Story:
I drove up to Tahoe at 4am with Loren, David, and Thomas for this 2-day backpacking trip. We started at Glen Alpine and hiked 2 very steep miles along a very poorly maintained trail. So poorly maintained that we lost the trail and had to scramble up the rocks and through the thick brush. Then it started to pour and we heard thunder, things couldn't be much worse. Eventually, the skies cleared, and we found the trail again--things were looking up. We had a quick lunch of cheese, salami, and crackers. After hiking past Lake Aloha and Heather Lake, we made it to Susie lake.
It was an exhausting day, so I decided to go for a swim. It was pretty cold, but very relaxing. Loren and I swam out to an island that must have been 200 meters away but seemed like a mile after a full day of hiking. We had a delicious dinner of ramen and sat by the lake watching the sun go down. The full moon made it hard to see the stars, but at least we didn't need flashlights. Too lazy to set up our tent after sunset, Loren and I just slept outside (and we have the mosquito bites to prove it).
The next morning I woke up a little after sunrise and went for another swim in the lake--what a good way to wake up. After a small oatmeal breakfast, we hiked past Gilmore lake up to Mt. Tallac. We dropped our packs and headed for the peak for lunch (where we made friends with many ground squirrels who wouldn't leave us alone). The rest was downhill, but it wasn't very well maintained either, and we got our fair share of scratches from the bushes. We finally made it back to Fallen Leaf Lake, and saw some of our friends at Stanford Sierra camp. After going for another dip in the lake, and wishing happy birthday to our friend Jenny, we got back in the car, found a local grill for some delicious burgers, and drove back home to the bay area.
What a great, long, fun-packed weekend!
I drove up to Tahoe at 4am with Loren, David, and Thomas for this 2-day backpacking trip. We started at Glen Alpine and hiked 2 very steep miles along a very poorly maintained trail. So poorly maintained that we lost the trail and had to scramble up the rocks and through the thick brush. Then it started to pour and we heard thunder, things couldn't be much worse. Eventually, the skies cleared, and we found the trail again--things were looking up. We had a quick lunch of cheese, salami, and crackers. After hiking past Lake Aloha and Heather Lake, we made it to Susie lake.
It was an exhausting day, so I decided to go for a swim. It was pretty cold, but very relaxing. Loren and I swam out to an island that must have been 200 meters away but seemed like a mile after a full day of hiking. We had a delicious dinner of ramen and sat by the lake watching the sun go down. The full moon made it hard to see the stars, but at least we didn't need flashlights. Too lazy to set up our tent after sunset, Loren and I just slept outside (and we have the mosquito bites to prove it).
The next morning I woke up a little after sunrise and went for another swim in the lake--what a good way to wake up. After a small oatmeal breakfast, we hiked past Gilmore lake up to Mt. Tallac. We dropped our packs and headed for the peak for lunch (where we made friends with many ground squirrels who wouldn't leave us alone). The rest was downhill, but it wasn't very well maintained either, and we got our fair share of scratches from the bushes. We finally made it back to Fallen Leaf Lake, and saw some of our friends at Stanford Sierra camp. After going for another dip in the lake, and wishing happy birthday to our friend Jenny, we got back in the car, found a local grill for some delicious burgers, and drove back home to the bay area.
What a great, long, fun-packed weekend!
Comments (7)
I think I have been focusing too much on allowing users to figure out where they got lost after the fact, rather than planning ahead of time! I have another great track from my first night living in Berlin where it took my 2 hours to find my way home in the middle of the night. I forgot to turn off my GPS from earlier that day, so the next morning I was able to retrace where I went--It's pretty interesting sometimes.
by chris on Aug 10, 2009
This is my favorite area in all of Lake Tahoe. The Pyramid Peak basin area is stunning. I'm not a backpacker, but I may be tempted to hoof out my sleeping back to sleep at Lake Aloha one of these days. Great report and an awesome loop.
BTW, for a guy running a GPS track sharing site, you get lost too easily, lol!
by ace_sierra on Aug 10, 2009
BTW, for a guy running a GPS track sharing site, you get lost too easily, lol!
We didn't try to backtrack, we just charged ahead to the top of the mountain, hoping that we could spot the trail from there. At about 1 mile we took a pretty sharp turn to the left, and then circle back to the right. We didn't go too far off the trail, climbing up rocks compared to a trail sure took a lot longer.
by chris on Aug 08, 2009
The Panos were nice. Not sure how you got lost from the Glenn Alpine trail to Lake Aloha. The track doesn't show you wandering around.
by wooac on Aug 05, 2009
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