Category: Hiking

The Steamboat Ditch Trail is a 43-mile-long canal, finished in 1878, carrying water for irrigation. It starts on the Truckee River west of Reno and ends near the junction of the Mount Rose Highway and Highway 395 south of Reno. Today we hiked from the Verdi fire station across form Boom Town and Sierra Canyon and followed the ditch up stream. None of us had ever done this before and it turned out that much of the hike was cross country since there really wasn’t a trail. There wasn’t much water so we even hiked in the ditch for a while.

The wind was really blowing. It was clear and sunny when we started but by the time we were done clouds had blown in it was getting colder and was starting to rain. Luckily when we stopped for lunch it was still a nice day.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures form the hike you can see them here.

Last Thursday the Sierra Canyon hiking group hiked up to the railroad snow sheds over Donner Pass. We didn’t have flash lights so we didn’t go in very far. Today we decided to go to the other end of the snow sheds and hike all the way through them. We started at the top of Donner Pass right down the road from Squaw Valley ski resort and ended at the spot overlooking Donner Lake where we had lunch last Thursday.
You can see that the weather was a lot grayer and colder today.

The snow sheds used to protect the trains from the big snow load over Donner Pass. About 15 years ago a new train tunnel was opened that goes through Mount Judah. The snow sheds were abandoned. The rails were removed and they now make a fascinating hike. In this picture you can see some of the sheds we hiked through. You can also see that there is a lot more snow up there than there was last Thursday.

And here is a picture inside one of the sheds. If you would like to see all the pictures from this hike they are available here.

Driving home we could see people skiing at Boreal. They just opened this weekend..

It was an absolutely perfect day to hike today. The sun was shining and the air was cool but not cold. The Sierra Canyon Hiking Group hiked up into Cold Stream Valley South of Donner Lake. We parked at the same place we did for the Tinker Knob Hike a couple of weeks ago. For that hike we had snow and fog. Today was just the opposite. There was no snow left. The gate was closed on Coldstream Road off of Interstate 80 so we accessed the trail by driving through Donner Memorial State Park.

For much of the hike we were on the old railroad bed that you can see from Interstate 80. We passed the entrance to the railroad tunnel under Mount Judah and then came to the entrance to the old snow sheds where we had lunch overlooking Donner Lake. The whole hike was about 6 miles. Here are some of my pictures and the rest can be seen on Flickr here.

The entrance to the railroad tunnel under Mount Judah

 

The entrance to an abandoned snow shed

The snow shed was pitch black on the inside.

Lunch break overlooking Donner Lake

The Sierra Canyon Hiking Group Thursday hike was to Mount Lola. At 9,143 feet I believe Mount Lola is the highest peak between Mount Lassen and Mount Rose. We hiked up from Henness Pass Road off of Highway 89. The hike was 5.3 miles each way with 2,500 feet of elevation gain. It was  a very easy to walk on trail but the trail did go steadily up, up , up. The quiet and color on the way up were the kinds that make me love hiking.

The 360 degree view from the top was stupendous as you can see here.

As we reached the top a single hiker arrived from the south. Apparently you can also drive a rough dirt road  to Independence Lake and have a much shorter hike to the top from the south.

There were only four of us on the hike and the solo hiker took a picture for us.

If you would like to see al the pictures of the hike please click here.

Monday the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group hiked at Lake Tahoe. We hiked along the east side of Lake Tahoe from Chimney Beach north to Secret Harbor. I’m not sure exactly where we turned around but we hiked a total of just under 5 miles. The beaches were all deserted and it was a wonderful day.  Here are a few of the pictures of the hike. On our way back it rained a bit and you can see four of us in our rain gear. I’m the one in blue. I put the rest of the pictures from the hike on Flickr. You can see them by clicking on these words..