Castle Rock

Castle Rock view from Round Hill.

Today was the scenic hike along the Tahoe Rim Trail and then up to Castle Rock. I really, really enjoyed this hike but I was disappointed that I forgot my camera. I am hoping some friends will send me pictures that they took.

We headed up Kingsbury Grade and had to deal with the lane closures. Just a part of vacationing in Lake Tahoe. They only have the late spring, summer and early fall months were they can work on the roads - we try to be patient. It will be done someday, right?

Because of the difficulty of the hike there are fewer hikers. The hike begins at a trailhead near where Sandy lives. There is a nice parking lot there.

The first part of the hike is a gradual but steady uphill climb. We started at an elevation of 7,789 feet and went to 7912 feet. Jan stayed behind with Glitter to have a little extra beach time. Chip, Tinkerbell and I were happy to be on a hike with our friends and especially our hike leader, Sandy. In the cool morning air the dogs were ready to hike. They are the smallest dogs hiking today so we try to give the faster, bigger dogs room to roam.

I have been giving the dogs treats every half hour or so as we hike, they seem to really like this. They’ve been following behind me and running ahead a bit. To find me again, instead of looking up they sniff hikers calves as they go by looking for the one that smells like me. It is fun to watch them do this.

After the gradual climb then we have a nice decent to the place where the trail branches off up to Castle Rock. Here is where the climb begins. We went from and elevation of 7611 to 7835 in a short distance. And at the top is a cool rock formation. You can see the lake, but their is no trail around the top, the other side is just sheer rock, so you can’t actually get an unobstructed view of the lake without some trees from here. But it is a beautiful place and well worth the climb.

With fellow camper Ellen’s camera Sandy took a picture of the dogs and I so I hope I get that soon to share in the blog. Yes, yet another picture of us. That’s what dog camp is all about. And we do love our photo memories to get us through the year until we return to beautiful Lake Tahoe and Camp W. I’ve come up with a new trick to get my dogs to drink water on the hike...drop some treats in the water, then they have to drink it down to get at them. So far it is working. It is always difficult to keep the dogs hydrated because drinking has to be their idea. I have to be creative and think of ways to make it seem like it is their idea.

After pictures it was time to hike back down. With Sandy’s permission I went ahead of the others, it was nice to walk down in the quiet by ourselves and just think. We waited at the bottom for the others to rejoin us and then we all headed on the Tahoe Rim Trail for a vista point name after Ross Kolomoos, son of the camp director Lori. He passed away three years ago and so camp friends purchased the rights to name the vista point for him. This information shows on an information board at the trailhead. Since this part of the trail was recently completed, all by volunteers, it was available for purchase.

After the vista point it was just a short hike to the pickup area on Maryanne where Sandy’s husband Ken picked half the group up and gave us a ride to our cars. The other half of the group went on to hike another hour, I felt like my dogs were happy and done with this hike.
Stats for hike: 2.96 miles