Stateline Lookout

Stateline Lookout (Off Hwy 28, near Crystal Bay CA) -

Distance: 1 mi / 2.2 km (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: ~500 ft.

Highest Elevation: ~6831 ft. / 2082.2 m.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Easy

I originally picked out this hike because we needed something easy and short to do with Chris' Mom when she visited us back in October.

Can't Say I was disappointed...

Most of the hikes we do in California come from my copy of Foghorn Outdoors: California Hiking by Tom Stienstra and Ann Marie Brown. I had the Foghorn for Washington and Oregon and loved it, so when we moved I gifted my copy to Katie and naturally picked this up as a replacement (you should too). Aside from the occasional issue with directions and mileage these books are outstanding. They have spot on ratings for difficulty and beauty, and have pretty much all the relevant information you need as far as permits, location etc.

The Stateline entry caught my eye for a couple of reasons: the ratings and mileage were exactly what I was looking for, and when I read the first few sentences of the description I was all in.

"For years we avoided this trail because we thought it was just a tourist attraction, located at the lookout tower that straddles the Nevada and California state line. It turns out that we were the dumb tourists, because this little trail is great." (Pg. 222)

You basically hike up an old access road, but don't worry, the pay off is so good you might cry. This is a great spot to hike up to and eat some lunch if you're tooling around the northern end of Tahoe. There's some cool plaques with cultural information about the area, including timber, mining etc.

But I have to say my eyes were otherwise occupied...
 

Tahoe Rim Trail (Northern End) Meadows to Diamond Peak

Northern Tahoe Rim Trail: Tahoe Meadows to Diamond Peak - September 1st, 2014

Tahoe National Forest

Distance: 11.8 mi / 18.99 km (Round Trip)

Highest Elevation: 8945 ft. / 2726.6 m.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Moderate

After the glory that was Marlette lake, Chris and I were keen to get back up into the mountains before school started. After a little research we settled on starting at Tahoe Meadows and hiking on a northern section of the Tahoe Rim Trail to Diamond Peak and back. 

This hike was really, heart stoppingly, beautiful. You start in this gorgeous alpine meadow right behind Mt. Rose. There are quite nice paths through here and if you're in the mood for something easy, or just a quick leg stretcher, this is a great place to do it! There are some raised boardwalks through parts of the meadow, and then you start up through the forest. This bit is a little repetitive, though it's still beautiful Sierra pine forest. But then you break through those trees and Lake Tahoe is spread out before you, like the big beautiful bitch that she is. 

From here you're basically on the rim trail and it's just an endless parade of glorious views and beautiful forest. 

We ran into relatively few other hikers, though there were some surly mountain bikers. The Tahoe Rim trail is open to hikers constantly, but bikers are only allowed on even days (the 2nd, 4th, 6th etc. of every month). This was Labor day weekend, and this particular biker was fairly incensed that there were so many hikers (there weren't) and that they (the bikers)

weren't even supposed to be there. Basically he was talking to his friend really loudly, and it went something like this:

"I don't even care, it's like the last three day weekend of the year, and they get two days of it?! No fucking fair! I won't put up with it! They take up the whole fucking trail and it's not right. Why don't bikers gets a day to themselves...." and so on.

After a bit the hikers and bikers start to thin out and you run into fewer and fewer people. At one point you have a view of the Washoe Valley to the east, including Washoe lake. It's a bit pale after the sapphire madness of Tahoe, but still a very cool view. We stopped at Diamond Peak, which is a ski resort during the winter. We had lunch at the top of the highest chair lift and played fetch with Jaxx for a bit. 

The only other notable thing about this trip was the heat. It was hot as hell and for a good portion of the hike there is very little shade. Make sure you bring lots of sunscreen and water. We were all completely exhausted by the time we got back.

2nd Nevada Hike, Marlette Lake

Marlette Lake - August 8th, 2014

Lake Tahoe State Park - Incline Village, Nevada

Distance: 8.8 mi / 14.2 km (Round Trip)

Elevation Gain: 1,200 ft. / 426.7 m.

Highest Elevation: 9,400 ft. / 2865.1 m.

Dogs: Allowed

Difficulty: Moderate

Fee: $10.00/vehicle

We mentioned in the second to last post that our first experience hiking in the desert was kind of a mixed bag.  Also, it is pertinent to this post to mention that after a few weeks in the ugly valley part of the desert in which Reno and Sparks proper reside, Allison and I were both missing the lush environment that we had become accustomed to in the PNW. We both were having some misgivings, in that respect, about our decision to relocate to the freaking high desert.  Those feelings were happening up until the day we embarked on our first adventure to Lake Tahoe.  For those of you who have never gotten a chance to experience it in person, let me tell you that Lake Tahoe is an indescribable natural phenomena which is as immense as it is beautiful.  It was also our saving grace, keeping both of us from spiraling into a situational outdoorsman's depression.

