Week 14: Martis Peak to Mt. Rose Meadows
This day started with a mix of emotions. This was the day for our last section of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Run 14 of 14 on our epic journey around the lake. Always going clockwise, each week taking off from where we left the trail the week before. After this run we will be done. That in itself was very exciting, to think that we are that close to finishing our goal of completing the entire Tahoe Rim trail. At the same time it was a sad day to think that the adventure must come to an end. Either way, we were both up, eyes wide open, at all hours of the night in anticipation of the big day (well, that, and for Katie C., a restless, teething one year old).
The day began with a drive up road 16N92 to get to where we left the trail last week at Martis Peak. We get out of the car and it is quite a bit colder than we anticipated but the air is clear and the sun is shining bright. It’s going to be a good day.
Off on the trail we go through the trees and right away we’re on a on a steady incline. As the trail winds up and around towards Mt. Baldy, we past some great rock formations, a lone broccoli tree and snow!
Around the next bend we are rewarded with a wide open view with Lake Tahoe to the left and Northstar down to Martis Valley to the right. Wow, so much to see! We stop to take in the panoramic view and can’t believe how far we can see.
Then, up a little higher to the top of Mt. Baldy and the view opened up even more now with the Lake, big and extra blue today laid out in front of us. In the distance is Freel Peak dusted with snow. We reminisce about section 4 back in June and that brutal climb over the highest peak in the Tahoe Basin.
After taking it all in and feeling gratitude that we could be in this place at this time, we get back to the trail and enter Mt. Rose Wilderness area. Straight ahead in the distance is Diamond Peak Ski Resort.
The trail opened up as we start to run across a steep, exposed slope. We are both concentrating on the trail and Katie C. looks up and shrieks… Oh my goodness!! We stop dead in our tracks as arguably the best view of our entire adventure is right there in front of us. We are standing on this steep pitch with a wide open view of Tahoe debating whether or not this is the best view on the TRT. We couldn’t decide, there have been some pretty magical moments on each and every section. (We have learned that it is not good to sightsee and run at the same time-sure bet for an ankle disaster).
Now we are about half way into the run, still enjoying the most amazing views of Big Blue. We couldn’t even make it 5 minutes without stopping as our eyes are glued to the sights of Lake Tahoe to our right and it just keeps getting better! Then suddenly, after being alone on the trail so far, there are two women on the side of the trail. They are hiking this section in the opposite direction. We take each others photos, share some stories, and off we go!
Still hugging the side of the mountain the trail building is beautiful as all of the TRT has been. As we round the a corner on a bed of rocks hanging over the steep pitch below, we can’t help but be thankful that this incredible trail is in our back yard. Just then we start heading down and there is a TRT trail crew in action! We get to thank them personally for the hard work. We tell them where we are heading and they tell us the best route to take on Relay Pass which they inform us is still another 1000 foot elevation gain ahead of us.
The short downhill section starts to flatten out and wrap around the mountain and LOOK!… our destination, in the distance, Mt. Rose Meadows with it’s fall colors shining bright and the tiny little highway running through it. Wow! Are we almost there?…. No, we have Relay Peak to conquer first.
And that is when the stairs and switchbacks start to get us up to 10,336 ft. As we climb we circle around the backside of the mountain and look back at Northstar again, now looking very far away. We find some snow and throw some snowballs off into the abyss below. Up and up we see more snow and the trees start getting small and more wind blown.
The top! The highest point of the entire TRT! We are on top of the world looking around at the 360 degree view. Lake Tahoe, Northstar, Donner Lake, Martis Valley, Prosser Reservoir, Boca Reservoir, Carson Valley, Carson Range and back to Big Blue.
Now it’s time to go down, down down. Off the peak we go and leave the Mt. Rose Wilderness area. Still high above, we are looking over to Mt. Rose Ski Resort and down on a golden meadow. We stop and take it all in as we know that the end is nearing. Katie C. takes some more photos, Katie T. watches the planes above and eventually we snap out of it and start moving again.
Swooping down the mountain as the rocks start to tower above as we sink into the first meadow that hovers just above the Mt. Rose HWY. Just as we hit the meadow floor to the left of the trail is a jagged rock wall with water still flowing down the falls and golden bushes springing out through the rock as colorful woodpeckers fly in and out to get a taste of the fresh water.
From here the trail starts to head up again out of this meadow towards the highway and Mt. Rose Meadows. At this point we can see Mt. Rose Meadows to our right but the trail keeps heading east past our end point. Then pop!… The trail comes to an end at Mt. Rose HWY. We celebrate, hug, high five and have our photo taken!
But we’re not quite done yet… we still have to get back to where we started this adventure back in May and that is on the other side of the highway down by the meadow. So, across the highway we go to an unmarked road with no trail in sight. This is a good time to look at the map! Yep, there is the trail right there on the map that hugs the highway back to where we want to be. So we decided to keep following the paved path (only real choice) to see what we can see. There it is! The blue arrow and our way back to the original parking lot where we started. It says that we are 1.7 miles away. Much farther than we thought we had (considering we thought we were done about 1/2 mile ago), but we had to get there.
Getting there was amazing! It is flat and maybe a little downhill and we are running through golden bushes. Much to our surprise (much shorter than 1.7 miles) we look up and we can see the tip of the structure in the parking area. We made it!! We start celebrating! Screaming and yelling as we run towards Katie C.’s mom who is waiting for us with a bunch of blue balloons, two bouquets of flowers, TRT necklaces and beer!! We are here, we did it! We are at the end of our run, our great adventure, our 14 sections, all summer long, we did it!! Thank you Ann for making the ‘finish line’ such a festive celebration!
We will proudly be sending a check to High Fives Foundation as we give ourselves many high fives for finishing our great summer adventure. We appreciate the High Fives Foundation for supporting those who have had a life-altering injury while pursuing their Winter adventures. Thank you High Fives for all that you are doing!
