Tag Archives: Five Lakes Creek Trail

Granite Chief 2025-08-26 Hell Hole

My seventh trip of the season was a trail survey, to pick up the major trails that I had not yet visited this season.

My first day up in the mountains I went to Bluesday at Palisades Tahoe, then to Tahoe City to sleep. It rained a lot in the afternoon, but tapered off by mid-evening. I went in at Five Lakes Trailhead. It rained and hailed hard on my way down Five Lakes Creek, and I sheltered under some trees for the heaviest part. By late afternoon, it had stopped, and I made camp near Diamond Crossing at a campsite that I often use. A few red clouds at sunset. This campsite is next to Five Lakes Creek, and up against the high ridge on the north side of the creek, so the sun goes away very early, but shows on the canyon rim to the east for quite some while after.

Next day I headed down the Hell Hole Trail, from Diamond Crossing. I last used this trail, as far as Steamboat Creek, last year, but it has been since 2020 going further than Steamboat, and longer since doing any maintenance on the trail. There are more down trees than before, but most noticeable change is the thick layer of winter debris, particularly before Steamboat but throughout. It was hard to see the trail in several locations, and I found myself off the route several times. Steamboat Creek is seasonal, always dry at this time of year. The trail route which I had defined and maintained from Steamboat down to the bottom was still OK in some places, but thick with debris on many, and I lost the route here and there. Having my earlier GPS track helped. I had previously edited the Open Street Map route to combine upper and lower Hell Hole Trail, but realized on this trip that was a mistake. Upper was once maintained, and though hard to follow due to lack of maintenance, it is still accessible to horses. Lower is steeper, narrower, not at all safe for horses, and though it was constructed in a few spots, there are sections that either were not or have disappeared. Though bears are largely responsible for keeping these trails open and visible, they don’t always stay on the ‘official’ trail, and their network of trails can be confusing.

From the bottom of the Hell Hole Trail, I headed west on a trail that traverses along the north side of the reservoir, to a trailhead on the jeep road. Neither end of the trail is signed. The trail was probably constructed when the reservoir drowned the historical trail closer to the Rubicon River, but two short sections were never finished. Greyhorse Creek does not have a bridge, and the crossing is not safe for horses, nor is it safe for anyone during high water. So far as I can tell, the trail was never assigned a trail number or official name.

photo of Greyhorse Creek at trail crossing — *Greyhorse Creek at trail crossing*

With the reservoir way down, as it always is this time of year, I opted to hike across the bottom, much of which was a large meadow before being drowned, to Upper Hell Hole Campground. This developed campsite, with tables, grills, and port-a-potties, is mostly used by people boating in when the reservoir is up.

The next day I walked the ‘other’ Hell Hole Trail (14E02) to Hell Hole Dam. The trail has been logged out this year, though there were two down trees since the log-out, one of which is a mess to get through or bypass. But overall, good condition. There are a number of tipped-over trees with root balls intact (firs tend to snap off above the roots), mostly Jeffery pine but some others, all tipped down canyon. I wonder if there are major wind events blowing down canyon. With the same name, though different number, one might presume that the two Hell Hole Trails connected, but there is no constructed trail between the two. There are a variety of use trails, some fairly easy to follow, others not.

photo of shelf fungus Laetiporus — *shelf fungus Laetiporus*

I had already decided to move my next camp up the Rubicon River a ways, and my choice was solidified when a group of jeeps arrived in the campground. I would have guessed that the campground was inaccessible by vehicle, but true jeeps (as in old and the Jeep brand), modified with crawler gears and large tires, can go almost anywhere. I camped on a bluff above the pothole section of the Rubicon, where it drops through several waterfalls and eventually down to the reservoir floor. This is all underwater when the reservoir is up.

photo of Rubicon River sculpting of granite — *Rubicon River sculpting of granite*

Next day, I made my way on use trails to the waterfall on Five Lakes Creek, then along a trail or route that I have partially maintained, and back to the bottom of the Hell Hole Trail. Though nothing like a constructed trail, the route can be followed, except closest to Hell Hole Trail, where I have not been able to find or define a trail through the logged area. This area was helicopter logged.

I headed back up the Hell Hole Trail, able to find it a bit more often for having walked it, and then the Five Lakes Trail, and camped at Big Spring Meadow. There were other campers there. Big Spring Meadow used to be a popular destination for both hikers and horse riders, but has been seldom used the last few years. In part due to the deteriorated trails. Next day, out at Five Lakes Trailhead, hitched a ride to River Ranch, and then again to Truckee, as the TART bus was nowhere to be found.

Note on gear

I have a pair of Altra waterproof mid-height boots. This is my last time every buying waterproof boots. They work fine if water never gets in the top, but once water does, from creek crossings or rain running down legs, they do not dry. My boots were still wet five days after the earlier rainstorms, despite often stopping to try to dry them out. As a result, my feet suffered, severely, rubbed raw in a number of places, painful to walk. Altra trail shoes are the only brand that fits my distorted feet, so I will buy them again, but never waterproof versions.

