DSC_0112-Donner-Peak+Donner-Lake
Mt Judah Hike, 26 September 2017
My daughter Elizabeth and I have climbed Mt. Judah around 10 times in her 25 years. The first time she was 1 and in a baby backpack most of the way, although she did walk part of it herself. After that, we did not go again until she and younger daughter Caroline were in elementary school and we did the hike several times with several different friends and their families. Then everyone got busy again and it wasn't until Elizabeth was in college the we went for the hike again. We last did it in 2014, and now, as the season is getting late, we decided it was time before snow closed the trail for the winter.
Elizabeth's boyfriend Jesse and our dog Skittles went along. Skittles has been on our last several hikes. We took chi-wiener Lupe a couple of times, but on her last hike, she had to be carried down the mountain and that was the end of that! Skittles still is full of energy and had no problem leading the way.
Mt. Judah, named for Theodore Judah, the engineer who plotted the Central Pacific's route across the Sierra, is pierced by Summit Tunnel 41, the 2 mile long tunnel that has the 7000' crest of the grade just inside its west portal. The original route, ow abandoned, goes through Tunnel 6 to the north of Mt Judah, then curves along the mountain's east slope and is joined by the 1920s alignment at Eder about a half mile east of the east portal of Tunnel 41.
To the west can be seen Summit Valley, Lake Mary and the snowsheds at Norden, as well as the Sugar Bowl ski resort that has a chair lift to the summit of Mt. Judah. Rain and snow that fall on the mountain's west slope wind up in the Yuba River and, eventually, in the Pacific Ocean. Rain and snow that fall a few feet away to the east of the summit flow down to Donner Lake and then to the Truckee River, emptying into Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Pyramid Lake has no outlet and water eventually evaporates from it. It is part of the Great Basin drainage system that also includes the Great Salt Lake in Utah and the Humboldt River that the railroad and I-80 follow across much of Nevada.
Both Elzabeth and Jesse graduated from CSU Sacramento in May with degrees in geology and going for a hike up an extinct volcano with a couple of geologists gave me some new insights into the mountain that I'd never known before. There are layers of ash and pyroclastic flow interspersed, and at the summit, lava that solidified in volcanic vents. In other areas, there is granite, also igneous rock, but shot out of a volcano.
On the drive up, we passed an empty grain train climbing the line at Emigrant Gap. It arrived at the summit as we arrived at a gap in the trees and I got a few photos as it passed. As the climb progressed, we zig zagged up the north side of the mountain at the start, then traversed the west side o the mountain to a spot above the west portal to T-41 where the Mt Judah trail splits from the Pacific Crest Train and climbs back up the north side of the mountain, curving around to the east side. In that area, we saw some snow from the week before's early snowstorm.
As we climbed the east face traverse of the mountains, a late running westbound California Zephyr came into view above Donner Lake between Shed 47 and Eder. I paused for a few photos, then continued to the summit, where we ate and rested for a while.
Mt. Judah's summit is a long ridge with a couple of higher peaks. One of the peaks is at the south end and we walked there to admire the view. You can see down into Coldstream Canyon where Stanford is on the railroad and as we looked around I saw something moving, which turned out to be a westbound stack train.
From the top of Mt. Judah, you can see to the Highway 263 bridge over the tracks and Truckee River east of downtown Truckee and some areas of Truckee. The tracks pass through Truckee, then start the final climb to the summit up the southeast side of Coldstream Canyon, go around Stanford Curve and continue up Schallenberger Ridge on the other side of the canyon, climbing all the while. At the east end of Schallenberger Ridge, the tracks take another horseshoed curve, this on in tunnels at Andover, and emerge on the ridge over Donner Lake which is visible most of the way to Eder before the tracks curve away from the lake and then into Tunnel 41.
The tracks on the south side of Schallenberger Ridge are not visible from Mt. Judah, but shortly after the Andover Tunnels, the stack train became visible again and we watched it snake above the lake, then negotiate the curves that pointed it, eventually, to the east portal of Tunnel 41. As the DPU vanished into the Big Hole we got into position and watched it emerge from the west portal and head to Norden. On and off, the train was visible for over 20 minutes from the summit.
As the stacker passed through the Norden sheds, we started making our way down the mountain. We hiked to the ski lift and side stepped our way down the steel skiing slope until we hit a Jeep trail that led us back to the Pacific Crest Trail. As we descended down the ski run called Tunnel 41, UP was kind enough to send another no grainer east and I got a couple shots of it as it entered the Big Hole.
Then it was time to get back to the car as the sun headed for the mountains that form the western horizon here. We made it before the light faded and then went east to get a couple shots of Donner Lake, Donner Peak and the old railroad grade from the road before heading home.
