It's Friday! 9/16/23

 

I thought I knew what I was talking about, but I didn't.  I was sure we were on our way to hike Donner Peak, up in the high country, but we weren't.  By driving up I-80 and exiting at Boreal Ridge Rd, we'd park and hike up to Donner Summit.  Easy-peasy.  Wrong.  When we exited and parked, nothing looked familiar.  I guess I should've looked it up on AllTrails before we left.  Oh well.  We were all ready to go, so off we went, on the PCT, with an unknown destination because we didn't know this trail at all.

Sometimes the destination doesn't matter, as a journey into the Sierra's is always nourishment for the soul.  We were happy to be Out and About on this unknown-to-us, but well-trod trail.

The path itself was kinda sketchy in places, as you see above:  Roots 'n rocks.  Beneath the trees, we appreciated the soft leaf/needle compost underfoot.  We alternated sun with shade, and first we went down-down-down and then up-up-up, and then we repeated the pattern!

Look at this extensive granite "slab" littered with giant boulders!  This was next to the trail, not part of it.  Our elevation here was roughly 7,000'.

We passed several small ponds with clear, tannic water.  One had a large population of Bullhead Catfish, which isn't necessarily good as they can overpopulate and "stunt in ponds."  These guys were still small, maybe three-four inches long, but we saw lots.

Paralleling I-80, not close but within earshot, it became a background "white noise."  Eventually the trail turned south and the sound disappeared.  We saw a couple of day hikers early on and then we were alone.  When we finally gained the first high spot, we were sorta surprised to see Donner Lake, but then we realized where the trail would take us.  

Ain't nature's designs grand?

Not many wildflowers were blooming this late in the year.  I spotted a few Pink Spirea, including the flower with bee, above.  In semi-sunny areas, Indian Paintbrush and Checker Bloom still flowered, and Aster and Goldenrod color foretold autumn's imminence.

By gollies, here we are!  Three-and-a-half miles in and we're up top, overlooking Hwy 40 (old Lincoln Hwy, way down below) and the snow sheds and the China Wall, places we know from past hikes.  We knew how to get down to Hwy 40, but didn't need to.  Instead, this was our turn-around point.

Yup, we parked the day packs, sat on a boulder in the shade and ate our lunch.  Behind Jimmy is George R. Stewart Peak at 7,389'.  If I looked off to my right, I'd see the snow sheds and China Wall.  As we were leaving, a large group of young adults (kids, really!) bounded up the boulders from Hwy 40, nodded to the two old fogeys, and continued their caper up to Stewart Peak.  Just a lark, right?

The afternoon was perfect, warm with a fresh breeze, maybe 75/ish.  On our return, we were aware that all the downhills we had would now be uphills, and our ol' bodies protested, but no matter.  As we made our way, we marveled at the stamina of the PCT thru-hikers.  This is a really tough trail.  Being younger helps, I'm sure.  Meanwhile, we were treated to views (across I-80) of our big buddy from three years ago -- legendary Castle Peak.  Click on the blue link to read about it.

I'd listened to the weatherman the night before and he said "no thunderstorms for the Sierra tomorrow," and I believed him.  When we saw the gray clouds forming, I wasn't worried.  Nope, no thunder, no rain.

We love hiking up here.

Nice balancing act.

Like the brilliant red Snow Plant in spring,

these rosy Pine Drops always catch my attention.

Finally, we came back to the granite slab.  Hi Jimmy!  One nice thing about an out-and-back trail is you see stuff on the return that you missed on the way out.  We were so finished with the switchbacks and uphill/downhill, elevation gain/loss, and we were both tired.  We rated this ourselves as "moderately challenging."  Seven miles and our dogs were barking!  We didn't make it to Donner Summit (oops!), so we'll save that for another time, now that we KNOW how to get there!

I don't know if this map is of any use to you guys, but here 'tis anyway.  The Prius was parked where the blank spot is from everybody's finger pointing to it, and we followed the PCT (red line) down to about Lake Angela.  Our only time to hike exclusively on the PCT.  This entire map area is a great locale to get in some aerobic exercise!  Awful pretty, too.