Hiking with Heidi

Hike Details: Elevation range - 7200' Trailhead Location - Donner Summit Sno-Park Mileage - 3.75 miles round trip - from the Sno-Park trailhead past Azalea Lake, then a loop around Flora Lake and back. Hiking time - about 3 hours, with lots of time for stopping to take pictures. Link to the CalTopo map:   https://caltopo.com/m/932L As someone who doesn't normally like the cold, somehow snowshoeing has become a favorite winter activity! Cue the music..."the cold never bothered me anyway!"... :)  We always start off with lots of warm layers, but it doesn't usually take more than about 15-20 minutes before we're shedding jackets and gloves because it's so easy to warm up when you're snowshoeing. It's a great workout! The trail heads out from the Donner Summit Sno-Park parking lot and essentially follows the hiking path of the PCT.      We went past both Azalea Lake and Flora Lake. The sun kept popping in and out all...

Hike Details: Elevation  - 8210' up to 9410' Location  - Trailhead is located off of Carson Pass Highway 88, take the turnoff to Woods Lake Campground, which is a mile or so past Caples Lake Mileage   - 5 miles roundtrip Hiking time -  3 hours 

Hike Details: Elevation  - 6400' up to 7630' Location  - On I-80, take the Donner Lake Road exit (not to be confused with Donner Pass Road), go north of the freeway to Billy Mack Rd and the trailhead parking is just up the road on the right. Mileage   - 6 miles roundtrip Hiking time  - 3 hours

Snow, snow, and more snow! We pulled into the Donner Lake State Park area and were surrounded by walls of snow! Guess we won't be using this bathroom.  We stopped in the Visitor Center and got a map, but mostly just followed the Lake Loop Trail, though there aren't really any signs marking any of the trails. You just sort of follow tracks and find your own way.    Pretty crazy when you're snowshoeing at the height of the top of road signs! Better watch that speed limit!        

Hike Details: Elevation - low of about 4,300 - high of 5,300 ft. Location - just outside of Sierra City, off of Hwy. 49 Mileage - the plan: 3 1/2 - 4 miles; the reality: at least 5, maybe 6 Hiking time - 2 1/2 hours Route - (see map and description below) - important note:  the CalTopo map (and other maps) show Loves Falls as being south of the PCT, which is incorrect, unless they're naming something else as Loves Falls that are further down the river. The bridge and the bigger falls are right on the trail of the PCT. Weather - warm...okay, hot! Hiking with 12 people was just a warm-up for the hike a few weeks later with about 50-60 people! Which is one of the reasons to pre-hike! I've done this hike before, but we decided to add a little mileage so that we'd be hiking on the PCT a little longer. We started through the campground, got directions from the camp host, and took off up the gravel road in search of the trail intersection with the PCT. We...

Hike Details: Elevation – 9,103 ft.   Location – near I-80 just across from Boreal Ridge Ski Resort Mileage – 7 1/2  miles round-trip Time – 3 1/2 hours Route – see map and description below Weather – Perfect Take the exit at Boreal Ski Resort, turn left under the freeway and drive just a little bit around a bend to park at the trailhead.  See those craggy peaks FAR off in the distance? Yeah, that's where we're hiking. So...one foot in front of the other and pretty soon those peaks start getting closer and closer.  First we hiked down a gravel road until a fork in the road to the right took us over to connect with the Pacific Crest Trail.  We passed by some lovely meadows before diving into the thick of the forest.  And a higher-up meadow...  Those rocks are getting a little closer...  We reached the saddle where the PCT heads North and met up with some fun PCT thru-hikers. (I've learned their trail names are Di...