The goal we set for ourselves in hiking the Grouse Lakes basin on Saturday was to climb to the top of Fall Creek Mountain. We knew from the outset it wasn't a sure thing. For example, there's no maintained trail up the side of the mountain, and even the use trail requires route-finding skills and scrambling over challenging terrain. We decided we'd ( Read more... )

On Saturday morning we got a later start than expected. It was already 11:30am when we started hiking. But the days are still plenty long, and the weather was beautiful.

I'm not sure this area is properly called the Grouse Lakes Basin. That's what I call it.


( Read more... )

What happens after a Friday Night Halfway? Say it with me: Saturday we go all the way. 😂 This morning we awoke in Auburn, having driven there last night and stayed in a hotel. I wish I could say knocking out 3 hours of driving last night (which was actually 4 because of traffic) helped us get an early start on our hike today, but I can't. I wound ( Read more... )

Sunday morning we broke camp at our hotel in Truckee and started toward home. We didn't go home, though- at least not right away. We visited another of our favorite hiking areas in Tahoe National Forest, the Grouse Lakes Basin. We drove several miles up a paved Forest Service road then a few more miles up a bumpy dirt road to the Carr-Feely Lakes ( Read more... )

Atop Grouse Ridge - Sun, 22 Sep 2019, 3:30pm

When we spotted the peak of Grouse Ridge from atop a nearby knob on the ridge (previous blog) we saw it perched up there like a medieval tower... with a smaller medieval tower just below it. A gate on the wall, perhaps? Would you believe... an outhouse!


( Read more... )

Atop Grouse Ridge - Sun, 22 Sep 2019, 2pm

This morning we left our company condo in Incline Village, NV, and set off for another outdoors adventure before driving 240-ish miles home. I felt like this trip should have a "revenge" theme- hiking trails we'd turned back from in the past for whatever reason, as with our successful Ellis Peak hike ( Read more... )

Along I-80 at the Emigrant Gap - Sat, 22 Jun 2019, 4pm

We're on our way home now. Just pulled off at a rest stop on I-80 with beautiful views over the Emigrant Gap. I'm sharing this picture because it shows a bit of where we were today:


( Read more... )

Grouse Lakes Basin - Sat, 22 Jun 2019, 1:30pm

After we turned around from the heavy snow drifts at Feely Lake we walked back past Carr Lake to the trailhead just below it. I almost feel bad for Carr Lake. This trailhead is named for it, but the lake itself gets short shrift compared to all the awesome places it's a jumping-off point to reach. We ( Read more... )

Grouse Lakes Basin - Sat, 22 Jun 2019, 12:30pm

After hiking past Carr Lake to the foot of Feely Lake (previous blog) we continued around the edge of Feely. The going was slow because here, at the foot of a north-facing slope, there were many snow drifts. Yes, even now in late June.


( Read more... )

Grouse Lakes Basin - Sat, 22 Jun 2019, 11:30am

The drive up to the Carr Lake trailhead from Auburn ( where we stayed last night) was an easy one. 40 miles up I-80, backtrack west on CA-20 for 4 miles, then north on winding, ever narrower roads up into the mountains. The last few miles were dirt and gravel road... no problem for our Nissan Xterra ( Read more... )