I have been hiking the last few years in convertible pants, with zip-off legs. I like them, but wanted to try again wearing Patagonia baggie shorts, as I used to do. Much more comfortable hiking. The unmaintained trails on which I spent about half of this trip are not the place to be wearing shorts. Debris kept flipping up and scratching my legs. So, love them baggies, but only for maintained trails.

Note on Hell Hole area trails

The GaiaGPS maps show a 4WD road from Greyhorse Creek to the east and around the Rubicon. This is fabricated. There never was not could be a road here. There is an old road that goes up to a mine prospect, but it is no longer usable. I asked GaiaGPS about this road, and they blamed it on Open Street Map (OSM). It is not and has never been in open street map. It is a relict from some earlier map. Several areas along the Rubicon River were logged, but it was helicopter logging, not road logging.

I have looked for two trails shown parallel to lower Hell Hole Trail, 15E17 and 15E18, but have not found them. I think they were entered by someone sitting at a desk, not from someone in the field.

Though GaiaGPS claims that they load from OSM, thereby correcting these errors, this is a lie. Apparently they add new data from OSM without removing old data. So fabrications and relicts remain, year after year after year. The Buckskin Trail, two branches off of Hell Hole Trail, are another example. Not in OSM in years, and not followable on the ground, yet it remains on GaiaGPS maps. GaiaGPS has always had some problems, but since it was acquired by Outside, it has really gone downhill. So to speak.

For the trails I have created in GaiaGPS, trails that are or were recently maintained are shown in red. Trails that may have been constructed, but have not been maintained in a long while and may be difficult to follow are orange. Use routes, never constructed, and of various ease of use and visibility, are yellow.

I have a thought that someday I’ll figure out all the trails and routes in the Hell Hole and Rubicon River area, and map them correctly. I’m probably fooling myself.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720328848766
Granite Chief collection on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief 2025-08-20 trail work & survey

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My sixth trip of the season was for trail work and trail survey.

Five Lakes Creek Trail

I completed trail work on the Five Lakes Creek Trail, from the creeklet crossing where I’d stopped last trip, to the Five Lakes Creek Trail & Big Spring Trail north junction, and then on the Big Springs Trail down to the crossing of Five Lakes Creek. There remain about 14 down trees, too big for me to cut, but I created either good climb-overs or bypasses, and in one case, a duck-under of a hanging tree. Also removed winter debris and brushed several sections, though there was less debris and brush on this second part. The trail on the west side of the crossing of Five Lakes Creek was brushed in with alder and willow, and I cleared that. At current creek levels, there is a rock-hop crossing, but at higher levels one must go upstream or downstream, which means fighting alder thickets. I was expecting the work to take two days, but it only took one, so I had a free day, and used it to re-survey the Western States Trail in Olympic Valley.

Western States Trail (Olympic Valley)

I realized after looking at my old trail track for the Western States Trail, that I had been off-route for much of my survey trip in early June. So I backpacked from Whiskey Creek where I’d camped north on the PCT, and then the Western States Trail to Watson Monument on the ridge above Olympic Valley. From that point, the trail goes south a short distance along the ridge, and then down a trail across the ski area. None of these upper trails are signed, including where it uses a short distance of road. The trail stays as high along the north-facing slope of the valley as is possible. I have no idea where the original, historic Western States trail went, if it was even in the Olympic Valley at all, but the existing designated trail is quite nice, and avoids as much of the ski area infrastructure as it can. Before Alterra bought ‘Squaw’, the old Ski Corp groomed slopes with bulldozers and dynamite, built roads wherever a bulldozer could, and maximized disturbance of the natural environment. It was a terrible company. Alterra is not perfect, but it is far better.

Where the trail crosses ski area roads, of which there are an abundance, it is usually not signed at all. There are signs, here and there, but not at every crossing or junction, and they are often not obvious, sometimes small signs high up in trees, or very old wood signs. Every time you get to a trail junction or road crossing, it is worth pausing and orienting, or you will likely end up on the wrong route.

The most confusing location, for me, was where the correct trail stays high under a cliff, and does not descend on the more used and obvious trails. On my GaiaGPS maps, I’ve marked this waypoint as ‘Jct WS stay high’. A side trail, from the marked junction ‘Jct WS access’ is signed as Western States Trail, but it is not.

When I got above Palisades Tahoe village, I broke off the trail and descended to the village, for Friday music and some rest. I was tired! The remained of the trail east to the trailhead on Hwy 89 is correct and not very confusing. And better maintained.

So, is this trail worth the challenge of following? Absolutely. The north-facing slope of the valley is sometimes bare rock or scree slopes, but it is also host to beautiful flower fields and clusters of trees. There are whole fields of brilliant pink rock fringe (Epilobium obcordatum, Onagraceae), which are fairly rare in this part of the Sierra crest. Gentian, probably explorer’s gentian (Gentiana calycosa, Gentianaceae), with its bright blue flowers is common, and again rare in this part of the crest.

photo of rockfringe, Epilobium obcordatum (Onagraceae) — *rockfringe, Epilobium obcordatum (Onagraceae)*

photo of explorer gentian, Gentiana calycosa (Gentianaceae)? — *explorer gentian, Gentiana calycosa (Gentianaceae)?*

There is only one water source along this entire trail, at this time of year, a spring that may or may not be year-round. When I passed it, a dog was luxuriating in the cool shallow water, so I passed it up as a water source. Earlier in the year, there are many creeklets that cross the trail.

