![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mount Tallac
Sep. 4th, 2023 11:00 pmIt's been way, way too long since I've been in the Sierra. Between the rough winter causing the high season to start extremely late and various obligations that have prevented me from heading out, I was still sitting at a grand total of zero Sierra peaks for this year. This had to change over Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, unstable weather over Saturday and Sunday meant that the one chance I'd get would be today, and I was determined not to waste it.
The objective: Mount Tallac (9735'), in the Desolation Wilderness. This is by any standard one of the easiest peaks on the Sierra Peaks Section list, with a trail going right to the top. Five miles each way, 3375 feet of elevation gain. Nothing I couldn't handle. So I woke up at 4am this morning and drove through South Lake Tahoe to the trailhead.
Apart from being kinda tired due to lack of sleep, it all went according to plan. I reached the summit 3 hours and 38 minutes after I started, including a brief breakfast break on the way. (I'm still trying not to get crumbs in the Baby Bronco.) The hardest part was the switchbacks after Cathedral Lake. The Desolation Wilderness has a reputation for being extremely popular, and true to form, both the summit and trail were quite busy -- a quiet, solitary wilderness experience this was not. While en route both ways, I ended up practicing my speed-photo composition skills a lot so as not to get stuck having to pass or re-pass any significant groups of people, including several loud family groups. As for the summit, among the many parties in the summit area were a very large assortment of Francophones and a couple guys that had a lengthy conversation while hanging out right at the high point. I'm pretty sure they're clearly visible in my summit photosphere.
Noise aside, however, the vistas were truly beautiful. Of course, you've got big blue Lake Tahoe right there. Next to it is Fallen Leaf Lake, which would be reckoned as large in one's view if it weren't overshadowed by Tahoe. You also have all of the surrounding Tahoe peaks -- Freel and friends, the Sweetwaters, Genoa, Snow Valley, Rose -- and of course, spectacular views of Dicks, Jacks, and the whole Crystal Range. The trail passes by two smaller lakes (Cathedral and Floating Island), and also parallels the western short of Fallen Leaf Lake for long enough to provide many a temptation to just snap photographs instead of getting on with one's hike.
At any rate, I got off the mountain in 2 hours 31 minutes, grabbed a couple snacks at Starbucks (hey, there's a Skymiles promotion), refueled, and headed home. Well, no, it was early enough that I stopped over at the Half Price Books in Citrus Heights, taking advantage of their Labor Day sale and buying six books while admiring a bunch of books in their clearance section which, although outside my collection focus, really deserve to have good homes. (I made the possible mistake of drafting a blog post on this before typing out this write-up.) Then I went home. The I-680 bridge was the most congested I've ever seen it but the drive was otherwise uneventful.
Tallac is Sierra Peaks Section peak #18 for me. It's also Ogul #13. I didn't see a summit register on the top to record my presence for posterity or anything, but pictures have been taken and the ascent is logged.
The objective: Mount Tallac (9735'), in the Desolation Wilderness. This is by any standard one of the easiest peaks on the Sierra Peaks Section list, with a trail going right to the top. Five miles each way, 3375 feet of elevation gain. Nothing I couldn't handle. So I woke up at 4am this morning and drove through South Lake Tahoe to the trailhead.
Apart from being kinda tired due to lack of sleep, it all went according to plan. I reached the summit 3 hours and 38 minutes after I started, including a brief breakfast break on the way. (I'm still trying not to get crumbs in the Baby Bronco.) The hardest part was the switchbacks after Cathedral Lake. The Desolation Wilderness has a reputation for being extremely popular, and true to form, both the summit and trail were quite busy -- a quiet, solitary wilderness experience this was not. While en route both ways, I ended up practicing my speed-photo composition skills a lot so as not to get stuck having to pass or re-pass any significant groups of people, including several loud family groups. As for the summit, among the many parties in the summit area were a very large assortment of Francophones and a couple guys that had a lengthy conversation while hanging out right at the high point. I'm pretty sure they're clearly visible in my summit photosphere.
Noise aside, however, the vistas were truly beautiful. Of course, you've got big blue Lake Tahoe right there. Next to it is Fallen Leaf Lake, which would be reckoned as large in one's view if it weren't overshadowed by Tahoe. You also have all of the surrounding Tahoe peaks -- Freel and friends, the Sweetwaters, Genoa, Snow Valley, Rose -- and of course, spectacular views of Dicks, Jacks, and the whole Crystal Range. The trail passes by two smaller lakes (Cathedral and Floating Island), and also parallels the western short of Fallen Leaf Lake for long enough to provide many a temptation to just snap photographs instead of getting on with one's hike.
At any rate, I got off the mountain in 2 hours 31 minutes, grabbed a couple snacks at Starbucks (hey, there's a Skymiles promotion), refueled, and headed home. Well, no, it was early enough that I stopped over at the Half Price Books in Citrus Heights, taking advantage of their Labor Day sale and buying six books while admiring a bunch of books in their clearance section which, although outside my collection focus, really deserve to have good homes. (I made the possible mistake of drafting a blog post on this before typing out this write-up.) Then I went home. The I-680 bridge was the most congested I've ever seen it but the drive was otherwise uneventful.
Tallac is Sierra Peaks Section peak #18 for me. It's also Ogul #13. I didn't see a summit register on the top to record my presence for posterity or anything, but pictures have been taken and the ascent is logged.
