DATE 7/16/2014
IDS 4978 27902 6996 10331
PARTY Jim_Burd
<a href=eagle_rock_n2_1.html>Continued</a>...

Wednesday morning brother Jim and I were up early while the rest of the family was
still asleep. We were in Stateline, NV for a family reunion and were heading out
for a hike up near Luther Pass. Thompson Peak overlooks the pass on the north side,
the first summit along a ridge leading to Freel Peak, the highest in the Tahoe
region. I had been to Freel on several previous occasions to tag it along with a
few other nearby summits, but never along the ridgeline between Luther and 
Armstrong Passes. In addition to Thompson, there was an unnamed P900 overlooking
Armstrong Pass, and it was these two summits I was primarily interested when we
set out.

Construction along SR89 prevented us from parking at Luther Pass as planned, but
fortunately the construction zone ended just on the other side, and after finding
a small turnout to leave the van, we struck off <P205>across the road</a> 
and up the steep
cross-country slopes to Thompson. The slope rises some 1,700ft in 2/3mi, giving 
no time to warm up the legs before the thighs start to burn. Jim took the lead at
a pretty stiff pace that surprised me, though I didn't expect he would keep it up
for long. After 20 minutes up the often sandy slopes he began to flag. We took
slightly different routes at this point as I got ahead of him on his left and it
was the last I saw of him for a while. The upper half of the mountain has a good
deal of brush and it seems somewhat of a crapshoot as to whether one finds a 
decent way through it. I had better luck, finding the going not so bad as I kept
to rockier terrain as I found it, and reached the summit just before the 1hr mark
at 7:40a. The views are not as good as one might expect from looking at the
topo map. Trees block views to the north though some of the peaks of 
<P209>Desolation Wilderness</a> can be seen through them. <P207>Freel</a> can just
be seen above the trees to
the east. The best views are of <P208>Hope Valley</a> and <P206>Hawkins Peak</a>
to the south. Jim had
had poorer luck, getting mired in thick brush and would be more than 45min behind
me in <P210>reaching</a> the <P212>summit</a>. 

From Thompson's summit, the outing becomes far easier and more scenic as we 
followed northeast along the ridge. We made a half mile detour to the north to 
visit unnamed Peak 9,620ft (440ft of prominence), passing through the delightful
upper portions of <P213>Freel Meadows</a> with <P215>lupines</a> and other 
<P214>flowers</a> in bloom. The 
meadow itself was damp and wet in places, but not enough to get a real soaking. 
Peak 9,620ft has several rocky outcrops vying for the highpoint amongst the 
forested top. <P218>The highest</a> was in the middle with no views. Just a short 
distance north, however, is a fine view in <P219>that direction</a> to Lake Valley
and Lake Tahoe. To <P220>the east</a> rose the barely higher Peak 9,647ft with 
Freel Peak behind it. Jim had cut himself on the sharp rocks and paused here 
<P221>to Superglue</a> a small flap of skin
back on his middle finger. You're not really having fun until someone bleeds.

Leaving the summit, we picked up <P222>the TRT</a> (Tahoe Rim Trail) and followed 
it back
to the Thompson Ridge and then northeast towards our P900 summit. After almost
two miles, we left the trail at a saddle where it starts to head down to Armstrong
Pass. More sandy uphill ensued as Jim and I found ourselves separated for a second
time. As I headed up, I kept to the left, knowing that the highpoint was on a 
branch of an upper ridge on that side. <P223>The ridge</a> itself was along a 
class 2-3 bit
of fun granite scrambling with the final summit block a short class 3 challenge
from the south side (turns out it is easier if one goes around the east side to
approach from the north). As I sat upon the airy perch I looked around, but saw
no sign of my brother. My phone rang with a text from him, "Where are you?"
"On the summit" was my simple reply. A minute goes by, and then another text, "I
climbed the wrong one." This might have been forgiveable except that beforehand
I had given him the GPX track of the planned route and it was loaded in
his GPS. Later he would say that he looked at the GPS as he started up the 
cross-country portion and assumed it was the summit just ahead of him. He didn't
look at it again until he got my text reply. I didn't mind because there was
another summit <P224>further north</a> 
along the ridge that looked like it could be higher.
I figured I could get to it and back before Jim reached to the current point. It 
took about ten minutes for the roundtrip time, the GPS suggesting the northern
point was a few feet lower than the original summit. Jim was still nowhere to be
seen when I got back, but I immediately got another text, "I see you!" I replied
with "Stalker." Not really caring much about the actual highpoint, he then texted
that I should meet him back at trail. This went off without a hitch and by 11:30a
we were together again on the trail heading back.

We spent the next hour and a half retracing our route (minus the side trip to 
Peak 9,620ft), nearly going back over Thompson again
before starting back down to the 
road. This time my luck was not so good as I led us through a section of fairly
<P229>thick brush</a>, 
the same stuff that Jim had wallowed through on the way up and I had
somehow avoided. It was almost 1p by the time we got <P231>back down</a> 
to the van, making for just over six hours on the outing.

<h4>Round Hill</h4>
Though identified as "Round Mound" on the topo map, the name in use on all the 
signs have it as Round Hill, located on the Nevada side of the lake between two
popular beaches just north of Stateline. It sports a bit over 300ft of prominence
and though not very high, it seemed like it would have good lake views. Later in 
the afternoon I rode my
bike from the house at Stateline down to the beach to find the family which had
gone to the Round Hill Pines Beach Resort for an afternoon of volleyball and 
waterplay. After a few hours I got back on my bike to head back but was drawn to
Round Hill which was just off the bike path I was riding along. 
I locked <P251>the bike</a> to
a sign in an area with a dozen boarded-up vacation cabins and started up the 
slopes on the north side. There was a good deal of downed, cut timber to step
over, but virtually no brush in the understory. I suspected there might be a trail
leading to the summit but didn't know where it might start. I came 
<P252>across it</a> about
100ft or so up the slope. Turns out there a several side trails leading to it, 
one of these only a few dozen feet from where I had started. The trail switchbacks
on the north side before going around the east side to approach the top from the
south. Despite the good trail, there is nothing much at <P254>the top</a> besides a
collection of trees, brush and small rock outcrops. The <P255>views</a> were only 
marginal
due to the tree cover. The best view was to <P253>the southwest</a> 
where Heavenly ski resort
and the casinos at Stateline could be seen adjacent to the lake. The roundtrip
hike took less than 30min - an easy hike that can be accomplished easily by parking
along US50 just south of the entrance to the resort.

<a href=castle_rock_n014_2.html>Continued</a>...