GaiaGPS and Open Street Map

Part way through my effort to make sure I had an accurate route for the Western States Trail through Olympic Valley, I realized why I was having a hard time. GaiaGPS has mis-labeled other trails as the Western States Trail, though they are not.

Which led to a closer look at GaiaGPS. The company, now owned by Outside, claims that they update from Open Street Map (OSM) on a regular basis, and if there are errors that have been corrected in OSM, they will be corrected in GaiaGPS. This is false. There are trails in GaiaGPS that have not been in OSM in years, if ever. I’m sure some of the trails are remnants from Forest Service maps, which include mistakes 20 or more years old. It may be that new information is added, but old, incorrect information is not deleted. Though I selected GaiaGPS over a number of other field mapping apps, years ago now, I’m becoming increasingly unhappy with it. Since it was bought by Outside, it has noticeable deteriorated.

I’m at work correctly labeling the Western States Trail (Olympic Valley) in OSM, but it is going slowly because I have a lot to learn about OSM and how to make edits. When I get the segments right, I’ll combine them into what is called a ‘relation’, for the whole trail from the trailhead on Hwy 89 to the junction with the Pacific Crest Trail.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720328619648/
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief 2025-08-05 trail work

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My fifth trip of the season was primarily for trail work. As I do when I can, I attended Palisades Tahoe Bluesday on Tuesday evening, camped out on the Granite Chief Trail, and next morning headed up the trail, south on the PCT, and into the wilderness. I’ve been walking a lot on the PCT, and have ignored the needed trail maintenance. I realized that I don’t consider it my responsibility any more. There are plenty of other trails that no one else would work, and the PCT should really be maintained by people who have done the PCT, to give back to the trail that provided them their experience. The wave of PCT thru hikers has passed, but a few are still struggling northward.

Wooley Mules Ears are starting to yellow- and brown-out for the fall, while the less common Arrowleaf Balsamroot turns a brighter yellow. Here and there are touches of fall color.

I checked out the route to Little Needle Lake and basin. This trail was partly maintained and heavily used by the CCC trail crew last summer, so is now easy to follow. The junction with PCT is just south of the Middle Fork Trail junction, and is not obvious. It is not an official trail, so probably won’t ever have a trail sign. Passing the Whiskey Creek meadow, a blond and brown black bear was tearing up a dead log, apparently finding morsels to eat, but ran off when it noticed me. I’ve seen quite a number of grouse, and some quail, in addition to the ubiquitous juncos.

I camped at Whiskey Creek camp. Two other backpackers were in, using my favorite camp site. I talked a while with them, and noted that this area used to get a lot more use. I would almost always see families camped there on weekends, and others during the week. No more.

I spent the next two days working on the Five Lakes Creek Trail, south from Whiskey Creek. I brushed, removed winter debris, defined bypasses or climb-overs of large down trees, and cut a few smaller down trees and leaners. I did 1.4km, to the creeklet crossing, about 2/3 of the way to the Big Spring trail junction. My objective was to the junction, but the work was slow, particularly working snowberry which has to be taken out by the roots to keep it from bushing out the next year and blocking the trail, and gooseberry with its sharp prickles on stems and seeds. Whitethorn is past its gentle early summer phase and extract blood. The photo below is approaching the creeklet crossing. Doesn’t look like much, but it was an impenetrable thicket of alder and yearly growth before.

photo of cleared Five Lakes Creek Trail creeklet crossing — *cleared Five Lakes Creek Trail creeklet crossing*

A dirt bike has been ridden on the Five Lakes Creek Trail, damaging the trail tread and scarring some meadow areas. I don’t know who this is, it has happened at times I’m not in the wilderness. It may have even been a Forest Service person, as there are rogue employees who do this sort of thing. I was a wilderness ranger for years, and this deeply offends me. If I ever catch them, there will be hell to pay. The linear tracks of a dirt bike become conduits for water erosion during thunderstorms and snow melt.

I camped at ‘Squaw’ Saddle above the ‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail, overlooking Olympic Valley so I had cell phone reception to prepare for a Saturday Zoom meeting. I decided to go out through Olympic Valley to avoid walking Alpine Meadows Road from the Five Lakes Trailhead to the bus stop at River Ranch. In the morning, I followed the old ‘Squaw’ Saddle Trail down the hill. It is steep and severely eroded most of the way down to the Western States (Olympic Valley) Trail, but that trail is in good condition. I realized that on my 2025-07-01 trip, I veered off the Western States Trail, missed a trail junction, so my description of the upper part of that trail is in error. Once on the trail, I began to remember having walked this section years before. It is still not signed, but is clearly the correct trail. My route on GaiaGPS is correct, more or less. Ironically, the one Western States Trail sign provided by the ski area is incorrect, it is NOT on the WS Trail, but on an access trail to the WS. Shown below.