Panoramic of Marlette Lake (click to enlarge)

Now I'd like to share a few interesting facts about Lake Tahoe.  #1. Lake Tahoe definitely has a huge sea monster living in its depths.  I know this because at maximum depth of 1,645 ft. it is the second deepest lake in the United States, and I also happen to know that any lake that large and deep has to come with a sea monster.  #2.  It is not only deep, but it is also huge, surface area wise, with a surface area just shy of 200 square miles.  #3.  It is high.  The lake itself sits at 6,225 ft above sea level and is surrounded by mountains that top out at 10,981 ft. above sea level.  All of these features combine to create a region where you can't look in any direction from anywhere even close to the lake without seeing an absolutely stunning view.  

Chris, Allison, Jan & Jaxxon

With that said, we were thrilled when our friend, Jan suggested that we take a short 45 minute field trip from her house in Sparks, NV up to Lake Tahoe St. Park to hike one of her favorite hikes in the area, Marlette Lake.  Now, while Marlette lake is a mere speck of a lake compared to Tahoe, it is also very very pretty.  

Being that the beginning of the Marlette Lake hike sits at a sizable 8,200 ft. of elevation with the hike's highest point being at ~9400 ft., and given the fact that the highest peak Allison and I summited in the PNW during the summer 2014 hiking season topped out at ~5000 ft. above sea level, we were both unsure of how our bodies were going to handle exertion at this elevation.  Luckily, as we had mentioned in the second to last post, we had been making a concerted effort to walk for 45-90 minutes almost everyday of the week to help get acclimated.  Honestly, I think that expenditure of time ended up really paying off.  Don't get me wrong, the Marlette Lake hike wasn't like strolling through Central Park drinking a latte, but even though we were both huffing and puffing during the 1,200 ft. of elevation gain, I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if we hadn't decided to do our training walks.

Here are the bikers I was talking about

The hike starts at one of the Lake Tahoe State Park's ranger stations right off of Highway 28.  There are several ways to get to Marlette lake, but we decided to leave the car in the parking lot of the rangers station and begin the hike from there.  The hike is out and back on the same trail, with the mid point of the trail being the lake itself.  The trail system in most of Lake Tahoe is shared between hikers, cyclists & horseback riders.  This combination can be somewhat infuriating, especially on particularly popular trails.  What it usually means if you are a hiker is you end up having to move off the trail multiple times throughout your hike to avoid getting in a collision with bikers who may or may not be following proper trail etiquette of alerting you of their presences vocally or with a bell and giving you the right of way.  While this was also the case with the Marlette Lake trail, it was also designed so that a little after the beginning of the trail, the path splits in two trails, one which is designated as hikers only.  This made for an overall much more pleasant hiking experience for the four of us.  

After being treated with beautiful terrestrial views through the first half of the hike, we arrived at the lake.  At this point in the day it was almost perfectly clear except for some brilliant white clouds in the sky.  This caused the water to be a brilliant blue which was especially cool when contrasted with the greens and reddish browns of the surrounding Sierra Nevada landscape.  Jan had packed us all of the fixings for some really upscale sandwiches.  After about ten minutes of meticulously constructing mine, I fumbled and I dropped my sandwich which exploded as it hit the ground, covering all of these awesome ingredients with a fine, inedible layer of tiny pebbles.  Needless to say, this was one of the most heartbreaking, earth shattering experiences I have ever suffered during a hike.  Luckily, I was able to salvage some of the materials and augment what was left with some leftover fixings the rest of the group didn't want.  Jaxxon also didn't mind eating a few little rocks and some dirt and ended up getting a nice little snack himself.

The day was so nice and the water was warm enough, so Allison decided to take a dip.  It was pretty neat to be at a lake that high up and be able to spend any amount of time in it comfortably.  That would never happen in Washington!  After her dip we explored the bank of the lake a little further and then began the journey back.  By the time we turned to head home, it had started sprinkling.  About half of the way back to the car we started hearing thunder in the distance which continued and became more frequent for the duration of the hike.  This was pretty much okay for everyone except Jaxxon who, believe it or not, is deathly afraid of thunder.  So, every time there was a thunder clap, Jaxxon would explode with barks and growls.  Needless to say, this situation, which happened every 200 or so feet for the rest of the hike wasn't really so nice for the rest of us.  Luckily we got to the car and avoided any real precipitation.

Overall it was a really great hike and really deeply influenced our feelings towards our new home in a really positive way.  We have since grown to really like even the uglier parts of our new climate and hiking region and we also continue to be pleasantly surprised by the stunning places we continue to find as we further explore the region. 

