Monthly Archives: July 2026

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Rubicon

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This is the fifth of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward, the third was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area, and the fourth was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Steamboat. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions. In the near future I will do a summary post on all the additions.

Rubicon

This area contains mostly pristine areas south of the Rubicon River that were left out of the original wilderness. It is about 5,257 acres, the largest of the proposed additions.

The area includes the north facing slope from McKinstry Peak and Guide Peak down to the Rubicon River, where it connects with the existing wilderness and the Barker Creek area of my first post. Some of the river flats along the Rubicon River were helicopter logged, but were not roaded. The road shown on some maps around the head of Hell Hole Reservoir does not exist, has never existed. Though there are a number of old abandoned and use trails in the area, particularly just east of the reservoir, the only maintained trail, Hell Hole 14E02, ends at the Upper Hell Hole Campground, just outside this addition. I have not been on the McKinstry Trail in many years, and do not know if it is even passable through the brush fields, but it would be included in the addition. Upstream, the addition ends short of the Rubicon Jeep Trail. It is all within Tahoe National Forest and does not extend into El Dorado National Forest.

Land ownership is mostly Tahoe National Forest, with some Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), which is the agency that owns and administers Hell Hole Reservoir and associated plumbing.

The map below shows the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. (pdf) The line separating the addition into two parts is an artifact of USGS watershed boundaries, which made the area much easier to map. Note that I have not added these proposed additions to my GaiaGPS public maps. After all five posts have been made, along with a summary post, I will add them.

Granite Chief Wilderness proposed addition – Rubicon

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Steamboat

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This is the fourth of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward, the third was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions.

Steamboat

This area contains some pristine areas that were left out of the original wilderness, but also areas in the Five Lakes Creek watershed that were logged and roaded at one time. It is 1,311 acres.

The area includes upper Steamboat Creek, and upper Buckskin Creek. Though it has been several years since I walked this complex of logging roads, at the time they were all seldom used and rapidly deteriorating. It is probable that stabilization work should be done before inclusion in the wilderness. The north and west boundaries would be the watershed boundary of Five Lakes Creek. This addition, along with the Barker addition, would protect the entire watershed of Five Lakes Creek, critically important to maintaining water quality for the entire watershed. None of these lands should ever be logged again.

It includes the lower part of lower Hell Hole Trail, and the poorly defined route west along the north shore of Hell Hole Reservoir, and east along the north side of Five Lakes Creek. Note that maps do not show the correct location of these trails, and the road along the north and east sides of the reservoir was someone’s imagination – it was never there. The Buckskin Trail, shown on some maps, has not been maintained in over 40 years, and is very hard to follow even for experienced backcountry people. It should not be shown on current maps.

Land ownership is mostly Tahoe National Forest, with some Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), which is the agency that owns and administers Hell Hole Reservoir and associated plumbing.

The map below shows the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed addition. (pdf) Note that I have not added these proposed additions to my GaiaGPS public maps. After all five posts have been made, along with a summary post, I will add them.

map of Granite Chief Wilderness proposed addition - Steamboat
Granite Chief Wilderness proposed addition – Steamboat

Granite Chief 2026-07-08 survey

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My fourth Granite Chief Wilderness trip of the season was a survey trip. It was also intended to be a trail maintenance trip, working with the Western States Endurance Run (WSER) trail crew on the Tevis Cup reroute, but I injured myself crossing Talbot Creek, and had to bow out of that part.

I went in on the Granite Chief Trail from Olympic Valley. Though this is a nearly 600km climb to the PCT, it is still one of my favorites since it it only a short walk from the bus stop (Clock Tower in Palisades Tahoe) to the trailhead. There are three new trees down on the trail since it was logged out earlier in the season. I headed south on the PCT and camped at what I call Sand Flat, which is a large flat area along the trail that was also being used by many, many PCT thru hikers. It is just north of Washeshu Creek crossing, so easy access to water.

Next day I headed south along the PCT, where some trees have been cut but some remain. I talked with two American Conservation Experience (ACE) trail crews, a small one doing brushing and tread work on the PCT heading north, and a larger one doing trail polishing on the Tevis Cup reroute, west from the existing trail. These trail crew are an AmericanCorps program, so participants receive a stipend but are volunteers. Their tools were packed in by the Forest Service.

I then continued south on the PCT, which has been logged out but I don’t know by whom, to the Middle Fork Trail. This is not an official name, and I used to call it the Tevis Connector, but it may well end up with this name. I walked down across the Middle Fork and up to the existing Tevis Cup trail, and up to the reroute, then back along the reroute to the PCT. I talked briefly to Matt Bromley, the Forest Service person in charge of the reroute project, who works for American River Ranger District.

