Lee
and I decided to head to Penner Lake. For a trail description see this
trip to Penner Lake. The trailhead is at Carr Lake and can be very
crowded. The road in is not paved for the last few miles. I have done
this trip with 2 wheel drive, low to the ground vehicles and made it
in fine. That is why the trailhead can be crowded. Camping at Carr Lake
can be really crowded but once you head down the trail it will feel
more like backpacking .Most people going to Carr lake are not in the
mood to hike any further than Feely Lake. See map
at bottom. Trailhead and lakes are in the Tahoe National Forest. This
is of Feely Lake. I didn't get any shots of Carr Lake (too many people
milling about).
The
trail is pretty easy except for one uphill stretch near Penner Lake.
This is Lee on the trail on the south side of Feely Lake.
The
trail is really well covered through some sections which makes it great
when it is sunny and warm.
There is a pond that someone took the time to name. Here is the sign
and ...
Here
is the "lake". There are many lakes in this area and I have
always joked about naming one after myself, but I have never thought
about making a sign.
The
trail is almost always on the shore of a lake. Here is Island Lake.
There is an island in the middle of it. I have seen people out on it
before.
I
took this shot to show how clear the water is. It also shows how nice
of a day it is. Sunny with a slight breeze is my favorite weather to
hike in. I don't mind getting a little warm as long as there is a body
of water to jump into when I get there.
So
here is Penner Lake. We camped on the South side of the Lake on a ledge
that overlooked it. It had a great view, day and night. There are not
too many good sites around this lake. I have camped along the North
side of the lake before and there seems to be more sites on that side
of the lake.
So
we set up camp and decided to head down to the water for a swim. This
is camp after the swim, I think. There are some nice spots to jump into
the lake from this side (south side). Hiking down the loose rocks to
the waters edge was not much fun though.
Here
is our great view. Just a great day to be out in the wilderness.
Here
is a shot from camp when the sun started going down.
Of
course the camera makes it look darker than it is but the effect is
great.
A shot
the next morning when the lake was like glass. That night we saw only
1 mosquito but their cousins (gnats) were plentiful. But I will take
a million gnats over a few mosquitoes every time.
The
trail on the way out through some of the more covered section.
Here
are some panoramics that I took on this trip. The top is Feely Lake
and the bottom one is Penner Lake. This is a great trip to introduce
someone to backpacking and if you want to have this are to yourself
just come midweek.