dry: 1.5

Plus miscellaneous explores: 1.0
Total: 10.5 miles or so.

Below: Google Earth image of Gerbode Valley--the area within GGNRA for our hike.

More info?
Link to MapAdventures site
Link to GGNRA official site
Link to downloadable trail GGNRA Map from National Parks site