Outdoors with Don Q: Walking on mid-summer snowdrifts and deep snow fields

With our summer temperatures currently in the 90-100 degree range around Carson City, it is unbearably hot for this poor, sweltering soul.
I am a winter person, not a summer person, and do not like hot weather!
Thank goodness for those of us who live in this part of the United States, we can temporarily escape that miserable summer heat by finding coolness at the higher elevations of our nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Last Wednesday morning (July 20), Elaine and I did just that.

We traveled to Kit Carson Pass on California S.R. 88 with a three-fold purpose in mind:
1. To walk on snow drifts.
2. To photograph wildflowers.
3. To try to catch some trout in Winnemucca Lake.
We accomplished two of the three goals, but a combination of deep snow drifts and high gusty winds (AKA lots of white caps on Winnemucca Lake) caused us to return to our vehicle after a lunch break without fishing.
If you would like to do something different this weekend, here’s how:
Pack a small daypack with snacks and your favorite soft drinks; and don’t forget to take sunglasses, sun screen, hat, mosquito repellent, camera, fishing gear, and even a light jacket (just in case of rain or cool weather).
Then drive south from Carson City for 43 miles on a combination of U.S. 395, Nevada S.R. 88 and California S.R. 88 to the top of Kit Carson Pass.
At the Pass, you will have to pay a modest parking fee to park in the U.S. Forest Service parking area.
From there, you will be hiking on a well-defined trail that will lead you toward Winnemucca Lake, about a two-mile hike from your parked vehicle.
Winnemucca Lake is a large, high-altitude, super-deep, ice-cold, trout-filled lake that lies at the base of Round Top Mountain (elevation 10,364 feet), the highest point in the Mokelumne Wilderness Area of California.
The lake contains Eastern Brook Trout (up to about 13-14 inches) and Kamloop Trout (up to about 17-18 inches).
On your hike you’ll be walking at high altitude (8,500-9,000 feet), so if you are not accustomed to that type of elevation, remember to take it slow and easy with lots of rest stops, so you can catch your breath.
Here’s a special “Don Q” hint: Taking numerous photos of the surrounding, spectacular mountain scenery is a great excuse for making multiple stops.
Heck, I do it all the time and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
After hiking for about a mile, you will see aptly-named Elephant Back Mountain directly in front of you and little Frog Lake on your left.
If you’re a fisherman, this small lake is very deceptive looking, as it contains rainbow trout which can run up to 18 inches in length. Our favorite fishing location is on the far side away from the trail, where the trees come down to the water. Try casting small, red-white lures with a slow retrieve.
When you continue hiking toward Winnemucca Lake, you will quickly come to a signed trail junction: The left hand trail goes to Ebbett’s Pass (don’t take that trail or it’s going to be a long walk of 22 miles!).The right hand trail takes you to the lake (about one mile away).
As a special note, for many, many years I have taken a personal short cut from the parking area to Frog Lake. It cuts about one-half mile off the hike but it is very steep, involves some rock hopping and no well-defined trail.
If you are not intimately familiar with that countryside, I highly recommend you stay on the regular trail, so you won’t get lost.
On our short-cut hike we encountered more and more snowdrifts that got larger and larger as we headed for Frog Lake.
There is a lot of winter snow still left in that entire general area!
When we reached Frog Lake, we stopped to take photographs of the various wildflowers (Mules Ears, Lupine, Indian Brush, Buttercup, etc.) that were growing along the hiking trail on the west side of the lake.
As it turned out, that was the area of the best display of flowers last week as the main wildflower area in a meadow near Winnemucca Lake is still about 7-10 days away from being at full bloom.
Last Wednesday, the hiking trail between Frog Lake and the meadow still had big snowdrifts at many different locations.
In several locations, those snowdrifts were actually large, deep snowfields.
You can bet that not too many people in the U.S. (especially those who live in the midwest, southeast, southwest, deep south and our very own Southern Nevada) had the chance to walk on snow on July 20 like we did.
The weather was clear but very windy and there were few other people hiking on the main trail.
One of those hikers was a young man, with a large backpack, who was on a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. He had started in Mexico and was hiking the entire length of the PCT trail to Canada. He told me that he had encountered a tremendous amount of snow all along the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, especially north of Mt. Whitney.

Finally, two bits of helpful advice:
01. Wait about 7-10 days and then take the opportunity to see the gorgeous wildflowers along that hiking trail near Winnemucca Lake.
You won’t regret it. The flowers should be in full bloom by that time.
02. Go on a weekday, go on a weekday, and definitely not on a weekend.
On weekends, that highly-popular area is jammed-packed with all kinds of wildflower lovers who come from far and wide to admire the displays.
As an example, on a Sunday, some years ago, I STOPPED counting people when I got to 400 hikers.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell you what is special about the hiking trail that goes up from Winnemucca Lake to nearby Round Top Lake.
If he grins and says, “You can see Lake Tahoe from that trail,” he has been one of many (including me) who have huffed and puffed up that steep trail.

— Writer Don Quilici is Outdoor Editor for Carson Now.