[Journal for December 11-18, 2013. San Francisco, Donner Pass, South Lake Tahoe area and Half Moon Bay, California ]

December 12, 2013. Downtown San Francisco, California. I am here for the AGU meeting. At lunchtime, I walked from the Moscone Center down Mission Street to Embarcadero at Pier 14. The day is sunny, though with a bit of a haze. I walk out to the end of the pier, passing several plaques bearing poems about the sea, by famous poets including Kipling and Beddoes. I meet several anglers, stationed at the pier’s end. A few cormorants are floating on the water. I can see the Bay Bridge to my right and Treasure Island straight ahead of me, across the water.

December 14, 2013. I rent a car at San Francisco Airport and drive up to the Sierras via Interstate 80. I exit in Soda Springs (Exit 174), take Donner Pass Road east for a few miles and park at the Pacific Crest Trailhead near the Sugar Bowl Academy (a ski school associated with the nearby ski resort). The drive has taken four hours and the time is now 2PM. The afternoon is sunny, but with a little high altitude haze. The scenery is marvelous - rounded outcrops of beige granite with evergreen trees, some tall but others short and gnarled, growing among them. While tall peaks tower to both north and south, the immediate vicinity of the trailhead has only minor knobs. The trail had a little snow, but I boot it nonetheless. I set off in the northerly direction, across the street from the Academy. The trail rises a bit while the road falls, and offers a nice view of Lake Mary, in the valley far below. The Pacific Crest Trail (unblazed) is pretty easy to follow while it paralleled the road, but became much less so in about half a mile, when it began to wind amongst the granite knobs. I followed a track though the snow, but it was only one of several, and I lost it when I crossed areas of bare pavement, picking up what might have been a different track on the other side. I passed a little pond, nestled against a low cliff, that someone had shoveled clear of snow for skating. I decided to make for the largest of the knobs, a hill several hundred feet higher than the trailhead. I had fun picking my way across exposed granite pavement and snowy ravines until finally I scaled its steep rocky summit. The view was very good from that vantage, especially of a much taller but distant peak with a prominent cliff near its summit. I intentionally took a different route back, so as to see more terrain, but the topography steered me so that I crossed by outward route several times. I passed one section of flat rock pavement with scattered boulders reminiscent of the Bowling Rocks section of Harriman State Park, NY. The sun was getting pretty low as I reached my car. About two hours.

I drove south to Lake Tahoe, taking Route 89, which follows the western shore of the lake. I stopped at Lake Tahoe Pizza in the town of South Lake Tahoe for an anchovy and mushroom pie, and then checked into the nearby Motel 6.

December 15, 2013. In the morning, after coffee and an egg sandwich at the local Seven-Eleven, I took a short walk along a pedestrian path near my motel. It crosses a picturesque stream via a footbridge. The morning is cold, about 15 F, and very clear. Frost clings to the bushes at the edge of the stream, gleaming white in the sun.

Inspiration Point. I drove to the Bay View Trailhead along Route 89 at the south end of Lake Tahoe. The road ascends steeply from the town, making several switchbacks and crossing the knife-edged top of an arête. I parked at the campground and walked over to Inspiration Point, a viewpoint just off the highway that overlooks Emerald Bay from an elevation of several hundred feet above lake level. The bay is narrow, a bright blue inlet surrounded by green evergreen trees. Tiny Fannette Island, not much more than a large rock but with a stone tower built upon it, juts out from the water.

Cascase Lake. I then donned my snowshoes, for about eight inches of snow lay on the ground, and took a short trail about a mile to Cascade Falls. This unblazed trail is set high on the side of a cirque, at the bottom of which sits Cascade Lake. The air was still today and the lake water reflected the surrounding trees beautifully. I soon reached the top of falls, which are at the south end of the lake where the inlet stream from higher up in the valley cascades down. A team of ice climbers had set up their ropes at the edge. I chatted with them a bit as we all admired the view. The stream bed is very narrow, perhaps just three or four feet and the flow was but a trickle, so I was able to walk across the top of the falls easily. The falls themselves were a bit disappointing - a mere icy hillside, especially since I had to view them pretty obliquely from above. On the other hand, the lake is spectacular from that same vantage.

