Lyons, Bears and Ponies.....Oh my.
Pony Peak
Placer County, California
Granite Chief Wilderness, Tahoe National Forest
Elevation approx. 7,696
We started our trip from our campsite near French Meadows Reservoir. We were camping for a few days in the Coyote Group Campground and decided to take a day hike to a peak nearby.
French Meadows Road from the camp starts out like this for about 3 miles
Then, the last mile gets ahhhh ................little .....rustic.
Well, I guess we'll park here.
Originally, we had our sights set on Lyon Peak, but after a leisurely morning at camp and a late start on trail, we headed out for Plan B... Let's just see how far we can get and head in the general direction of Lyon Peak....
Both Caltopo and Alltrails map this trail but didn't have it named, I guess its the Talbot Creek Trail.
Once out of the canyon you'll start getting some exposure as you make your way up.
All smiles, so far. Feels good to be out on a mountain again.
We came across numerous piles of bear scat.
Apparently, they spent some time sharing this trail.
Thankfully, upon closer inspection, these were quite dry and a few days old.
We came across several bear tracks also.
Leaving the bears in our dust, hopefully.
The Talbot Creek Trail went all the way through. All the maps we had consulted show the trail terminating and requiring us to go off trail to reach the Tevis Cup Trail. This, however was not the case and we were both pleasantly surprised.
Rounding the first ridge and we are just about to connect up with the Tevis Cup Trail
The Tevis Cup Trail is also the site of a horse race that was the genesis of the Western States 100. Both seem to now have their own separate, parallel trails now.
The Tevis trail was pretty dusty and you'll surely see evidence of equestrian use.
About 1.5 miles in we found our peak and went off trail to reach the summit.
Some scree as we approach the top and the views are getting better and better.
And we made it. That is French Meadows Reservoir in the backdrop.
Taking a dusty leg lunch break on the talus field that seems to be ever present at any peak in the sierras.
Since this little peak was unnamed and not numbered we took it upon ourselves to bestow upon it the name of, Pony Peak. Seems a good fit with its diminutive size and proximity to the Tevis Cup Trail.
We stacked rocks for a little alcove to house our peak box along with a log and a few stickers for any other intrepid peak baggers.
And here is the location if you're interested.
We decided to go off trail for our return and cut out about a mile of switchbacks.
Charene always approves of the direct route and takes point in navigating us down.
After about 20 minutes we connect up with the trail and are " On...On" again.
Back into the forest and canyon along Talbot Creek and almost to where we started.
Because this peak was not named and we agreed upon an official name for it, we submitted it to Google. A few weeks later...
We received an email that said our suggestion was officially added to Google!! Super cool.
Here it is.... officially on Google Maps. That's a first of hopefully more to come!!
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