I started this trip at Granite Chief Trail in Olympic Valley, as it is the most convenient trailhead. The evening before I attended the Palisades Tahoe Bluesday concert in the village. A lot of people there, many from the Reno area, and the Reno blues group is one of the event sponsors. Camped out at a favorite spot part way up and off of the trail after the concert, and then headed up the trail early morning. My break was at a juniper tree about half way up, where I have often stopped, but someone has made a nice bench out of a dead juniper trunk, just below the tree. There have been helicopters up all morning, but over the ridge south, in the Alpine Meadows / Bear Creek valley. Probably a lightning strike tree.

Thunderstorms were building over the Mt Rose area northeast of Tahoe, but I don’t know if rain came of it. Someone at the concert was mentioning heavy rain that afternoon, but I didn’t catch where. As with last trip, there is zero precipitation in the forecast, but the reality is different. But I had no rain on this trip, and one full day of completely clear skies.

I headed south on the PCT and then to Whiskey Creek Camp. There are a lot more PCT thru hikers than I would expect at the end of July. A few of them may make Canada. Then down Five Lakes Creek Trail, which raises my frustration level, climbing over down trees for long stretches. I took the main trail, not through Big Spring Meadow, and it appears to be unused until it rejoins the meadow trail. I lost it several times before and after the junction with Shanks Cove Trail. I walked a short distance on Shanks Cove, at it also appears unused. The few people who use Five Lakes Creek Trail go through Big Spring Meadow, which is understandable, it is a beautiful place. And the spring, though hard to access, is wonderful water. I camped at my common site beside Five Lakes Creek, off the trail near Diamond Crossing.

I did two and a half days of work on Powderhorn Trail. Though I had done the lower one-third last year, there were new down trees and winter debris, so I re-worked that section. I had laboriously cleared a bypass of the slide-under tree, safe for at least backcountry-wise horses. But a tree came down on the bypass, so the Powderhorn is again not accessible for equestrians. I then tackled the part I’ve not maintained in many years, the middle third. I made good though slow progress, completing up through the postpile meadow to the creeklet. This is about another 1/6, leaving 1/6 yet to do. And that 1/6 is largely a mess, about 1 km of down trees and winter debris, including one tree fallen directly on the trail.

I saw eight backpackers and two day hikers on the Powderhorn, which is a little surprising for a difficult trail that seems to be not much used. So maybe my work is worthwhile. It is certainly a pleasant experience on some parts of the trail, and if I can make is so, it is worthwhile.

I explored the Hell Hole Trail from the Diamond Crossing junction to Five Lakes Creek. It is hard to follow through the seasonal growth and dry grass. There are duck markers but they aren’t all inter-visible. The most recent trail alignment is very hard to follow as it approaches Five Lakes Creek, though the alder thickets. Someone has partly ducked an alternative route that stays north of the dry drainage and comes out on the gravel bar just upstream of the crossing. It is also not well marked, but may be a better alignment. The ducks/cairins that I had set up two years ago are all gone, washed away or fallen over, but the crossing is upstream of the log jam across the creek. It may be a little hard to find the trail on the west side of the creek, but once found, it should be pretty easy to follow. I’ve spent a lot of time finding and clearing this trail, all the way to the bottom near Hell Hole Reservoir. Of course, as with every trail, it has a lot of down trees.

After a half day of trail work, I headed out Powderhorn Trail, FR 3 to Barker Pass, north to the PCT-TRT trail junction, and then down the TRT into Ward Creek, and camped at a small site beside a creeklet. Though I hadn’t really needed my inner tent for mosquitos on this trip, I did here, ample mosquitos. All day there had been a strange overcast, which turned out to be smoke aloft from the Park Fire. Nothing at ground level, where the smoke is going north and east, but smoke aloft was coming south.

Next day I walk out to the road and down Ward Creek to Sunnyside, and caught the bus into Tahoe City. Went to the Commons Beach concert, and camped in the forest nearby, then morning TART bus to Truckee and the Amtrak bus home.

An update on my inflatable sleeping pad. After patching some small leaks, it was still deflating during the night at an accelerated rate. So after seven years of good use, it is retired. I bought a Nemo Tensor inflatable sleeping pad as a replacement. Slightly more weight and slightly bigger, but in the same range.

Photos on Flickr:

• Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720319234553
• Granite Chief Wilderness Collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/