Pacific Crest Trail

This review covers two different PCT routes– The Castle Peak Trail and the Mount Judah Loop trail.
CASTLE PEAK TRAIL: This moderately strenuous hike will take you to the top of Castle Peak, elevation 9,100 feet. Hiking poles are recommended, as there are sections of loose gravel along the trail, very slippery. Coming from the Sacramento area, you take the Boreal exit and turn left.
MOUNT JUDAH LOOP: From Sacramento, get off I-​80 at Soda Springs. Trailhead is just past the access road to Sugar Bowl, on Donner Pass Road (the old US Highway 40 and a Scenic Bypass Route). This lightweight hiking trail is a popular route for local cross-​country runners. Get to the trailhead by 10:00 am on Saturdays, as the parking lot will get full quickly. We rated this trail (about 5 miles) as relatively easy-​to-​moderate in difficulty, but recommend poles if you don’t like slippery rocks etc.

2013-​03-​21: off of I-​80 take the Boreal Exit. Head past the hotel and up to the dead end turn about. In winter you need a snow pass permit to park. There is a trailhead board and a detailed map of all the hikes leading from here. Across the highway is also hiking that leads up to Peter Grubb Hut and Castle Peak to name a few. The options from this one highway exit are limitless. ENJOY!!!

This is a review for the trail to Summit Lake — part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
I like hiking but I’m a lightweight so I don’t like long, difficult hikes. This was perfect. It was about 4.5 miles out and back, barely any uphill, lots of shade, and a beautiful lake at the end. I went on September 1^st and the weather was perfect. I highly recommend this hike for families and anyone who wants a nice hike without a lot of sweating involved. Oh, and bring your dogs! We saw lots of pups on our way and we brought along 4 of our own too. It’s fun to watch the dogs swim in the lake.

Along with several friends, I spent the long Christmas Weekend this year near Lake Tahoe at a rental house in Truckee. Most of them spent the days on the slopes at Northstar. I’m no longer a skier, so I spent the time reading, hiking, watching movies, and drinking vintage wine (not necessarily in that order).
The day before Christmas, I got up at 6, went online, and saw that the temperature was five below zero! As I will only hike in sub-​zero weather with Janet O. leading the charge, I made a pot of Kona coffee, got a fire going, and settled down with one of my friends to watch The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg and Christine Bale. Several hours later, the temperature was getting close to freezing, so Teal’c and I set out to find a trailhead.
Using a variant on my patent-​pending O’Brien Estate Winery method, I set out to find one trailhead, but ended up locating another instead. The trail we ended up on was the Pacific Crest Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail is a long-​distance mountain hiking and equestrian trail. The southern terminus is at the California border with Mexico. The trail continues through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington before reaching its northern terminus in British Columbia, Canada.
Teal’c, my yellow Labrador and favorite horse impersonator (it gets him access to more hiking venues) parked in the Sugar Bowl Academy parking lot on Donner Pass Road, which is within spitting distance of the Pacific Crest Trail trailhead at Donner Summit. After a false start heading due West on the Overland Emigrant Trail (a PCT sub-​trail) for a little more than a mile, we doubled backed and reviewed the Tahoe National Forest trail map
posted at the Overland trailhead, then went back to Donner Pass Road, and headed off on the PCT again, but this time going due East.
For the next several hours, Teal’c and I had enjoyed some amazing winter hiking conditions, in a total beautiful, pristine Winter Wonderland! There had been an unusually low level of precipitation that Winter, which resulted in very little snow accumulation. That, combined with the crisp, cold, clear and sunny weather conditions, gave us exceptionally good footing most places, and maximized our enjoyment of some of the incredible vistas we passed, including Donner Lake.
A veteran hiker, Teal’c had never been hiking in the snow before, but he took to it like a fish to water.
Never straying too far, Teal’c hiked tirelessly, and happily helped pick out the trail from the rocks and scrub during those times when it started to fade out…
After covering around 4 miles, and beginning the ascent to Castle Peak, we stopped and enjoyed the upslope vista for a while
, then we hiked back to the trailhead next to Sugar Bowl Academy
where we reclaimed our car and headed home.
I’ve always loved Wilderness hiking, but never really appreciated Winter snow hiking until December 2011. The combination of exceptional weather conditions and the incredible scenery on the Pacific Crest Trail made for an unforgettable and invigorating experience.