I have surveyed all the significant trails of the wilderness this season, except Hell Hole Trail and the related complex of paths at the bottom of the Hell Hole Trail, along Five Lakes Creek and the Rubicon River. This survey awaits a stretch of cooler weather. It was uncomfortably warm along the Five Lakes Creek Trail, 600 meters higher than Hell Hole.

photo of Western States Trail sign at the WRONG location — *Western States Trail sign at the WRONG location*

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720328285277/
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief 2025-07-12 trail survey

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My third trip of the season was intended to be a trail maintenance trip, continuing on the Western States Trail, but I got a day-late start and decided to do another trail survey trip instead.

I walked in from Sunnyside on the road and Tahoe Rim Trail, and camped near the junction of the PCT and TRT. As previously reported, the TRT is in good condition, better than any of the other trails. After a mosquito filled night, I headed south on the PCT to Barker Pass. All of the springs and creeklets in North Fork Blackwood Creek and Blackwood Creek are flowing well. The trail has been logged out (TRTA?) and both brush and winter debris are pretty good. There were a few patches of snow, but nothing hard to cross. Some PCT thru-hikers I passed mentioned that there was a trail angel setup at Barker Pass, so I was envisioning the massive take-over of the trailhead area from two years ago, but fortunately it was small. I headed west on Barker Pass Rd/Forest Road 3 to the Powderhorn Trailhead.

photo of mountain heather — *mountain heather*

Powderhorn has 16 new down trees, joining the existing ones, for a total of 52. And a lot of winter debris, which surprised me given that I had cleared it last year. It is going to be difficult to keep Powderhorn open and useable over the next few years. Someone horse-mounted chainsawed a few down trees, and established a long but fairly safe bypass (to the creek side) at the slide-under tree. Though chainsaw use in the wilderness is illegal, I can’t fault people for doing this, as the trails would otherwise become unusable with the Forest Service absence of trail maintenance.

In the afternoon I hiked most of the Bear Pen Trail. The sign at the junction is on the ground. There are many down trees, and heavy winter debris in areas. The trail can be followed with a close eye, but a few riparian areas with willow and dogwood were challenging. I had not been on this trail since 2008, and it is not really that much worse than then. It is not much used by anyone. The trail route and distance shown on GaiaGPS maps, which are based on Open Street Map, are incorrect. The distance is not 2.2km, but about 4.4km, until the trail fades in the meadow.

I camped at Five Lakes Creek below Diamond Crossing, one of my favorite camp spots. Heading up Five Lakes Creek Trail north, and counted trees for the first time, using a clicker. 219 from Diamond Crossing to the north junction with Big Spring Trail, and 38 more from there to Whiskey Creek Camp. The tread is deeply eroded in several sections, as there has never been any water control installed on this part. The section between the south and north junctions with Big Spring Trail is now hard to find, and I lost it repeatedly. The few people who use this area seem to be using Big Spring Trail, not Five Lakes Creek Trail. At the junction with Shanks Cove Trail, the sign is on the ground.

Big Spring Trail has 18 down trees, but overall is in acceptable condition, and easy to follow except in one dry meadow where you have to search for it when it goes back into the trees, in either direction. At the crossing of the dry or nearly dry creekbed just above the Big Spring, the trail into the meadow jogs up creek, and if you miss this, you’ll be ankle-deep in the spring marshy area. I hung out in the meadow, another of my favorite places.

The trail crossings of Five Lakes Creek are probably still wet. One could find rock-hop crossings, but you get tangled up in brush and debris piles along the creek, so it is probably easiest to just wade across the creek.

The rest of the trail to Whiskey Creek Camp is somewhat better, probably mostly because it gets more use. I think a lot more people go just to Big Spring Meadow and not south from there, so the trail is more evident. This section of trail could be brought back, unlike the section to the south which is probably a lost cause.

I camped at the cliff edge beyond the Five Lakes (which two are large lakes, the western one of which breaks into two with lower water, and a large number of small ponds), windy, but a nice place to watch the end of one day and the beginning of the next.

photo of Five Lakes second lake — *Five Lakes second lake*

Next morning out to River Ranch, TART bus to Truckee, morning at Dark Horse Coffee, and Amtrak bus home.

I’ve updated the Trail Conditions page with this survey trip. I am also gradually converting GPS tracks I’ve made over the years to routes, and providing links to them.

The trails I’ve not been on this season are Shanks Cove, Greyhorse, and Hell Hole. Maybe I’ll get there, maybe not, but as always, an invitation to anyone who does to submit a trip and trail conditions report.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720327678672/
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Granite Chief 2024-07

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For my second trip to the Granite Chief, I took the Amtrak bus up to Truckee, then TART to Palisades Tahoe. Attended Bluesday, the weekly blues music. The band was Mark Hummel, famous, so the event was packed. I camped off the old Granite Chief Trail at a place that I’ve settled in on for sleeping out after the music. In response to getting chewed by mosquitos on my last trip, I brought my inner tent with mosquito netting, though the mosquito clouds had fallen off to some degree.

