Re: Hiking 5 of California's prominent peaks

A little article at sfgate.com:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/15/TRO915V23R.DTL

I've done three of the five, Lassen, Half Dome and Whitney. I would add to the list White Mountain sometime late summer!

I added to the comments section of that article.

I've done two of the five in Half Dome and Tallac. The kind owner and employees of the Mt. Tallac Brewing Company took turns hauling up a full 10 liter aluminum keg of their amber ale and cooled it in the snow near the summit. Anyone who wanted some was welcome to a pint served in a plastic cup. Good stuff. I actually got lost coming back from Tallac in 2006 but I swear it wasn't due to the alcohol. I got back so late (and I was so freaking tired) that I decided to check into a motel and drive from Tahoe to work the next morning.

I took this photo myself, but the brewer actually has photos from this trip on his myspace page.



http://www.myspace.com/mttallacbrew

Is there anything especially difficult about the Mt. Tallac hike?
I actually have never heard of this mountain. It must be a new one!

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Frank Furter wrote:

> Is there anything especially difficult about the Mt. Tallac hike?
> I actually have never heard of this mountain. It must be a new
> one!

Difficult - not really. Less than 10 miles round-trip and 3500 ft elevation gain. There's a lot of talus fields and there might be snow. It's lots of spectacular views. It's a great hike. You'll need to fill out a free day use wilderness permit at the trailhead and drop it in the box.

http://www.tahoebackcountry.net/hiking/desolation/tallac.htm

There is a possibility of getting lost though. I missed the way back (apparently not uncommon) and found myself off trail using a compass and a CSAA Tahoe street map to locate lakes to reorient myself. A couple of years ago I found some high school kid who got separated from his group that made it to Tallac and he made it past Gilmore Lake. I didn't get him back to the main Tallac Trailhead since it was too far. I got him to the Fallen Leaf Lodge store where there was a pay phone and the Fallen Leaf fire dept picked him up and reunited him with his group.