Frog Lake Overlook Trail

Our last morning in Truckee, we took the most spectacular hike of our entire trip: Frog Lake Overlook Trail. Not as strenuous as Castle Peak, now that we had a week of higher elevation hiking under our feet, and with an abundance of everything one might want on a hike: streams, fields of wildflowers, trees, sunshine, snow, rocks, weather-smoothed wood, butterflies, views.

 

At the top:

There's Frog Lake, down below:

Castle Peak wasn't far off:

S and I briefly left E on a rock at the Frog Lake Overview trail and hiked a bit toward Castle Peak, just cuz. Hundreds of Myrtle's Silverspot butterflies wafted over the ridge, heading south, but breezing past too quickly to capture in pixels.

Tahoe Rim Trail

Our fourth Tahoe-area hike: Tahoe Vista Trail (a.k.a. Tahoe Rim Trail). Over nine miles, because we included a spur trail for an extra view. This was the only time we really saw Lake Tahoe on our trip, because traffic around the lake was bumper to bumper both times we tried to get anywhere close. We were happy to see it from a distance, without the cars, and with fewer people around.

View from the top of the spur trail:

The daily hovering-rock photo shoot:

View from ~8,260 feet:

Five Lakes

Our third hike near Truckee: Five Lakes Creek Trail. Steep, dusty, hot ascent, then cool, shady, and relatively flat, with one beautiful lake after another. 

What makes zigzags on tree trunks?

Lake 1:

We saw hundreds of dragonflies zipping over the lake in formation, as well as lots of damselflies. This one stayed put long enough for me to photograph it:

Lake 1 continued:

What's this bug?

Lake 3 was the most idyllic. Ducks, dragonflies, wildflowers, shady--excellent for snoozing. (Did you notice no Lake 2? It was nothing to write home about.)

Damselfly:

Lake 4:

Lake 5:

Heading back down...

Donner Peak hike

Our second hike near Truckee was an attempt at the Mt. Judah loop trail above Donner Lake. The most impressive views were from the top of Donner Peak just below Mt. Judah. Continuing on, we somehow missed a fork in the trail and ended up on a slightly lower trail, where slippery snow pack on the ridge forced us to turn around. Oh well. Lots of beautiful wildflowers on this hike too, though nothing like the fields of flowers on Castle Peak.

Obligatory floating rock photo:

Top of Donner Peak:

E found a geocaching box.

It was filled with assorted notes from folks who had found it, including a Polaroid snapshot from the day before:

E was fascinated by the chipmunks in California. This one was fascinated by him too.

Donner Lake from Donner Peak:

Why, what's that wee spike atop Donner Peak? O noble chipmunk!

 
Harsh environment, but this tree set down roots:

Bright green lichens on tall tall trees:

A view of Donner Peak and Donner Lake from a ridge below Mt. Judah:

After we got home, we steamed diminutive artichokes from the Truckee Farmers' Market. I accidentally learned that if you microwave 6 tablespoons of butter for 2 minutes instead of 20 seconds, the milk solids become toasty without turning brown, which in turn makes for the best lemon butter ever. Nom nom.