Eldorado National Forest
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Meiss Ridge Loop Eldorado National Forest |
July 11, 2023
While most of the high-country trails remain snowbound, online sources say that
people already are using the area north of Carson Pass. Always anxious to get the
hiking season going as soon as possible, I have ventured a 120-mile drive to
check it out.
I just hope that any residual snowpack does not thwart the grand plan, which includes four miles of little-used trails that aren't even on most older maps, and which will be new to me.
This approach saves more than a mile of noisy walking
A quarter-mile of snowdrift-management gets me through the forest
Presently, my pathway merges with the Pacific Crest Trail, as expected.
I'd best create a waypoint for this obscure junction
Winding up a 400-foot grade on the PCT.
Atop the hill, the pond is frozen
This will be a nice garden later on
Prairie Smoke
Desert Tobacco
Starting down into Meiss Meadow
The inevitable snowdrifts abound
That equals the total number of fish that I ever have caught: zero
At a little creek crossing, I face the prospect of jumping from one rock onto another that is only about three feet away, yet is partially wet and somewhat crooked. Just a few years ago, I would not have given this challenge a second thought, even though a slip or loss of balance would result in a fall into the creek. But is it worth the risk? Over the years, I already have drowned two expensive cameras, and my present unit is virtually irreplaceable.
As I stand there stewing in frustration, a pair of twenty-somethings appear, effortlessly hurdle the gap, and with but a brief wave to me, promptly continue running up the trail. Welcome to old age, Ted.
Ah, to be young again
Prudence wins out over bravado; I'll cross over here instead
Mellow going for the moment
Soon, however, an anticipated greater challenge arises:
Upper Truckee River
Once again, as a youngster I might have scampered across those boulders, but not today;
and that gives me cause to consider whether to ford the river at all. According to
my map, another crossing would have to be made about a mile downstream; so why bother?
I'll just remain on this side and make my way off-trail as best I can.
Keeping to the left
Meiss Cabin
The old homestead will not be visited today, because it is on the other side of the river!
Meiss Ridge is spectacular. Am I actually going up there?
Avoiding the wetlands
Hard-skinned Puffball
Several times I must deal with three inches or so of mud and more small snow drifts,
but the going actually is pretty easy. Because the mapped trail junction also is on
the other side of the river, it seems natural to start climbing now where convenient,
because it is inevitable. I'll try to intersect the lesser-known route that
still should be serviceable; if it isn't, then I will have to incur a couple of miles of
extra walking to the north.
Willow thickets and wetter areas significantly obstruct my passage
Oops! Just ahead is a little stream plunging underneath a big snowdrift. The very last thing one would want at a time like this would be to break through the crust above some running water, so I cross the snow field at a safe point, then negotiate the creek where I actually can see the water.
Avoiding a potential catastrophe
I trust that the ridge-top will be relatively snow-free
Eureka! The old trail is just where it is supposed to be.
It is steep, but much of the climbing already has been done
I'll call it Meiss Ridge Falls
Neat
It's not far now
Avalanche damage
Western Wallflower
Antelope Brittlebrush
The trail magically avoids all the snow drifts
Success! Part-1 of my adventure is complete, for I now am back in familiar territory. Three times previously, I have passed through here enroute from Schneider Cow Camp to Little Round Top and Showers Lake.
Meiss Col
Meiss Meadow and Meiss Lake. I was down there an hour ago
Freel Peak, Jobs Peak, and Round Lake to the northeast
My second-ever backpack was to Round Lake, some fifty years ago; my late wife and I considered it a really nice campsite.
The ridge top does seem reasonably snow-free
This is exciting, as I begin Adventure #2 onto a previously uncharted trail. More climbing will be in order, however, starting now.
Sierra Stonecrop
Mat Phlox
Arrowleaf Balsamroot
Skyrockets
My first view westward — Thimble Peak, Thunder Mountain, and the Two Sentinels
As fine a stonecrop garden as I have seen
During one of my several rest-stop-flower-ops, the rock-hopping couple reappears. It seems that they have looped all the way to Showers Lake, then up Little Round Top, then back here. I do so envy their ability to do that so quickly.
They have trekked three miles farther than I since we first met down below
Of course, those two will have no photographic record of their run, but they clearly do not care about that. It seems very likely that they are not here for the first time.
Wavyleaf Indian Paintbrush
Sulfur Flower Buckwheat
Looking back toward the col, with Lake Tahoe in the distance
It's too bad that Big Blue is so hazy today.
Freel Peak overlooks Round Lake and its attendant ramparts
The next hilltop is the only one on the route that is numbered on my old map,
so I make a bit of a detour to the summit, finding a tiny wind shelter in place.
There is a truly 360-degree view from here.
Atop Peak 9427
Caples Lake and the highway maintenance station
Mount Tallac to the north
Jacks Peak and Dicks Peak, in Desolation Wilderness
Lake Tahoe, Round Lake, Meiss Lake
Butterballs
Small-flowered Milkvetch
A snack break is overdue. To counter the sun and a stiff breeze, I find a tree under which to enjoy my grapes and gorp.
My lunch spot
Melissa Coray Peak, 9763', is just five miles away
I really want to get up there again, but it's a relatively rough 10-mile loop trip.
Ascending the second hilltop
One more hill to climb
I can see what looks like a trail skirting around the top the the distant snow bank. This is good, for I really don't want to have to deal with that stuff anymore.
Looking back
Unfortunately, when I get up there, and having misplaced the trail, I promptly forget what I saw and walk around the hillside right beside the snow bank. This results in extra work until I finally rediscover the trail that was above me the entire time.
The Meiss homestead is a thousand feet below
Elephants Back, Round Top, and the Sisters
Oh, my! It appears that all the harder work is over now, and that the mission will be a total success; moreover, I am in the middle of an unexpectedly superb alpine garden. Right now, it doesn't get much better than this for me.
This is why I go hiking
Royal Penstemon
Juniper Haircap
Sierra Stonecrop
Woolly Sunflower
Alpine Aster
To the left of Elephants Back are the peaks of the Ebbetts Pass area
More Wavyleaf Indian Paintbrush
More Royal Penstemon, without blossoms yet
Woollypod Milkvetch
A four-resident garden
Easy going from here
Looking back
Spreading Phlox
Blue Flax
The three hills on Meiss Ridge — been there, done that
A garden of lupine
Nobody is atop Round Top today
Nobody on Elephants Back, either
Approaching the pond
Abandoned fence posts line the national forest boundary
Red Lake Peak
Green ice
Correction: the ice is orange
Easy crossing here
Now I know why they call it Black Butte
My car is down in those trees, and my favorite gardens are under that snow
Tapertip Onion
Silky Lupine
Ambling back down the PCT
From Red Lake Peak
The only other hiker to be seen all day long
I manage to recognize the critical trail cutoff point, so the saved GPS waypoint proves unneeded.
Back into snowdrift-land
Manyflower Stickseed
Yellow Salsify
For how many decades has this been here?
End of the line
§: Well, I certainly got more than expected today. Everything about the
adventure worked out beautifully, and I didn't fall a single time. What a deal.
I have an inclination to do this one again later in a season, so as to experience a
whole new set of flowers in this high-Sierra garden wonderland. Meanwhile,
I am anxious to get across the street to Ted's 5 Gardens, perhaps a
month or so from now.
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