As always, I checked the weather forecast for Tahoe City when deciding what to take. The forecast was zero percent chance of rain. But while going from Granite Chief Trail to Whiskey Creek Camp, it rained for about two hours, moderate rain, from a thunderstorm with lightning and thunder. It stopped late afternoon, and I was able to stay somewhat dry by sheltering in a hollow dead tree. There was a preview when it rained lightly for a short time the night before. In fact, it rained a bit every night on the trip, while every day the forecast was the same, zero percent chance of rain. Either these thunderstorms were happening just over the ridges, not over weather stations, or the weather forecasting has failed.

On this trip I had several negative interactions with trail runners. The rule, though not the law, is that downhill people yield to uphill people. But runners seem to think they have the right of way over everyone else. One runner actually ran into me and knocked me off the trail. Several other runners said I should get out of their way. So I’ve adopted a new policy for myself: I don’t yield to trail runners. If they insist on having a negative physical interaction with me, I’ll knock them off the trail.

The morning after the thunderstorm, there were helicopters up with water buckets, first a small helicopter, and then a heavy-lift dual rotor helicopter. I’m not sure whether they were fighting a single location or more than one, because the fire was over the ridge from me.

The Forest Service, with this suppression-at-all-costs policy, is harming the wilderness ecosystem. Every fire that gets put out the same day is a fire that cannot reduce the fuel build=up. The wilderness will burn, that is inevitable, and when it burns, it will be a catastrophic, forest-clearing fire. Why? Because the Forest Service has suppressed fire and allowed fuel to build up to a completely unnatural level. Fire is part of the natural environment. I realize that it may be necessary for fires close to towns to be suppressed, and the fuel reduction function replaced by mechanical reduction, but the fire being suppressed was in the middle of the wilderness, not close to any human habitation. There have been trends over the years towards letting wilderness fires burn, and away from that, and the last few years there was a trend toward fire, but for some reason this year, all that progress has reversed and we are back to suppression-at-all-costs. The Forest Service, and the wilderness, will regret that.

I worked the Whiskey Creek Camp trail, the short segment between the PCT and the camp, brushing and removing winter debris. This is the time of year to be cutting whitethorn, as it is soft with winter moisture. When it dries out more later in the season, it becomes hard and stiff, and draws a lot of blood from trail workers.

I still call the branches on the trail winter debris because it used to fall almost entirely during the winter and show up at snow melt, but in a sense it is a misnomer now, because dead red firs are coming down year-round now. In the Granite Chief, there are areas where more than half the red firs are dead, and other areas in which only a few are. Though not current, and focused on the northwest, the article Massive die-off hits fir trees across Pacific Northwest has some information. Apparently the die-off is not from a single cause, but a variety of factors. In any case, red firs are falling and will continue to fall, the trunks laying across trails and the dead branches scattered everywhere. Fire is not common in the red fir forest, so I can’t say whether suppression is contributing the the die-off or not.

I headed down Five Lakes Creek Trail to Diamond Crossing. This trail is worse every time I use it. It has not been logged out in more than 12 years, and there are more down trees every year, in some places I have to scramble up and down over several trees in a row, and the tread in between is covered with branches from the fallen trees. I get very frustrated by this trail and every time I use it, I wonder why I even try. I’ve not counted down trees recently, but it must be over 100. Use of this trail has dropped off over the years as other people abandon it as well. There are some footprints, but fewer every year.

I camped at my favorite spot beside Five Lakes Creek.

Next day I did a half day of trail maintenance on the Powderhorn Trail. I’d planned on more, but ran out of motivation and energy. As I said last year, the upper third and lower third of the trail are in decent shape, but the middle third is in poor condition and getting worse. My tool set is nippers and a fanno saw, but by Fiskars, so quality and fairly lightweight. But I have no tools to tackle down trees larger than about four inches, so anything large gets ignored. Sometimes I can clear a path to and from the down tree, so at least it is easy to step over without getting feet tangled in debris. One large tree, that has been down for years, is a slide-under tree. I had built a bypass of this tree last year, useable by trail-wise stock, but a red fir fell directly on the bypass and it is beyond me to clear it again. So the trail is yet again closed to equestrian use.

I hiked out to the Powderhorn Trailhead, then to Barker Pass, down the jeep road to Blackwood Canyon, and out the next morning to catch the TART bus to the Amtrak bus to home.

Water is abundant so far this year. In addition to the larger creeks, many smaller creeks and creeklets that are not year-round are still carrying water.

My Thermarest NeoAir sleeping pad has been deflating during the night for quite a while. I’ve got to find the leak and fix it.

Photos on Flickr:

Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720319054780/
Granite Chief Wilderness Collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

Powderhorn Trail maintenance 2023-07

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My second trip into the Granite Chief Wilderness this year was primarily to do trail maintenance on the Powderhorn Trail.