1st Nevada Hike: Golden Eagle Regional Park

Golden Eagle Regional Park - August 23rd, 2014
BLM high usage recreational area, Sparks, NV
Mileage: 7.9 mi (Round Trip)
Elevation Gain: ~1000 ft.
Highest Elevation: 4974 ft.
Dogs: Allowed
Difficulty:  Easy (if acclimated)
Required Pass: None

Before I tell you about hiking at Golden Eagle, let me share a little parable about the effects of moving to a location with drastically increased average elevation:

Allison and I woke up the first morning after we moved to Nevada at our friend Tina's house.  She lives in a really nice housing development on the border of Sparks and Spanish springs.  Since her housing development butts right up to the base of the mountains, we decided to go for a short morning walk up the hill...  Let's take a short break right now to talk a little about elevation change and how much it effects the physical performance capability of the human body.  As many of you know from reading older blog posts, Allison & I were in pretty awesome shape by the middle of the summer 2014 hiking season.  Thus, we thought we were prepared to handle any physical adventure, especially gaining a mere 500 ft. of elevation while walking to the top of a foothill behind Tina's house.  Boy were we wrong!  The twin cities of Reno and Sparks, NV sit at about an average of 4400 ft. elevation above sea level.  Our bodies were still used to living at about 100 ft of elevation above sea level in the Seattle area and occasionally hiking to the top of a mountain that was 4400 ft. tall!  By the time Allison, Jaxxon, and I had ascended about half of this HILL behind Tina's house we were panting.  We both looked at each-other and then at the no trespassing sign ahead and decided it was time to head home.  

It is important to note that our body's are built to adapt to changes in elevation. According to Wikipedia the number of days it takes the human body for the physical changes to occur, "can be approximated by multiplying the altitude in kilometers by 11.4 days".  Over this time period a number of major, long term, changes, primarily in the cardiovascular system, occur in an effort to oxygenate more blood.

About three weeks after the above experience, once our bodies had had adequate time to acclimate,

Bird's Eye View of Golden Eagle Regional Park

Allison and I decided to go on our first small hiking adventure.  After our first breathtaking walking experience at Tina's house on our first morning, Allison and I made a decision to start walking for 45-90 minutes around Tina's mother, Jan's neighborhood (where we stayed until we found our own apartment) about 4-5 times a week.  On one of these walks we discovered Golden Eagle Regional Park which is a large city park that features six softball fields, two full-size baseball fields, two little league baseball fields, a stadium-size multi-use (football/soccer) field and two additional multi-purpose fields.  It also connects with a large piece of Nevada Bureau of Land Management's land which is designated as a high use recreational area.  I could easily get technical and explain the ins and outs of what this means, but suffice it to say these high use areas are pretty much like the old West.  You can drive your vehicle anywhere you want, you can shoot your guns, you can party or you can do something more innocuous like exploring, camping or hiking, like we choose to do on this day.  

Allison, Jaxxon and I parked at the entrance to the BLM area, and headed out on a dirt road towards the closest peak which we thought would probably have a view of downtown Reno.  Being that it was summer, we were in the desert, and the entire hike offered exactly 0 trees for shade, we started the hike early in the morning to avoid being baked alive in mid afternoon.  Prior to the hike we did the ceremonial desert hiking routine of covering ourselves in copious amounts of sunscreen and drinking and packing in a bunch of water, think 4.5 liters.  For a hike that wasn't going to take more than 2 hours max.

After hiking about 1 mile on the road, we turned slightly right to start up an unmarked trail towards the peak.  As the trail began to gain elevation, we began to pant, but luckily all of the walking in the neighborhood had really helped us get better used to the elevation.  I can't imagine how bad it would have been if we had tried to do something like this the first week we were in Sparks!  After about an hour of taking it nice and slow, we reached the top of the peak.  We ended up with a view of downtown Reno, like we expected.  It wasn't really anything to write home about as we were about 10 miles away from it, so it was kind of hazy and hard to see.  Allison and I were talking about the fact that this would be a really cool place to bring a picnic dinner and watch the sunset since the city skyline and the mountains that make up Tahoe were almost due West.

After taking a short rest and hydrating ourselves and Jaxxon, we began the return portion of the hike.  This part would have been easy and uneventful if we hadn't run into Billy Bob and his friend doing some impromptu target practice with their guns... Thanks for that one BLM high use area!  Please don't get me wrong, we were totally safe and they were totally shooting legally and as respectfully as possible.  The main problem was that Jaxxon, as you may remember from previous hiking posts, is completely, absolutely, scared shitless of gun fire.  So, immediately after the first shot was fired, he hit the deck and wouldn't move.  We tried to coax/drag him for a few hundred feet, but the guys kept shooting and he actually began to pull violently in the opposite direction.  At this point I emptied my backpack and put him in it with his head sticking out of the top.  This worked for about another 200 ft. until they started shooting again and he decided to jump out of the backpack.  Luckily my ninja senses were in full swing, and I was able to catch him with my left arm before he hit the ground.  After a long and arduous struggle the rest of the way back to the car, we were all glad to be calling it a day. 

