Our Hiking Page

Partially as a result of the botany class we took in the spring, we got interested in doing more hiking. Since we live at the doorstep of the Sierra Nevada Range just west of Lake Tahoe, we have an abundance of established trails to choose from.

Although we have be on many educational hikes sponsored by the American River Conservancy in the past few years (and continue to do so), we hooked up with an informal hiking group that meets on Mondays. To beat the heat of the valley, we head "up the hill" for trails that range from 6,000 to 10,000 feet in altitude. Most hikes are between 5 and 9 miles long. In addition to those two groups, we have been on several by ourselves. These have been the most enjoyable since we can set the pace and stop to photograph flowers and views without impacting anyone else's hike. Our longest solo hike has been 10.5 miles in the Desolation Wilderness (just to see if we could without expiring along the side of the trail). Our longest day hike is now about 13.6 miles.

The hikes listed here are ones we have done. Although most are along established trails, on occasion a bit of cross country has been thrown in, either due to a lost trail or trying to hook up with a different one. All of the distances given are what we actually walked as recorded by a GPS that we carry. As such, they may or may not agree with distances given in other sources.

Clicking on the map will take you to a more detailed page of the hike with pictures. Listed here are Dist: the overall distance of our hike, Elev: the beginning elevation, EChg: the elevation change - low to high (usually more than once), and Rate: our rating of the hike. The rating scale is from 1 (flat on a paved or hard-packed trail) to 5 (an assault on Denali - or something similar like a cross-country climb of Freel Peak, the highest peak in our area).

Monroe Ridge Trail

Dist: 3.9 Miles
Elev: 800'
EChg: 450'
Rate: 2

Lake Margaret

Dist: 6.5 Miles
Elev: 7,800'
EChg: 300'
Rate: 2

Tamarack Lake
Ralston Lake
Cagwin Lake
Echo Lakes

Dist: 7.2 Miles
Elev: 7,425'
EChg: 450'
Rate: 3

Showers Lake

Dist: 8.2 Miles
Elev: 8,355'
EChg: 880'
Rate: 3

Thunder Mountain

Dist: 8.5 Miles
Elev: 7,880'
EChg: 1,550'
Rate: 3

Aloha Lake
Lake of the Woods
Lake Margery
Lake Lucille
Triangle Lake

Dist: 10.5 Miles
Elev: 7,400'
EChg: 1,000'
Rate: 4

Emigrant Lake
Caples Lake

Dist: 9.8 Miles
Elev: 7,800'
EChg: 1,000'
Rate: 3

Ralston Peak

Dist: 7.9 Miles
Elev: 6,400'
EChg: 2,835'
Rate: 4.5

Round Lake

Dist: 8.5 Miles
Elev: 7,300'
EChg: 850'
Rate: 3

Bassi Falls

Dist: 2.7 Miles
Elev: 5,450'
EChg: 550'
Rate: 3

Velma Lakes
Eagle Lake
Fontanillis Lake
Dicks Lake

Dist: 12.3 Miles
Elev: 6,625'
EChg: 1,900'
Rate: 4+

Lyons Lake
Lake Sylvia

Dist: 12.0 Miles
Elev: 6,700'
EChg: 1,725'
Rate: 3.5

Scotts Lake

Dist: 7.5 Miles
Elev: 7,350'
EChg: 800'
Rate: 2.5

Winnemucca Lake
Frog Lake
Woods Lake

Dist: 5.3 Miles
Elev: 8,600'
EChg: 800'
Rate: 2.5

Gertrude Lake
Beauty Lake

Dist: 9.7 Miles
Elev: 7,000'
EChg: 1,050'
Rate: 3.5

Island Lake
Boomerang Lake
Twin Lakes
Enchanted Pool

Dist: 8.4 Miles
Elev: 7,000'
EChg: 1,200'
Rate: 3

Horsetail Falls
Avalanche Lake
Pitt Lake
Ropi Lake
Lake of the Woods
Echo Lakes

Dist: 8.4 Miles
Elev: 6,100'
EChg: 2,300'
Rate: 4

Fontanillis Lake
Granite Lake
Upper Velma Lake
Fontanillis Falls

Dist: 13.0 Miles
Elev: 6,900'
EChg: 1,600'
Rate: 4+

Round Top
Round Top Lake
Winnemucca Lake

Dist: 9.6 Miles
Elev: 8,600'
EChg: 1,800'
Rate: 4.8

Freel Peak
Jobs Sister

Dist: 9.8 Miles
Elev: 8,330'
EChg: 2,550'
Rate: 4.5

4th of July Lake

Dist: 11.2 Miles
Elev: 8,480'
EChg: 1,400'
Rate: 4.5

Elephant's Back

Dist: 6.5 Miles
Elev: 8,550'
EChg: 1,040'
Rate: 3

Tell's Peak
Forni Lake

Dist: 12.6 Miles
Elev: 6,560'
EChg: 2,300'
Rate: 4

Pyramid Peak

Dist: 7.2 Miles
Elev: 5,925'
EChg: 4,060'
Rate: 4.7