I take the TART bus to trailheads, or as close as it gets. There is a bus stop just north of Kaspian Campground and Barker Pass Rd. I walked up Barker Pass Rd and then the jeep trail to Barker Pass, camping there for the night. Next day I walked along Barker Pass Rd to the Powderhorn Trailhead.

palisades meadow and palisades in Powderhorn Canyon

My maintenance work is brushing, primarily whitethorn, and thinning back conifers from the trail, which otherwise grow to crowd out the trail. I did the patch of whitethorn as the beginning of the trail. There is not much brush until the trail breaks out of the trees into dry meadows in upper Powderhorn canyon. I worked down to a large tree that has been down for years.

The next two days I worked up from the bottom of the trail, camped near the meadow just short of the Powderhorn Creek crossing. This was mostly trimming back brush that was not yet blocking the trail, and cutting conifers. Most young conifers don’t survive, but while they are alive they crowd the trail with branches, and when they die, they lean over into the trail, as what I call spars, those hard points that rip clothes and skin. So cutting back young avoids crowding and reduces the spars. I also worked two patches where whitethorn was completely across the trail, and cleared out the crossing of the creeklet and was blocked by alders.

So, the upper 20% of the trail, perhaps, is in good shape except for.a few down trees, and the lower 25% is also in good shape, again with a few down trees. The section in between is, well, it sucks. There are 38 down trees on the Powderhorn Trail, most of them in this middle section. Additional issues are the heavy winter debris covering and in some cases obscuring the trail, and the brush and conifers encroaching on the trail. I can’t honestly recommend it, though Powderhorn is my second favorite area in the wilderness. I’m up in the air about whether I’ll do another trail maintenance trip here this year. Even if I do, it will just fix a small portion of what needs to be fixed.

I have been keeping track of down trees on this trail, for the last three years. In 2021, there were ten down trees, some of them had been down for years. Up until a few years ago, a horse group rode in through Powderhorn to Big Springs Meadow, and cleared most down trees, but that group has stopped visiting. The last Forest Service maintenance was about 15 years ago. In 2022, there were another ten down trees. And this year, there are another 18 down trees. The number of down trees is accelerating, and will continue to accelerate from this point on. Dead standing trees line the trail, in fact the entire canyon. Most of these are red firs, but white firs in the low section and a scattering of other species round it out.

Over the next few years, trails that are not actively being maintained will essentially be lost to hikers. And few trails are being maintained, just some in high use and high profile areas. The Truckee Trails organization has adopted the Granite Chief Trail and the Five Lakes Trail, and is decently maintaining them, but the organization does not have the capacity to adopt every trail. And the Forest Service essentially no longer does trail maintenance, instead spending all its budget putting out fires. They almost have to, because years of fire suppression has left overstocked forests, ready to burn. There are a number of locations in the Granite Chief Wilderness where single tree and small fires were actively suppressed. But fire delayed is fire that will be larger. Some of these fires could have been allowed to burn and clear out too-dense forests, but their natural function was prevented by the Forest Service.

This year has more Leopard Lilies than any I can remember. Three are wet areas with hundreds of flowers, and these areas are pretty common. In general, it is a good flower year, though late, but the lilies really stand out.

I walked out up Five Lakes Creek Trail to Whiskey Creek Camp, and then PCT and Five Lakes Trail out to Alpine Meadows trailhead. The Five Lakes Creek trail has many of the same issues, a large volume of down trees, including many from this year. Perhaps less brush. I’ve previous suggested to people that they use Powderhorn instead of Five Lakes Creek to access Diamond Crossing and beyond, but now the two trails are about equally bad.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720310165020
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275

Powderhorn 2022-08

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My second trip of the season was in at Alpine Meadows trailhead, past Five Lakes, and camping near Whiskey Creek Camp. I did some brushing and winter debris removal on the Whiskey Creek Camp trail, and then headed down Five Lakes Creek trail. This trail is worse by the year, more down trees. Though backpackers can climb over or walk around all of the trees, not so for equestrians, because going around the down trees leads into thickets of down trees. I think this trail has to be considered closed to equestrians now, and will be, until and if the Forest Service eventually logs out the trail. I have given up on this trail, not doing any trail work on it. This is ironic since I’ve spent so much time working on the Hell Hole trail, for which the Five Lakes Creek trail was once the main access point. My trail work is brushing and winter debris removal. I have no capability to cut out down trees over about six inches.

I camped near Five Lakes Creek below Diamond Crossing, where the creek pools below riffles. A beautiful spot to spend time. The next two days I worked on the Powderhorn trail, clearing winter debris, very heavy in spots, and cutting brush, not too bad but growing into the trail. Much of the trail has abundant white fir and red fir reproduction, so there are sprouts everywhere along the trail. A few of these will live, and crowd the trail, so I remove them when I can, keeping the trail corridor open. If I let them go, many grow to a point, and then die, leaning into the trail with what I call spars, waiting to rip clothing or skin. It is a lot of work pulling up young sprouts, nipping older sprouts, and fanno sawing young trees. My work only cleared about a half mile of trail, leaving a lot of trailwork for future trips.

