June 15, 2024
Today we have a group of seven people planning an up and back hike through big Meadow to Dardanelles Lake via the Tahoe Rim Trail. We have beautiful clear skies and are starting out with 69° temperatures we plan on about 7+ miles.
Right off the bat, we find some beautiful wildflowers like the Wavy Leaf Paintbrush, Mule Ears, with their yellow flowers in bloom, and the red Scarlet Gillia we also have found a full Snow Plant flower standing tall.
We passed by a River that is covered with large boulders and surrounded by a grove of quaking aspen trees
We’ve entered big Meadow. There’s a nice bridge crossing the stream letting us keep our feet dry. As you can see, the meadow is beautiful and wide open with views of pretty green grass and snow covered mountains with the stream running through it.
I passed a log with a shelf fungi growing on the end. A short time later, growing on the side of this tree is Veiled Polypore fungi.
This Red Fir tree is dead, but still standing strong. Looking at it silhouetted with the sun behind it is very pretty
We come to another very small high mountain Meadow, again, with a stream running through it and beautiful mountain as the backdrop
Two interesting types of rock are seen here that form of some of the more interesting geologic features of the Sierras. Both of these are volcanic rock. The first one is a conglomerate which comes from actively flowing lava, picking up the smaller rocks then hardening into an almost cement like structure. The second one is the much smoother granite, that is formed deep underground from non-flowing pool lava slowly cooling. Overtime it appears from the ground through erosion.
We came up to our first really pretty stream crossing with rocks placed as stepping stones.
After the first crossing, we came to another smaller one again with well placed stepping stones just across it is this beautiful red fur that is alive unlike the dead standing one we saw earlier
This beautiful large Sierra Juniper is growing right along the trail. We took the opportunity for a nice group shot in front front of it.
Looking between the trees, we can see this smaller smooth looking granite peak in front of us
We cross this large flat slab of granite that almost resembles a road; however, it is completely natural
We passed a few large granite boulders on both sides of our trail as we continue up toward the lake.
After a very short uphill, we are cresting the saddle that leads to Dandarnelles lake. It is beautiful. Framed by tall cliffs on one side, some snow covered mountain in the background and large granite formations all around it.
We continued a quarter way around the lake to a nice spot where we stopped for lunch and a short rest.
As we leave the lake, we come across a few more patches of pretty flowers. Yellow Wild Buckwheat, small pink flowered Whisker Brush, and One Seeded Pussy Paws.
I have seen the white and purple Spreading Phlox on just about every hike I have done this year, but still think it is pretty
After another quick crossing over a stream, on this log, we come across a small patch of Mountain Bluebells
Yellow flowered Arrow Leaf Balsamroot looks similar to the Mule’s Ear pictured at the beginning of the hike,but is indeed a different plant
We crossed one more stream on steppingstones And then arrive at a Trail junction. 3miles from this trail junction the Tahoe Rim Trail joins the PTC for about a 50 mile stretch. It brings back some good memories and a smile on my face when I think about walking that section last year. We won’t be going that direction, instead we make a hairpin turn here and re-join the Tahoe Rim Trail back to our vehicles.
Mid slope on our return uphill I have a nice view through the trees of the snow cover range sitting off to the side and above Dardanelles lake
We have returned to big Meadow, now taking pictures from the opposite side. I was able to get a picture of one of the small blue butterflies fluttering around the trail.
Distant mountain views are another one of the things that I really like when I’m out hiking. They appear in all directions and seem to go on forever.
We arrived back to the trailhead at Highway 89. We cross the highway and our soon are back at our cars 8 1/2 miles complete about 1400 feet of elevation.
