These past two weeks I haven't done any climbing, but I've taken the opportunity to get out and go on some hikes. Last weekend Holly, Chester, and I hiked the Shirley Canyon trail outside of Squaw Valley. The trail was beautiful and ended at a small lake where I decided to go for a swim. This trail had some of the larger expanses of granite slabs that I've encountered on a Tahoe-area hiking trail. We decided that it is going to be a must-see in the spring when the creek is running.This past week I decided to to a good training hike to try to get myself in back in shape (an ever-constant, but seemingly non-attainable goal). I decided to hike Freel Peak, which at 10,881 feet is the tallest peak in the Tahoe Basin. At the same time I wanted to hike a good portion of the Tahoe Rim Trail so I decided to make a loop trip out of it. I started at Kingsbury Grade at Heavely Ski Area and hiked 9 miles with Chester to a beautiful alpine lake called Star Lake. From that point we continued on a couple of miles to the pass where the trail to Freel splits off. Freel Peak isn't a technical climb at all it is just a 1 mile hike off of the main trail, but 1 mile that gains 1,000 feet. Upon summiting I decided to head over to a nearby peak called Job's Sister from which I could travel cross-country to hook back into the trail at Star Lake. All in all, the hike turned out to be an enjoyable one. The views from the trail and from the summits consisted of Lake Tahoe as well as Carson Valley, which is nearly a vertical mile below the summit of Freel. The total distance was 23 miles with a 3,000 foot elevation gain and two summits. It felt good being out, and I enjoyed the scenery and company.