Granite Lake and Maggies Peak South. I retraced by route and connected with the Bayview Trail (unblazed), back in the campground. After filling out a self-service Wilderness Permit, and attaching the tag to my day pack, I headed up a moderately steep trail through mostly wooded terrain. The trail had been broken by another snowshoer, yesterday or earlier today, expediting my progress. I stopped briefly at an overlook, perhaps ten minutes out, that afforded a nice view of Emerald Bay. Continuing onward, I reached Granite Lake, another cirque lake, though one smaller and considerably less spectacular than Cascade Lake. I walked down to the lake shore, along which many large boulders are strewn. The map shows the trail ascending steeply up the cirque above the lake. I followed the snowshoe track; whether it followed the actual trail is doubtful, for it zigged and zagged rather more than I imagine an official trail would, but it headed in the right direction, nonetheless. I met the snowshoer, an athletic looking man in his forties, when I was about three quarters of the way up. He said had broken the trail yesterday, but had extended it today by a mile or so today. I huffed up to the ridge line, a wonderful tableland with vistas both west, towards Eagle Lake and north, towards Emerald Bay. The ridge itself is full of boulders and low rocky knobs, set amidst sparse evergreen trees, and is fun to explore. The western edge is a cliff edge. Eagle Lake is a thousand feet or more below. The northern edge is steep, but perhaps not quite a cliff. Maggies Peak South is to the east, a rocky knob a few hundred feet above the ridge. I decided to make my way to it, breaking my own trail, for the previous snowshoer had not gone that way. After forty minutes for struggling, I reached an overlook that afforded a nice view of Lake Tahoe as a whole, including its northeastern shore. The rocks at this overlook were rather too treacherous for my taste, for they had too many snow-covered crevices of uncertain and possibly deep depth. I continued up to the summit, which had some flat corridors set between massive stone tor. I ate a late lunch at the summit, for the time was now about 2:15 PM. I then headed back, retracing my route exactly. I reached the car at 3:30 PM. I visited Inspiration Point again, for the low sun was lighting up the trees especially well. Four and a half hours on the Bayview Trail, and six overall.

I returned to Lake Tahoe Pizza for another pie, this one anchovy and green peppers.

December 16, 2013. Eagle Lake. I again spent the night at the Motel 6 in South Lake Tahoe and bought breakfast at the Seven-Eleven there. I then drove to the Eagle Lake Trailhead, located about a mile further along Route 89 from the Bayview Trail that I snowshoed yesterday. I parked at a lot adjacent to the highway that serves a nature walk. A short loop trail leads to Eagle Falls, along the Eagle Lake outlet stream. The stream is in a deep and narrow valley between two high peaks. The morning sun was lighting up the western peak, the long shadows brining out all the crags and precipices. The falls are disappointing, at least from the vantage of the footbridge that spans them - just a lot of ice in the stream bed. The trail from falls to lake is a bit of a huff, a sustained uphill grade following the eastern bank of the stream. About halfway up, the trail crosses a terrace that affords a wonderful view back towards Emerald Bay. The lake is set in a Cirque with steep terrain on the eastern and northern sides and a precipitous cliff on the west. A couple of guys were ice skating when I arrived. I began to walk around the lake's edge, somewhat timidly on account of my uncertainty on the ice's safety and close to its rocky shore in case it should give way. One skater came over to me and told me that the ice was six inches or more thick and quite safe. Feeling reassured, I walked out to the lake's one island, a rock with a few small trees and bushes. The view was very picturesque indeed, with the cliff reflected in the ice. I finished a loop of the lake, and then continued along the trail, which I knew from the map led to the tableland below Maggies Peak South that I had visited yesterday. Fortunately, a Telemark skier had broken it, for the way was long and the snow was eighteen inches deep in some places. The first half is a steady uphill ramp, exerting but not difficult. The second half is tough. Here I was lucky to have been following the trail of someone who knew where they were going, for the ski tracks switched steeply upward unerringly among rocks and ledges, and if they were indeed following the official, this was not obvious to me, yet they reached the ridge in what appeared to be a very efficient fashion. Two hours after leaving the lake, I labored over the lip and was on the broad tableland of yesterday's ridge. This area is thinly wooded with large and beautiful evergreen trees set among occasional rock ledges. I found it a beautiful and relaxing place. I continued following the ski tracks until they intersected a snowshoe trail. I took this to have been made by the snowshoer I had met yesterday, and headed north on it. It circles around the peak, maintaining a roughly constant elevation. Finally, in about fifteen minutes, I came to my own track that I forged yesterday, up to the summit. I turned around at this point, for I had now completed the loop. The time was 1:30PM. I descended the steepest switchbacks slowly and carefully, but my earlier ascent had further packed the ski tracks and the footing was really rather good. I met a group of four college students, headed up, about halfway down to the lake. I asked them how people kept to the trail when it was covered with fresh snow, for except for a rare cairn or sawed fallen tree, it seemed completely unmarked. They said that people tended to ad-lib during winter, and not worry about being on the trail. That's fine in good weather. I wouldn't want to guess on such a steep slope in a snowstorm though. I found the section from lake to car rather tedious, even though it has some great views. My morning walk around the lake had broken up the outward hike into two shorter and more manageable pieces. I arrived at my car at about 3:30PM, the whole hike having taken about six hours.