The Powderhorn trail is similarly no longer accessible to equestrians. Though there are fewer trees, and easier bypasses than the Five Lake Creek trail, one down tree has no safe bypass. In the past an equestrian group went into Big Spring Meadows every year via the Powderhorn trail, and cut downed trees on their way in, but that group seems to have given up on the trips as more and more trees have come down.

It saddens me that the Forest Service has given up on keeping trails logged out and open. I realized they are being almost forced by political concerns to spend nearly the entire budget on fire fighting (meaning fire suppression). Years of fire suppression have left overly dense forests, and so the agency thinks it must continue to suppress fires. Of course, with fire, the question is not IF an area will burn, but WHEN. The Granite Chief Wilderness has overly dense forests, waiting for ignition. Of course the forest is gradually thinning itself in a natural way as large numbers of trees die off. But this will leave trails littered with down trees, and difficult to use or even unusable.

After the trailwork, I headed out the Powderhorn trail, walked the road to Barker Pass and went back in on the PCT/Tahoe Rim Trail, camping near the PCT/TRT junction on the crest. The last day I walked out the Tahoe Rim Trail to Ward Creek, which is being maintained and is in good condition. I walked out Ward Creek to the west shore and caught the bus into Tahoe City. Though I enjoy the Page Meadows section of the TRT in the spring with wildflowers and in the fall with aspens colors, it is boring during the summer.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72177720301364503
Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275

PCT & Powderhorn 2021-06

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The Granite Chief Trail, up from Squaw Valley to the PCT, is in good condition. A sign indicates it has been adopted by the Truckee Trails Association, so this is one trail I probably won’t have to maintain again. Yay!

I camped just off the PCT, looking down the North Fork American River canyon, with a good sunset and sunrise, probably in part due to some fire smoke from fires to the north. There are still some patches of snow on the north side of Lyon Peak ridge (Foresthill Divide), but not much left. I walked the PCT south to the junction of the PCT and TRT, where there is a campsite well used by thru hikers and others. I’m seeing about 40 thru hikers a day, mostly in bunches but some solo. As is typical, about half look happy to be there and the other half clearly does not. It is a strange thing that people do.

I headed south on the PCT to Barker Pass, then along Forest Highway 3 to Powderhorn trailhead, and down to Diamond Crossing. There are a number of trees down on this trail, though all but one were easy to go over or around, and it could definitely use brushing and cutting back of the doghair firs that crowd the trail.

I helped two dayhikers, in from Powderhorn, to find the pools along Five Lakes Creek near Diamond Crossing, which they would not likely have found on their own. The Five Lakes Creek Trail is in poor condition, many trees down, many of them down now for years. The Forest Service has not maintained this trail in at least six years, and it was being somewhat maintained by a horse group that headed into Big Spring meadow every year, but seems to have given up on using the trail, it is so bad.

I camped at Big Spring meadow, one of my favorite spots, a great place to watch the beginning of the day and the end of the day, and enjoy the huge pines. The meadow is drier than usual for this time of year, but not fall dry. The spring is flowing well, and I don’t think it ever dries up. I explored up the east side of Five Lakes Creek, finding the old trail which used to be on that side. Some parts are easy to see, in the wet areas with willow alder and willow thickets, not, and I did not find the place where it crosses over to the west side. I’ve also explored down from the PCT/Five Lakes junction, but haven’t yet connected the two.

I hung out at Whiskey Creek Camp to meet Paul Vandervoort, who I’ve been emailing for several years but never met. He was leading a dayhiking group from Reno, going over into Picayune Valley and then climbing out to the Tevis Cup Trail, and back out.

I headed out the Five Lakes Creek Trail, PCT, and Five Lakes Trail, with some exploring around the Five Lakes area, which I usually zoom by on my way elsewhere. The lakes were low but most still had water. There are anywhere from three lakes to fifteen lakes, depending on the time of year. The largest lake, the one to the west, breaks into two lakes as the water level drops, and the one I call third lake gets smaller but I’ve not seen it dry.

From there I went up over the old Squaw Saddle Trail, no longer maintained, and into Squaw Valley. It joins the Western States Trail (one of the many alignments) and heads east along the south side of the valley. Where the trail is closed for construction of the new Alpine to Squaw gondola, I dropped down to Squaw Village and hung out there for a while.

I took the bus into Tahoe City, where I camp out for the night before going to Truckee in the morning to catch the train. It is far too noisy in Truckee to sleep out, due to Interstate 80 with its constant roar of truck traffic. Tahoe City is much quieter. While charging my phone at the plaza overlook, a band came and set up to play, so I stayed to enjoy there semi-reggae and talk to people.

I was wondering how the flowers would be in the drought year. At higher elevations, they actually don’t seem much different, except that they are about half the stature of a ‘normal’ year. Their abundance is about the same, though.

