Finally We Return to Ellis Peak!
Ellis Peak, California - Sat, 21 Sep 2019, 3:30pm
Finally we have returned to Ellis Peak! This peak on the west rim of Lake Tahoe has proven more enigmatic than it has any right to. We first hiked it in the 1990s. It was amazing. Hence our desire for return trips!
We returned sometime in the 00s but bailed out at the end- and visited Ellis Lake instead. The lake was nice but it wasn't the peak. Five years ago we explored seeing if we could 4x4 all the way to the top; some maps/guides say you can. We drove part way up then turned back. Then we came up here for the hiking trail last June- and found the road was closed. Instead we 4x4'ed up a rocky dirt road instead to reach the trailhead! That 4x4 trek was successful but it left us feeling like there wasn't enough time for the hike. Ellis Peak was on my to-do list when we had a 5 day vacation in Tahoe this summer, but we never got around to it. So this weekend when we got a last minute opportunity for a weekend in Tahoe I put it at the top of my list.
The ascent to Ellis Peak starts off as nothing special. A trail zig-zags up the side of a mountain ridge under tree cover, climbing several hundred feet in the space of about a half mile. I remember the first time we hiked this trail... it was earlier in the season, and this part still had substantial snow drifts. Back then we had to make guesses about where the trail went as we clambered over drifts up to 5 feet tall. This time the trail was obvious... and as boring as it was tough due to the steepness and altitude.
What makes the Ellis Peak trail so memorable is what comes next.
After the first uphill hump the trail breaks out atop a ridge with 360° views. Earlier in the season this area is a riot of wildflowers. Today, in late September, the flowers are all dried up, but the views are still amazing. To the west we see Lake Tahoe through gaps in the mountains. North and south, tall ridges. To the east we look down on granite country of the Desolation Wilderness.
That large lake near the horizon is Loon Lake. Have we been there? You betcha (June 2018). It's at the west of the Rubicon 4x4 Trail. The east end is just south of Ellis Peak.
The trail follows along the top of the ridge for a while, with dizzying dropoffs to one side. Then it drops back down into forest to cross over a saddle below Ellis Peak. From there it's another steep uphill climb of several hundred feet to reach the shoulder of the peak.
We break out of the forest to see what looks like Ellis Peak. And we have only this Tower of Babel-like trail to climb to get there!
BTW, our attempt a few years ago to 4x4 our way up to here? We turned back only partway up, unsure if the 4x4 trail was navigable. Today, right below this point, we saw two people in modded Jeeps (one a Wrangler, one an XJ-series Cherokee like I used to own) coming back down the mountain. So it is possible to drive here!
Continued in next entry: We ascend the peak... and then the real Ellis Peak!
Finally we have returned to Ellis Peak! This peak on the west rim of Lake Tahoe has proven more enigmatic than it has any right to. We first hiked it in the 1990s. It was amazing. Hence our desire for return trips!
We returned sometime in the 00s but bailed out at the end- and visited Ellis Lake instead. The lake was nice but it wasn't the peak. Five years ago we explored seeing if we could 4x4 all the way to the top; some maps/guides say you can. We drove part way up then turned back. Then we came up here for the hiking trail last June- and found the road was closed. Instead we 4x4'ed up a rocky dirt road instead to reach the trailhead! That 4x4 trek was successful but it left us feeling like there wasn't enough time for the hike. Ellis Peak was on my to-do list when we had a 5 day vacation in Tahoe this summer, but we never got around to it. So this weekend when we got a last minute opportunity for a weekend in Tahoe I put it at the top of my list.
The ascent to Ellis Peak starts off as nothing special. A trail zig-zags up the side of a mountain ridge under tree cover, climbing several hundred feet in the space of about a half mile. I remember the first time we hiked this trail... it was earlier in the season, and this part still had substantial snow drifts. Back then we had to make guesses about where the trail went as we clambered over drifts up to 5 feet tall. This time the trail was obvious... and as boring as it was tough due to the steepness and altitude.
What makes the Ellis Peak trail so memorable is what comes next.
After the first uphill hump the trail breaks out atop a ridge with 360° views. Earlier in the season this area is a riot of wildflowers. Today, in late September, the flowers are all dried up, but the views are still amazing. To the west we see Lake Tahoe through gaps in the mountains. North and south, tall ridges. To the east we look down on granite country of the Desolation Wilderness.
That large lake near the horizon is Loon Lake. Have we been there? You betcha (June 2018). It's at the west of the Rubicon 4x4 Trail. The east end is just south of Ellis Peak.
The trail follows along the top of the ridge for a while, with dizzying dropoffs to one side. Then it drops back down into forest to cross over a saddle below Ellis Peak. From there it's another steep uphill climb of several hundred feet to reach the shoulder of the peak.
We break out of the forest to see what looks like Ellis Peak. And we have only this Tower of Babel-like trail to climb to get there!
BTW, our attempt a few years ago to 4x4 our way up to here? We turned back only partway up, unsure if the 4x4 trail was navigable. Today, right below this point, we saw two people in modded Jeeps (one a Wrangler, one an XJ-series Cherokee like I used to own) coming back down the mountain. So it is possible to drive here!
Continued in next entry: We ascend the peak... and then the real Ellis Peak!