August 9
Today is a BAS meet up hike with seven people. We are starting at the Mount Tallac trailhead with an elevation of 6424. At the top I’ll add the peak elevation. This is the first time I’ve done this hike, so I’m looking forward to a new adventure.
Our first group picture is still in the tree cover, but a short time later, we found a great spot with Mount Tallac in the background.
As we are begin the climb we have a great view of Fallen Leaf lake now dropping below us.
After our view of the lake, we continue up the trail which parallels high above. Soon I am again entering the desolation wilderness.
Floating island Lake is the first nice surprise for me. The water is perfectly calm and the trees are beautiful, beautifully reflected back off of the surface
We came across this beautiful purple flower on a tall stock along the trail. It is in a large grouping only in this small area.
We crossed a small hill and arrived at cathedral Lake. The last of the small lakes will find on the section of Trail; again, beautiful calm Waters reflecting the surrounding trees and rock.
As we leave Cathedral, we begin steeply climbing the footage is turning from tree to shrub and soon bare exposed rock.
At one vantage point we can look down at Lake Tahoe on the left, Fallen Leaf lake in the middle and Cathedral poking in on the right hand corner. As I go up on these hikes, I keep finding areas where I think it’s an incredible view that can’t be missed. I get a picture and a short time later I come to something even better….. absolutely astonishing!
Continuing up we get to a plateau that has phenomenal views of a high mountain meadow. We’ve got the yellow flowered, yellow rabbit, bush, and beautiful valleys and peaks surrounding us. Absolutely phenomenal view from here.
Looking up, we have a view of the false settlement sitting in front of Mount Tallac.
As we continue high on a baron rock mountain side we come across more colorful wildflowers
We have reached the peak of Mount Tallic at an elevation of 9705 feet. We climbed 3296 feet of elevation in 5.2 miles that is considered a fairly steep elevation increase
As expected, the views are absolutely incredible. We see all of the mountain lakes, including Tahoe and Emerald Bay with all of the boats coming in out.
I had to grab my phone and get a picture of Bennett and Lydia two random strangers, but it was a proposal so I thought I’d get a picture. She was completely surprised.
As we begin back down we come to an area with a ton of crickets. As they fly around their wings make a surprisingly loud noise. You can hear it in the video I have attached at the bottom of the blog.
Coming off the hill we stopped again at Cathedral Lake this time went for a swim which was super refreshing. The water was warm on the surface and cool down low.
After leaving the lake, the trail transitions along underneath the peak we were just on top of. I’m always amazed at how much distance you cover in such a short time.
I’ve come across this large fungus growing on the side of a stump. I’m not going to try to even attempt to say the name.
We arrive back to the cars. We’ve traveled 10.5 miles with a total elevation claim of 3307 feet, virtually all on the first leg.
We enjoyed fantastic weather, great temperatures, cool lake water, and awesome people