On this trip I did not take insect repellent, and did not take my inner tent with insect netting, so was quite bothered by mosquitoes. If it were cooler, I’d just hide in my sleeping bag and go to sleep, but the evenings were too warm to do that. They are not as thick as they used to be, but still…

I have some new hiking shoes. For years my toes have been turning, and as a result, I need a wider toe box, but my heel is not widening, so wide shoes don’t do it for me. I’m trying out Altra Lone Peak trail runner shoes. They have a wide toe box but normal width elsewhere. They aren’t really heavy enough for hiking shoes, so I probably won’t be doing any off-trail hiking in them, but I have to say, my toes were happy.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72157719601028882; Granite Chief collection on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/collections/72157637640215275/

trail work 2020-07

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My trip July 2-9 was mostly into the Hell Hole Trail area. I went in at Alpine Meadows trailhead, down Five Lakes Creek, to Hell Hole Trail and McKinstry Trail, and then back out via Powderhorn Trail, north along the PCT, and out at Alpine Meadows ski area.

The Five Lakes Creek Trail is in gradually deteriorating condition, with more down trees added to the existing ones, and more issues with tread erosion. The Hell Hole Trail is in decent shape though there are downed trees that have now been there for years, and a few more are added every year. I have been working on defining the tread, so the trail is becoming somewhat easier to follow, though some sections still have a lot of winter debris accumulation. The trail from Diamond Crossing down disappears as it approaches Five Lakes Creek, due to thick willows and downfall, but it is not too hard to find a way through. The trail from there to below Steamboat Creek (which was still flowing well) is in decent condition, though it requires close attention to follow. There are a large number of oak trees down over the trail switchbacks about 2/3 of the way down the hill to the lower end of the trail, but you can bypass them by paying close attention.

I did some more work on what I’ll call the McKinstry Trail, from the junction at the bottom of the Hell Hole Trail, so it is now defined from the point near Five Lakes Creek crossing to about a third the distance back to the junction. But the 2/3 closer to the junction is very hard to find, and I have not yet identified what the best route is. I’m sure the original trail just headed across the forested flats, but the helicopter logging that left all the debris, and a weakened forest generating downfall, has completely obscured these sections. Eventually I’ll figure and and define the best route, but for now, one just has to head in the right directly and hope to pick up the trail again.

After crossing lower Five Lakes Creek, the route again is lost in the forested flats. It shows up again where it climbs up on the ridge separating Five Lakes Creek drainage from the Rubicon River, and is marked with rock ducks to where it comes back down to the river. I have not been past the crossing of the Rubicon in years, so the condition of the rest of the McKinstry Trail is unknown to me. There are also use trails that follow the ridge between the two drainages down towards the reservoir, but I haven’t been on those in years either.

Heading back out, I took the Powderhorn Trail, which has more downed trees but is not in bad condition, walked the road to Barker Pass, and headed back north on the PCT. The PCT is in good condition from Barker to the PCT/TRT junction. After all these years, it seems the the Tahoe Rim Trail Association has finally reached the desired state of good repair: no downed trees, no brushy sections, tread in good condition. Thank you! North of that junction there are a few downed trees, and some areas needing brushing (which apparently only I do, but I haven’t done in about three years). I intended to go out through Five Lakes back to the trailhead, but realized there were going to be hundreds of people on that trail, so I went out through the Alpine Meadows ski area, which is no shorter than the trail, but I only saw one person.

I’m just about to head back into the same area, to do a little more trail work and a little more exploring.

Photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/albums/72157715140370061

Granite Chief 2016-08

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Note: this trip is LAST year, 2016, which I never got around to finishing, but here it is now. I like to post on every trip, in part so that I myself can keep track of trips and where I went.

A dry year, dogbane turns color early

I went in at Squaw Valley (bus stop) and up Granite Chief Trail to Granite Chief saddle where I camped for the night. The next day I walked out the Tevis Cup Trail and what I call the Tevis Cup Connector, one of the old Western States Trail alignments. Tevis Cup is easy to follow and has great views, but the trail itself is unpleasant, climbing and descending repeatedly for no good reason, and poorly maintained. The end of the trail has been re-aligned off a gravel road onto a trail that goes past old ranch or FS buildings (not sure which), but ends at the same green gate as the old route. The Tevis Cup Connector is faded and jhard to follow in some places, as it descends and crosses the Middle Fork American River and then climbs to join the Tevis Cup.

I headed south on the PCT, doing some spot brushing along the way, and continued to Barker Pass, to Powderhorn Trail and back into the wilderness. Powderhorn is in decent shape on the upper third and lower third, but almost completely brushed in in the middle third, with whitethorn and doghair fir. I camped at Diamond Crossing, explored Bear Pen trail which I’d not beeen on in several years. It is in decent shape, not too hard to follow, but where it crosses Bear Pen Creek before the meadow, eroded banks make it necessary to climb down and back up, awkward with a pack.

Some sort of bee or wasp is incredible abundant, everywhere but particularly along the edges of creeks. Yellow and black striped body, but no fuzziness and no constriction between the thorax and abdomen. Not sure what it is. Also saw a lot of grouse on this trip, at least 40.

I went out Five Lakes Creek Trail, which has received some logging out, perhaps by the horse trip that comes in once a year to a Big Spring meadow, and then out to the Five Lakes trailhead. And back to Truckee by bus and back home on the train.

Photos on Flickr; Granite Chief collection