I replenished my energy with an anchovy and black olive pie at Lake Tahoe Pizza.

December 17, 2013. I left South Lake Tahoe at about 9AM, after a brief stop at the Seven-Eleven to buy breakfast, and took the highway northeast through Carson City and Reno, so I could view the desert. Lincoln Highway (Route 50) descends steeply down off the Sierras. Rounding one corner, I thought I saw a large blue lake below me, but soon realized that I was seeing the top of a layer of haze that filled the lowlands. I soon entered the layer, and while I did glimpse the bare desert hills as I drove north along Rt 395, they were mostly obscured by the haze. I was disappointed! I connected with Interstate 80 in Reno and took it straight back to San Francisco.

Half Moon Bay. I connected with Interstate 280 after crossing the Bay Bridge, and took San Mateo Road (Route 92) across the Coast Range to the town of Half Moon Bay. I drove a little south along Route 1, and then took a side street to Poplar Beach. For a short visit, the parking there, at two dollars an hour, is cheaper than at the State Park, a mile to the north, where it is a flat rate of ten dollars a day. I arrived at 2PM. The park is on the water’s edge, and includes a grassy strip set atop a bluff, as well as the beach proper. The bluffs extend along the beach as far as I can see. Northward, the shore hooks to the west, forming a crescent bay that terminates at Pillar Point, on which has been built some sort of radar installation.

I took a trail down to the sand and walked along the base of the bluffs for a few minutes. They are of unconsolidated alluvium, with layers with grain sizes ranging from fine silt to pebbly. The cliff face is vertical, with some sections bare and sculpted by erosion into vertical columns, but in other places covered by succulent vines. The vines all had the same shaped leaves, three inch long fingers, but some bloomed purple and others yellow. The cliffs are dissected by canyons. I walked up one of the longer ones, which ended by a mossy headwall that dripped water, and which had a little pool beneath. I then walked along the beach, watching the several rows of waves break and run up onto the sand. Several other people were about, some playing with dogs, others jogging and a couple hearty souls swimming. The sand was white and clean, with an occasional frond of kelp and piece of driftwood. Someone had found the remains of a fishing net and dragged it up away from the water, to forestall its further endangering wildlife. After strolling a half mile northwards, I took a path up the bluffs and walked back along the path at the cliff-top. Several families with children bicycled by; others walked or ran with their dogs. The terrain above the cliff is flat, covered with grass, now-brown weeds and the occasional gopher mound. I sat at a bench overlooking the sea, and spent a long time watching the sunset. The sky was very hazy, from wildfire south at Big Sur, though it seemed to brighten as the sun sank low. The Coast Range behind me was lit up nicely and the waves in front of me glowed pale yellow. The strip of beach to the north of me became rather misty and the vines on the bluffs glowed red in the light. The sun set just before 5PM. I left a few minutes after, having spent two hours there, overall.

I checked into the Motel 6 in Belmont CA and had dinner of Orange Chicken at the Panda Express in the Nordstrom Hillsdale Shopping Center. I flew back to New York the next morning.