Mt. Tallac - South Lake Tahoe

Gloomy clouds move over Mt. Tallac.

 Hiked to the top of Mt. Tallac in South Lake tahoe on Sunday, July 25, 2010.  Let Sacramento at 8:00 a.m. hat left the car for the trailhead at 10:35 a.m.   We returned to the car 7 hours later at 5:35 p.m.with sore feet and a sense of accomplishment.  This hike offers a stunning panoramic view from the top.   Most of the trail is over a well defined but rocky surface. 

The forecast called for thunderstorms and a chance of precipitation starting at 11:00.m.  About a half hour after we hit the trail we heard thunder, which became steady for the next hour.   We felt some light sprinkles and decided to put on our windbreakers.  The trail starts by paralleling Fallen Leaf Lake.  It then passes Floating Island Lake, which gets its name from odd floating tufts of grass.  The lake was very shallow and pretty stagnant, covered in pollen. 

Floating Island Lake with floating grass.

The hike continued through tree covered forest.  A bit before Cathedral Lake is a creek.  I finished off one of my liter bottles and refilled it from the creek (purifying it with my SteriPen).  Coming up and back we saw people swimming in Cathedral Lake.  From Cathedral Lake you assent up without shade of the trees.

I thought we might have to turn around when we got to Cathedral Lake, but we decided to take our chances with the weather and head up the mountain. Fortunately, the storm move away from Tallac and by 1:00 p.m.  the weather was good. 
 

Looking down from the summit.

We ate dinner at the Beacon Restaurant about a mile away from the trailhead in Camp Richardson.  We heard two songs before the live band ended their show at 6:00.  The food was good and we were back in Sacramento by 8:55 p.m. 

One of the marmots at the summit.

Water: 4 liters total. 
2 - Nalgene liter.  One refill up and another back

Rock shelter built below summit.

Time: Seven hours up and back.