Our Backyard Again! - October 2018

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Showers and a Birthday 

"Can we go for a hike?" I live with and love this almost constant question from the Lady. It is more adamant the longer it has been since a trip or after several days of house chores.

"Can we go for a hike?" I overheard Cathy the Trailer Woman ask the Lady.

The question was now directed at me in stereo.

"We want to go to Showers Lake!" One in each ear.

To be clear, these two are perfectly capable on their own so I do read into their question the statement that they'd really like me to come along.

Showers Lake lies just north of Carson Pass in the Upper Truckee River basin - the headwaters for Lake Tahoe. It is an easy hike over the ridge and down the other side to the small basin that holds Showers Lake. It is always a little disconcerting to us because we have skied to the lake far far more times than we have hiked. It is an area we know well in the winter. It would be hard for me to come up with a exact number of times I've skied from Echo Summit to highway 88, probably more than 40, in every kind of winter weather imaginable.

A new trailhead is along Schneider Camp Road. You see the ridge top from the trailhead so it is easy to figure the route the trail takes.

This is high open country near 9000 feet in elevation.

The wind flagged trees tell of battle with storms and the predominate wind direction.

We soon reached the saddle with its view across the Upper Truckee River and Meiss Meadow.

The peak in the center is Stevens Peak and the peak to the right is Red Lake Peak. Many historians believe John Fremont climbed Red Lake Peak in February 1844 and from its summit was the first white man to see Lake Tahoe. From my experience traveling through this country in the winter, I humbly disagree. I believe he climbed to Meiss Saddle, just west of Red Lake Peak. From there Lake Tahoe is visible, no need to climb Red Lake Peak - and if he did his view would have been expanded to the east. His route was west. He would be more focused on, I believe, seeing what lay to the west. I believe he continued out the ridge to the northeast to Little Round Top. The views of Tahoe are better than from  Red Lake Peak. He would have had a view west and be able to work on a route in that direction. Ah, but want do I know about navigation, route finding, and winter travel?

So if I'm right, we worked our way up the ridge toward Little Round Top following in Fremont's footprints.

From this high point the Lady and Trailer Woman went to work. Never assume you know where you are. It never hurts to confirm and to practice "staying found." It was a good exercise here because the new trail is not on the current 7.5 USGS topo. You work with contour lines and direction.

We dropped off the ridge when Showers Lake appeared in its granite basin - granite below the top covering of volcanics in this land of fire and ice. In fact Showers sits right at that interface between two different types of igneous rock.

We remarked that this could have been named Warrior Lake.

The day was cool but, as the Lady says, "The sun has power." We snacked and soaked up the sun. The women folk set in talking and solved all the world's problems. When I was able to get a word in, I told a story about the old days. I'm a geezer now. It's easier and easier to fall into that habit as the years pile up. I got interrupted about a third of the way into the story because they both had heard it before.

I was still glad they had asked me along.

We took a last look north to Lake Tahoe.......................

.............................and back down into Meiss Meadow.

We dropped down the west side of the ridge, back to our vehicle, and into the late afternoon light.

I chauffeured the women back to our homes. Julie always lets Cathy ride in the front seat because Trailer Woman is addicted to heated seats, a feature lacking in her own vehicle. With the switch locked on high, she simmered in heavenly ecstasy on the drive. Julie and my windows were down, lapping up the cool fall air.

The Lady's 62th birthday fell on a Tuesday. In answer to my question, "What do want for your birthday?" it came quick. "I want my Geezer Girl Card, dinner at Tahoe Pizza, and for you to take the day off so we can climb a mountain!"

We were at the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Supervisor's Office right when they opened. The Lady was now an official card carrying Geezer Girl. We headed north along the west side of Lake Tahoe and parked at the unofficial trailhead for Rubicon Peak. There is no maintained hiking trail to the top but a user created route. Rubicon Peak is also a well known back country ski peak.

The trail starts out easy.

As we climbed, Lake Tahoe stretched out below us.

I believe, from memory, there is only around 2200 feet in elevation gain to the summit, but most of it is in the final half with a steep climb through granite talus.

We love to be up at the elevation where Mountain Hemlock becomes the dominate tree.

It continued to get steeper and rockier as we approached the summit block.

Views west into Desolation Wilderness opened up as we crested the ridge line.

It is a bit of a rock climb to reach the top of the block. Today an icy cold wind out of the west made it more of a challenge. With the wind, we could not stand on the summit.

The Lady got her mountain for her birthday.

The view southwest into Desolation Wilderness - and so many familiar places - was also grand.

We could not safely prop up the camera for a timer shot on the summit block so we posed in a sheltered spot just down a bit.

We quickly tackled the remaining climb off the block.

We soon reached the easier talus slope below.

I've got to say, the Lady got a pretty darn nice mountain for her birthday!

It warmed as we dropped down the east side and were less exposed to the wind. We enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the trailhead.

All that remained to make the Lady's birthday dreams come true was dinner at Lake Tahoe Pizza. We had a couple of hours to kill before they opened so we had a coffee at a favorite spot on highway 89, walked out Taylor Creek to the beach, and walked around Sawmill Pond.

Dinner was worth the wait. We both had a great day celebrating "Geezer Girl's" birthday.