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.

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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)