It was early days of August and the kids had already begun the mental countdown to the start of another school year. Conversations around meals were centered more on which good and not so good memories were created in the summer of ’16, rather than discussions around exciting possibilities of this summer vacation.
One trip on my to-do list was hiking a Sierra peak with Dita and Anant this summer. I had taken them roller skating, ice skating, and even rock climbing at my old gym in Sacramento, but this missing hike was weighing on my mind. A few weeks ago, we planned for and headed out to Twin Bridges on 50 with the goal to hike Ralston Peak, but gave up 30minutes into the hike due to an extremely hot day with most of the hike being on the south face of the mountain, exposed to the sun. Lesson learnt, we wowed to come back another day and sure enough the weekend before school opened we decided to get up to Carson Pass and attempt Round Top Peak.
Despite packing and loading the car early, it was around 11am that we finally found ourselves at the Carson Pass trailhead, a mere 2 hours behind my scheduled intent and despite the pass being at 7000ft plus, it was beginning to get hot again and I was worried that we might abandon this attempt too. But I was determined to push on today – if not the peak, then at least the lake at the bottom of the 10,341 foot hill.
The last time I visited this area was a winter snowshoe hike about 3-4 years ago , but years ago I had enough miles put in this area that I remembered the topology well – about 2-3 miles of mostly flat walking on a good trail: Frogs Lake, Winemucca Lake and then one uphill walk to Round Top Lake. After that, the hardy steer left and take on the Peak, while the sunbathers lounge around the lake, enjoy their picnic and head back via one of two options : double back on the same trail or head down to Woods Lake and walk next to highway 88 to Carson Pass. Given this was unchartered territory for us with the kids (Smita and I had done this many years ago getting on top of Round Top and still talk of the gale force winds which forced us to walk down on all fours lest we literally get swept away) I thought we will take it as it goes – progress will be made one lake at a time.
While this hike is a classic (part of the great Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Canada to the Mexican border, a mere 2659 miles) view of the Sierra geography, the only downside is that the trail is exposed much of the way due to the high altitude and alpine conditions. Sure enough, a half mile into the hike Anant started complaining about how hot it was and wanting to remove his inner T-Shirt and the usual “Are we there yet?”
Dita and I pushed on, leaving Anant and Smita to catch up and they did at Frogs Lake. It was about noon and I thought it would be good to get a bite to eat, relax at the lakeside before continuing the journey. I think we spent about an hour plus at Frogs Lake eating lunch, taking pictures and just chilling out in the shade. Thankfully at 8000 ft, the glare from the sun is offset by a cool breeze, trick is to find a nice rock in the shade to recuperate.
After lunch we continued on to Winemucca Lake (or Mucca lake in short) where we took another break to rest in the shade, an opportunity for Anant and Dita to chuck stones into the lake and generally fool around. I knew that the next section was the hardest one, so thought to give them as much time as they needed to get back into the task at hand – on to Round Top.
As expected, as the hike became harder and going became slow, Anant started wondering what are we doing here in the middle of nowwhere instead of being home and playing his video games. The trip gave us another example of what a chatterbox he is – words constantly coming out of his mouth – either general conversation or complaints or just begging to get back to the car. Dita was more introspective, put her head down and continued to push forward one step at a time.
Once we climbed the hill to Round Top lake, the view was marvelous. Lush green fields, classic green alpine lake with the rocky Sisters Peaks as the backdrop, patches of snow on the north face of the peaks. Dita and I found a nice shady spot on the banks, and waited for Anant and Smita to catch up, which they did 15min later. Anant was about done, flopped on the ground, tucked his hands close to his body and took a nap (which he later denied saying he was listening to everything and just had his eyes closed)
After about an hours rest, we started on the descent with Anant leading the way back. We took a different path down to the campground where on the way we found the the abandoned mine area with the remains of a 1930’s car still prominent and distinguishable. The place has not changed much in the last decade and half as I recall the car from my earlier hikes up this path.
After getting down to the woods lake campground, I decided to circle back through the wilderness and get the car since it was a good mile and a half away. While Smita and the kids waited in the parking lot, I turned on my GPS and traced my route back to car – one of the few times that I actually made good use of this tool.
Having accomplished the mission, it was a nice feeling for the family to be out in the nature and exploring. We needed this and need to do this more often.
