Ascent of Freel Peak on 2018-08-15| Other People: | Solo Ascent
Only Party on Mountain | | Date: | Wednesday, August 15, 2018 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | 4x4 Vehicle | | Peak: | Freel Peak | | Location: | USA-California | | Elevation: | 10881 ft / 3316 m |
Ascent Trip ReportFreel: Took the horse meadows road (willow creek road?) about 3.4 miles from the pavements end. Road is rough but passable. Parked next to 3 other cars. there is a bridge for the trail nearby. followed the trail up until the TRT, took that up to the pass (and apparently the highpoint for the TRT), then turned right up the clearly labeled Freel Peak Trail. Easy to follow to the summit. Trail register was easy to find up top. A chipmunk was far too friendly and tried to steal my snacks. Was probably overly friendly but could have been rabid? Plenty of Tahoe Draba and Sky Pilot, etc. . Warning signs were abound against stepping on the Tahoe Draba wildflower, and the peaklet between Freel and Job's Sister appeared to be off-limits because of it. The trail between Freel and Job's Sister was definitely less traveled, but easy to follow. There is a metal pipe carrying electrical wires to the summit that the trail pretty much follows down. The pipe seems very out of place.
Job's Sister: The trail disappears for a little bit between these mountains and is replaced by easy to follow cairns every ~100 feet. I saw fox at 10,500' traveling towards Tahoe. We did not expect to see each other. He ran immediately. Heading up Job's Sister there is a large patch of quartz on the side of the trail. Heading up is fairly straight forward. I did not find a summit register. There is a wrench impaled in the summit though. Here I took out my hiking poles and trail gaiters and prepared for "sand skiing" down towards Job's Peak. There did not seem to be a definitive use trail for most of the decent. Instead there were many use trails but usually it seemed easiest to start my own. Many lead to micro class 3 drops or thick juniper "bushwacks" (more like dead ends to me). I often opted to take the sandy trail way out of the way then try to meet back to the main use trail. By the bottom I had absolutely no idea where the "main" boot trail was and it seemed I was the first this season in that "sand ski run." I would assume every snowfall resets all the use trails here. Once finally down to the ridge it was again hard to find the main boot trail. I assume changing snowpack demands several use trails in this area. It makes them all very faint though. The ridge between Job's Sister and Job is much longer and loses a bit more elevation than anticipated. Do not be fooled by the first river that heads back to the car - your exit is not for quite a while. Follow the ridge down the back up almost 500 vertical until almost to Job.
Job's Peak: This trail is much more used than Job's Sister, so it should be a lot easier to follow from here. Take the out and back to the Peak. There is a mailbox summit register and a very small antenna. From the mailbox follow the ridgeline back for a scramble up to the real summit. Trace your steps back until there is a Y in the road. There are several paths due to snowpack, but the best one was labeled with a carin (it was the second or third exit south). Once you meet back to the main trail on the ridge, the trail becomes obvious and goes downhill towards the forest road I drove in on. This section of road is open to the public and you could park here if you like, or if you are doing just Job's Peak then this is the place to park. On the road its probably best to take most of the major rights. (beware there was one hard right that seemed well used but was not the correct way back).
Round Trip took me 9.5 hours and 5 liters of water. There were no water sources after the first mile or two. I recommend going clockwise because the "sand skiing" area on Job's Sister would be very energy consuming in reverse. Very rewarding dayhike. |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 2581 ft / 786 m | | Quality: | 8 (on a subjective 1-10 scale) | | Route Conditions: | Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail, Scramble | | Weather: | Pleasant, Breezy
smoke to the south | | Ascent Statistics | | Gain on way in: | 2581 ft / 786 m | | Route: | willow creek/TRT/freel peak trail | | Start Trailhead: | horse meadows (3.4 miles from pavement) 8300 ft / 2529 m | | Time: | 3 Hours 15 Minutes | | Descent Statistics | Ascent Part of Trip: Freel, Job's Sister, Job
Complete Trip Sequence:
Total Trip Gain: 3881 ft / 1183 m Total Trip Loss: 3783 ft / 1153 m |
This page has been served 428 times since 2005-01-15.
|