DSC_0112-Donner-Peak+Donner-Lake
Mt Judah Hike, 26 September 2017
My daughter Elizabeth and I have climbed Mt. Judah around 10 times in her 25 years. The first time she was 1 and in a baby backpack most of the way, although she did walk part of it herself. After that, we did not go again until she and younger daughter Caroline were in elementary school and we did the hike several times with several different friends and their families. Then everyone got busy again and it wasn't until Elizabeth was in college the we went for the hike again. We last did it in 2014, and now, as the season is getting late, we decided it was time before snow closed the trail for the winter.
Elizabeth's boyfriend Jesse and our dog Skittles went along. Skittles has been on our last several hikes. We took chi-wiener Lupe a couple of times, but on her last hike, she had to be carried down the mountain and that was the end of that! Skittles still is full of energy and had no problem leading the way.
Mt. Judah, named for Theodore Judah, the engineer who plotted the Central Pacific's route across the Sierra, is pierced by Summit Tunnel 41, the 2 mile long tunnel that has the 7000' crest of the grade just inside its west portal. The original route, ow abandoned, goes through Tunnel 6 to the north of Mt Judah, then curves along the mountain's east slope and is joined by the 1920s alignment at Eder about a half mile east of the east portal of Tunnel 41.
To the west can be seen Summit Valley, Lake Mary and the snowsheds at Norden, as well as the Sugar Bowl ski resort that has a chair lift to the summit of Mt. Judah. Rain and snow that fall on the mountain's west slope wind up in the Yuba River and, eventually, in the Pacific Ocean. Rain and snow that fall a few feet away to the east of the summit flow down to Donner Lake and then to the Truckee River, emptying into Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Pyramid Lake has no outlet and water eventually evaporates from it. It is part of the Great Basin drainage system that also includes the Great Salt Lake in Utah and the Humboldt River that the railroad and I-80 follow across much of Nevada.
Both Elzabeth and Jesse graduated from CSU Sacramento in May with degrees in geology and going for a hike up an extinct volcano with a couple of geologists gave me some new insights into the mountain that I'd never known before. There are layers of ash and pyroclastic flow interspersed, and at the summit, lava that solidified in volcanic vents. In other areas, there is granite, also igneous rock, but shot out of a volcano.
On the drive up, we passed an empty grain train climbing the line at Emigrant Gap. It arrived at the summit as we arrived at a gap in the trees and I got a few photos as it passed. As the climb progressed, we zig zagged up the north side of the mountain at the start, then traversed the west side o the mountain to a spot above the west portal to T-41 where the Mt Judah trail splits from the Pacific Crest Train and climbs back up the north side of the mountain, curving around to the east side. In that area, we saw some snow from the week before's early snowstorm.
As we climbed the east face traverse of the mountains, a late running westbound California Zephyr came into view above Donner Lake between Shed 47 and Eder. I paused for a few photos, then continued to the summit, where we ate and rested for a while.
Mt. Judah's summit is a long ridge with a couple of higher peaks. One of the peaks is at the south end and we walked there to admire the view. You can see down into Coldstream Canyon where Stanford is on the railroad and as we looked around I saw something moving, which turned out to be a westbound stack train.
From the top of Mt. Judah, you can see to the Highway 263 bridge over the tracks and Truckee River east of downtown Truckee and some areas of Truckee. The tracks pass through Truckee, then start the final climb to the summit up the southeast side of Coldstream Canyon, go around Stanford Curve and continue up Schallenberger Ridge on the other side of the canyon, climbing all the while. At the east end of Schallenberger Ridge, the tracks take another horseshoed curve, this on in tunnels at Andover, and emerge on the ridge over Donner Lake which is visible most of the way to Eder before the tracks curve away from the lake and then into Tunnel 41.
The tracks on the south side of Schallenberger Ridge are not visible from Mt. Judah, but shortly after the Andover Tunnels, the stack train became visible again and we watched it snake above the lake, then negotiate the curves that pointed it, eventually, to the east portal of Tunnel 41. As the DPU vanished into the Big Hole we got into position and watched it emerge from the west portal and head to Norden. On and off, the train was visible for over 20 minutes from the summit.
As the stacker passed through the Norden sheds, we started making our way down the mountain. We hiked to the ski lift and side stepped our way down the steel skiing slope until we hit a Jeep trail that led us back to the Pacific Crest Trail. As we descended down the ski run called Tunnel 41, UP was kind enough to send another no grainer east and I got a couple shots of it as it entered the Big Hole.
Then it was time to get back to the car as the sun headed for the mountains that form the western horizon here. We made it before the light faded and then went east to get a couple shots of Donner Lake, Donner Peak and the old railroad grade from the road before heading home.