Wednesday Ramblings: Ellis Peak

Along the Ridge

Since Barker Pass Road is still open, five of us drove up for the third time this summer for our hike to Ellis Peak. This is a great time to visit Lake Tahoe as the crowds are largely gone and the leaves are spectacular. The weather was chilly and some of the Aspens had already shed their leaves.

duff trail

The trail was steep in places with a few patches of slippery packed snow. Once on the ridge, the views in both directions were magnificent - down to what appeared to be Hell Hole Reservoir to the west, and east towards Lake Tahoe. The ridge we were on was actually the crest of the Sierra, the PCT itself having gone down to the west a bit. We followed the ridge mostly up but down as well which accounted for the amount of elevation we gained (and lost) on this hike. The forest was beautiful duff underfoot and huge, moss-coated firs and spruce. In some areas were gnarly twisted trunks showing the effect of the more inclement conditions of high elevation. We crossed a dirt road cut-off to Ellis Lake, vowing to visit it after the peak.

Rock sentinels

Approaching the peak was steep but no where near what we had done several times this summer. There was a real trail and we did not have to use hands or crawl. There were huge rock outcroppings lining the ridge like sentinels. As we circled to the east side of the peak we came across a jaw-dropping view: Lake Tahoe - almost the whole lake was right below us. We could see past Heavenly and Mt. Tallac (we think) to snow-covered peaks in the south. Mt. Rose and other peaks were to the east, and Castle to the most far north. Twin Peaks, Squaw, Granite Chief, Tinker's Knob, and Anderson Peaks were all visible along the crest to the north.

Peak behind

Celebrating at top

After lunch we descended to Ellis Lake, which hadn't looked too exciting from the peak. Surprisingly, it was lovely. The lake was on a bench surrounded on one side by beautiful big trees. The peak with a bright rockfall reflected in the water. At the edge of the bench was a great view down to the Barker Pass road and up to Barker Peak.

The return hike was the usual steep ups and downs with fabulous views. Once again, a fabulous new (for us) hike - the 11th one this year? - it was 8 miles with an 1800 ft. elevation gain - the highest peak being 8725 feet.