Overall, our first desert hiking experience was kind of a mixed bag.  On the one hand, it was really cool to have access to the mountains and BLM land basically right in your back yard.  On the other hand it was BLM land and the guns almost made Jaxxon's little doggy heart explode.  The desert is also really ugly during mid day but is absolutely gorgeous during sunrise and sunset.  The lack of shade during the day also makes planning your hike quite different than in the PNW.  During the summer you pretty much have to avoid hiking during the middle of the day or get cooked.  Either way it was cool to be spending time outdoors in such a drastically different environment and also cool to be building on our hiking knowledge and outdoorsmenship by having to figure out how to navigate this new environment safely and successfully.

Still, given the bleak, ugly terrain, it would take another hike before we really felt okay about our decision to move...

Iron Horse Trail (Lake Annette Trailhead to S.E. Keechelus Lake)

Iron Horse Trail - June 22nd, 2014

I-90 Corridor

Mileage: 14 Miles (One way)

Elevation Gain: 400 ft.

Dogs Allowed

I mentioned in an earlier post about the grand summer 2014 hiking plan Allison and I created for this hiking season. One of the problems that continued to cause us headaches was the unpredictability of the snow levels in the mountains. The snow level and dates the mountains are finally clear of snow can vary greatly from year to year and unfortunately during the summer 2014 hiking season, the snow did not melt away as early as it had in previous years. This caused us to have to alter our planned hikes for several weekends, including the weekend of June 22nd. 

We had initially planed to hike the Kendal Katwalk. This hike takes its namesake from a football field- length portion of the hike where the trail was literally blasted into the side of a steep mountain. WTA notes, " the name Kendall Katwalk conjures up an image of a narrow pathway blasted out of a steeply sloped rock face, that’s part of it. But the whole package includes old-growth forest, gorgeous wildflowers, and stunning views into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness from both sides of the pass below Kendall Peak, where the Katwalk begins." Needless to say this was on our Washington hiking, bucket list. Unfortunately, by the time this hike came due on the calendar, the snow level was still too high to safely complete the catwalk, so I had to come up with plan B. Although, I'm kind of sad that we didn't get to do the Katwalk. Even though we were initially quite disappointed, it was also kind of fortuitous because it made me find a really exotic hike I may not have discovered otherwise. 

The hike I ended up planning had several very diverse sections, including the most notable, a 2 mile long underground section that followed an abandoned railroad tunnel. The final hike ended up being a 14 mile section of Washington State Park's Iron Horse Trail, a 110 mile path that follows an old railroad track from Ollalie State Park to Cle Elum in Eastern Washington. I picked a section that went from Keechelus Lake through to the Lake Annette Trailhead. As I mentioned before, this hike ended up being very diverse. Starting from the Lake Annette trailhead, the hike begins in lush forests which quickly give way to the original path of the railroad, which is now a large open gravel corridor. This section of the hike offered fantastic views of the cascades and lasted until we got to the mouth of the tunnel. 

The actual underground section of the hike took approximately 45 minutes. For the majority of this time we were in complete darkness. This combined with the temperature plummeting almost 40 degrees and sharing the tunnels with dimly lite strangers made for a slightly spooky journey which was not exactly enjoyable for some members of the hiking group. Luckily everyone made it out alive. Since Iron horse trail was originally a railroad track, it is graded much more gently than almost any other hike in the I-90 corridor, so despite clocking in at 14 miles it was a pretty easy hike. Despite being in the mountains, we only gained 400 feet of elevation, mostly because of the tunnel. 

The final section of the hike took place on the Western bank of the Keechelus Lake. The lake is an irrigation control reservoir and the beginning of the Yakima River. With a water storage capacity of 195,000,000 m³, Keechelus' brilliant blue offered stunning contrast to surrounding peaks of the cascades. This section of the hike was 6.5 miles on a flat gravel path. I forgot to mention earlier in the post that in order to make this into a 14 mile day hike and not at 28 mile overnight, we took two vehicles and broke the our party into two groups who started from opposite ends of the trail. We swapped keys when the groups converged in the middle of the hike and then met back up at the Lake Annette parking lot to regroup before heading back to Seattle.  

Overall it was a really good day and the tunnel section of the hike provided a completely new hiking experience.   Iron Horse Trial is a very bike friendly trail, and if I ever get to go back I think we will try to bike a larger section of the trail rather than hike.