I then continued south on the PCT, with 27 down trees, no change from my previous trip, and to Whiskey Creek Trail, and then to the Western States (Picayune Valley) Trail. There are 130 down trees between Whiskey Camp and Talbot Trailhead. Many are small, but there are also many large. Some parts of the switchbacks below the saddle are very brushy, almost brushed closed (whitethorn). Except for these issues, the trail is overall acceptable. I met an eastbound backpacker on the trail, and we were both surprised to see each other. Though many people day hike in from Talbot TH, and some people do overnight camps in the middle bedrock section, the trail is overall little used.

photo of lichen & fern, Middle Fork American River
lichen & fern, Middle Fork American River

From the trailhead I went north on the Talbot Trail. There were 44 down trees, many in the lowest section, with light to very heavy debris. Talbot Creek is dry at the trail crossing, no unusual, though it flows above and below. High up, nearly to the Tevis Cup junction, a branch of Talbot Creek crosses the trail and is low but flowing. I saw no sign of anyone else using this trail. It has not been maintained since it was constructed. It serves mostly as a connector, not a destination, though the view from the open ridge about 2/3 of the way up is quite nice.

I met the Western States Endurance Run trail crew leaders at Lyon Saddle, and had some interesting conversations. By Saturday morning it was clear that I really had injured myself crossing Talbot Creek, and it was going to be a slow recovery, so I bailed out of the weekend work party. WSER is working in from the west end of the Tevis Cup reroute. If you like trail work and want a crew to work with, consider WSER. There are five work weekends remaining this year. Though some of the crew are returning, and have a lot of trail construction experience, it is not required, and the group is very welcoming, and fun. All tools are supplied.

From the saddle I hiked back eastward, partly on existing Tevis Cup Trail, and partly on the mostly completed section of the reroute. I have not hike the entire existing trail in several years, since I detest the boggy and up and down and up and down middle section, which the reroute will avoid. I continued out to Olympic Valley, to Truckee for the day, and then home on the Amtrak bus. I’ve been going to Dark Horse Coffee for several years on every trip, beginning or end or both, and have recently discovered jalapeno cheddar bread at Cornerstone Bakery. I don’t just go backpacking, I also enjoy Truckee and Tahoe City.

Granite Chief Wilderness additions: north area

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This is the third of a series of posts recommending additions to the Granite Chief Wilderness. The first was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Barker Creek, the second was Granite Chief Wilderness additions: Blackwood & Ward. See the first for background information on the wilderness and the idea of additions.

North Areas (Granite Chief Creek, north area, and Talbot Creek)

I have mapped these three areas separately, because they are not contiguous, but together they round out the north and northwest boundaries of the wilderness, protecting both pristine wilderness lands and areas that were once logged but are recovering. The three areas total 3,405 acres.

Granite Chief Creek: This is the upper Granite Chief Creek watershed. The creek is tributary to the North Fork American River. The north boundary is section lines, the south boundary is the current wilderness boundary, which is also the watershed boundary along Lyon Ridge. It is entirely Tahoe National Forest. This area is pristine wilderness, without logging or roads. It includes a little less than two miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, which is now outside the wilderness. It is 1,419 acres.

North area: This is uppermost part of the Talbot Creek watershed, which is tributary to Middle Fork American River. The north boundary is the watershed boundary, and the south boundary is the current wilderness boundary. It is within Tahoe National Forest and American River Conservancy lands. It was in part lightly logged and had logging roads, but those traces are fading, and there are no permanent roads. It is 398 acres, but the significance is greater since it would round out the upper watershed protection and protection of the Tevis Cup Trail, which were missed in the 2015 wilderness additions.

Talbot: This is another segment of the Talbot Creek watershed. The north and west boundaries are the watershed boundary of Talbot Creek, which is also the Tevis Cup Trail on Red Star Ridge. The south boundary is section lines. The east boundary is FR 51 and the Talbot Trail. It is within Tahoe National Forest and American River Conservancy lands, with a small inholding of private property, which could be excluded or acquired. Some of this area was logged and had logging roads, though there are no permanent roads. It is 1,687 acres.

My original vision was a significant northward expansion of the wilderness into wilderness-quality lands along the Pacific crest, including the Pacific Crest Trail as far as Anderson Peak, however, it turns out that Chickering American River Reserve, which I had assumed was state lands administered by University of California, is actually private lands with a conservation easement, therefore not available for designation as wilderness. I did not want to propose additions that are not contiguous to the existing wilderness.

A map is below, showing the adjacent designated wilderness and the proposed additions. It includes a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, shown on the map in orange dashed. (pdf)