Hiking Bunker Hill Fire Lookout
Eldorado National Forest, California
Friday, 16 Jul 2021. 6:30pm.
Our plan for today has been to hike another trail or two in the Crystal basin after hiking Bassi Falls then camp for the night nearer to Wright's Lake to hike into the Desolation Wilderness tomorrow. Our visit to Bassi falls took longer than expected- a few hours and 3 blogs. Our next hike took longer than expected, too. It also took a lot out of me. Thus now we're headed off to find a campsite.
The hike we just completed was a trek to the top of Bunker Hill, where there's a historic stone fire lookout. Most of the ascent to the peak's 7.524' summit was handled by our car. We tried visiting this peak on a trip to the Crystal Basin 4 years ago the road was closed a few miles away. This time the dirt 4x4 trails were in good condition, though there was still a locked gate about a mile below the summit, presumably to deter damage to the fire lookout.
"It's just a mile each way, how hard can it be?" you might ask.
Well, it was hard. The last mile entailed over 600' of ascent, at altitudes I wasn't acclimated to. Multiple times on the trip I considered turning around. Multiple times I had to "go back to the well" to summon new reserves of energy to continue on. I made it.
A historic fire lookout sits perched at 7,524' atop Bunker Hill. A ranger told us it is the highest stone tower still standing.
The 360° views from atop this peak are amazing. To the west there is nothing topping this elevation for thousands of miles. I might have thought to see if I could see the Pacific Ocean from here (200 miles away) but I was too tired to remember. Instead Hawk and I both admired the view to the east, where the granite peaks of the Crystal Range, about 15 miles away, are easily in view.
From our vantage at the fire lookout atop Bunker Hill we can see Wright's Lake in the distance, the Crystal Range mountains beyond it, and beyond that... the smoke of a fire!
At the foot of the Crystal Range is Wright's Lake. We'll be camping near there tonight and then hiking up into the mountains tomorrow morning.
Notice that cloud on the left side of the photo. At first, from lower down the mountain, we though it was a rain cloud, possible a late-afternoon thunderstorm brewing in the high peaks of the Tahoe rim. As we gained altitude and could see more of it we noticed its too-dark color and lack of vertical shape- thunderheads reach thousands of feet above their floors. We realized it was a smoke cloud. From a wildfire. How ironic to spot the smoke of a fire from a (shuttered) fire lookout!
UPDATE: This is the Tamarack fire burning south of Lake Tahoe. At the time I wasn't sure because news I'd last read Thursday afternoon reported the Tamarack fire as relatively small and far away. This smoke cloud seemed too close. By Friday afternoon when I shot this picture, though, it had grown significantly larger. Over the weekend it exploded in size, forcing evacuations in several small towns south of Lake Tahoe.
[This entry was cross-posted from https://canyonwalker.dreamwidth.org/89828.html. Please comment there using OpenID. That's where most of the action is!]
Friday, 16 Jul 2021. 6:30pm.
Our plan for today has been to hike another trail or two in the Crystal basin after hiking Bassi Falls then camp for the night nearer to Wright's Lake to hike into the Desolation Wilderness tomorrow. Our visit to Bassi falls took longer than expected- a few hours and 3 blogs. Our next hike took longer than expected, too. It also took a lot out of me. Thus now we're headed off to find a campsite.
The hike we just completed was a trek to the top of Bunker Hill, where there's a historic stone fire lookout. Most of the ascent to the peak's 7.524' summit was handled by our car. We tried visiting this peak on a trip to the Crystal Basin 4 years ago the road was closed a few miles away. This time the dirt 4x4 trails were in good condition, though there was still a locked gate about a mile below the summit, presumably to deter damage to the fire lookout.
"It's just a mile each way, how hard can it be?" you might ask.
Well, it was hard. The last mile entailed over 600' of ascent, at altitudes I wasn't acclimated to. Multiple times on the trip I considered turning around. Multiple times I had to "go back to the well" to summon new reserves of energy to continue on. I made it.
A historic fire lookout sits perched at 7,524' atop Bunker Hill. A ranger told us it is the highest stone tower still standing.
The 360° views from atop this peak are amazing. To the west there is nothing topping this elevation for thousands of miles. I might have thought to see if I could see the Pacific Ocean from here (200 miles away) but I was too tired to remember. Instead Hawk and I both admired the view to the east, where the granite peaks of the Crystal Range, about 15 miles away, are easily in view.
From our vantage at the fire lookout atop Bunker Hill we can see Wright's Lake in the distance, the Crystal Range mountains beyond it, and beyond that... the smoke of a fire!
At the foot of the Crystal Range is Wright's Lake. We'll be camping near there tonight and then hiking up into the mountains tomorrow morning.
Notice that cloud on the left side of the photo. At first, from lower down the mountain, we though it was a rain cloud, possible a late-afternoon thunderstorm brewing in the high peaks of the Tahoe rim. As we gained altitude and could see more of it we noticed its too-dark color and lack of vertical shape- thunderheads reach thousands of feet above their floors. We realized it was a smoke cloud. From a wildfire. How ironic to spot the smoke of a fire from a (shuttered) fire lookout!
UPDATE: This is the Tamarack fire burning south of Lake Tahoe. At the time I wasn't sure because news I'd last read Thursday afternoon reported the Tamarack fire as relatively small and far away. This smoke cloud seemed too close. By Friday afternoon when I shot this picture, though, it had grown significantly larger. Over the weekend it exploded in size, forcing evacuations in several small towns south of Lake Tahoe.
[This entry was cross-posted from https://canyonwalker.dreamwidth.org/89828.html. Please comment there using OpenID. That's where most of the action is!]