Wednesday Ramblings: Devil's Peak hike around

Devil's Peak from top of cliff

Six of us decided to further explore Devil's Peak in Royal Gorge. The land had been newly purchased by the Truckee Tahoe Land Trust and was open to hikers. This time we wanted to see if we could find a trail around the peak counter clockwise. We parked at Cloud's Rest Warming Hut and proceeded down to cross the Cascade Lakes dam on the Palisades Creek Trail. Then we started heading cross-country to pick up the Wagon Train Trail. This was a big mistake. My suggestion of angling our route was an even bigger mistake. We probably would have been better off having hiked the Palisades Trail and then head off cross-country further along. This country is very jumbled with cliffs and brush so it was very difficult to find our way. At one point a couple of us had no idea where the other 4 were so we followed some ducks to the top of one of the cliffs. The view was stupendous but the group was below us.

Once we were reunited, we headed for that Wagon Train Trail but were having to cross cliffs under heavy brush, sometimes stepping into air. Shoelaces caught and untied double-tied bows on more than one hiker. After a while we arrived at a lake we recognized so we went around it and got to the groomed area we had noted in previous hikes. Now the going was easy as we emerged onto a paved private road that went south towards the Devil's Peak Warming Hut. At that point we headed up the dirt road towards the shoulder of Devil's Peak, as if we were going to climb it like last year. This time we continued to follow the dirt road, turning left at a junction following a fainter road. We figured we were just going around Devil's Peak. Soon the Peak was lost to view in the woods although we did emerge on a more lightly wooded spot where the gorgeous clouds and distant views of Anderson Peak and Tinker's Knob could be enjoyed. We sat down to lunch. It was 1 PM.

Red Fir cone - usually consumed by rodents

As we continued down the overgrown and progressively fainter road, we noted that our GPS bearers were nervous about what we were approaching. Was there an outlet? Or did we have to crawl through brush once again. How were we going to get down to the much lower elevation of Palisades Creek Trail that was going to return us to the car? And this time the bushes had nasty thorns as well. You guessed it, and once again we wished for a periscope to see where we were going. Finally we emerged only to have to go through a dry forest with lots of downed wood to both block us and crunch under our feet. After we crossed a dry creek, we were relieved to emerge in an open meadow where we expected to find the Palisades Creek Trail. From that point the way was clearer, although the trail was missing. Slowly we realized we had to follow an older trail, which showed on the GPS, but is so faint that you needed a good imagination to see it, bolstered by occasional ancient trail blazes.

Lunch View

Finally, we arrived at a trail we recognized from a few years ago, the Palisades Creek Trail and turned left to head back up the other side of Devil's Peak. As we climbed, the views both near and far became even more stupendous. The clouds were dramatic but since lunch we had not heard any thunder. There were lakes and even some birds living their own noisy dramas up in the trees. We found a bushtit nest on the trail - quite squooshed but it's hanging structure recognizable. It even had some bluejay feathers in the structure. Three birds probably in the corvid family (jays? crows?) were making a ruckus up in some trees. One appeared to have a morsel and maybe a young one wanted a bite. It could have been flickers as well.

We got back to the cars at around 6. We had walked about 12 miles with about a 2 K elevation gain. Much of the hike was off trail and some even tricky. I'd like to try it again the other way with clippers and leather gloves. I doubt that will happen. If it were made into a real trail, it would be a go-to hike for sure.