Maps INDEX

Video

Backpacking
into
Meiss Meadow
from the
North

View of the terrain hiking South

We get our best view of the terrain South of Showers Lake from the position below, when we were still North of Showers Lake, while hiking South towards it.
Hiking Map South
Meiss Country Roadless Area
The viewpoint below is from our Southbound approach to Showers Lake, looking at the terrain both to the North of Showers Lake before arriving there, and the terrain South beyond Showers Lake.

Showers Lake is off to the Left, out of the middle-Left of the image.

In the furthest distance we can see Red Lake Peak dominating the horizon. To its Right, the Southeast, we can see the low Peak rising on the East side of our exit out of the Tahoe Basin through the Carson Gap.

Much closer to us I hope you can see the low mound rising out of the far-Left of the frame in the middle of the image? It's on the edge of the Left side of the image beyond the closest granite slabs, surrounded and almost covered by trees.
Showers Lake lays on the other side of that low rise. Our hike South along the PCT-TYT trails loops over around to the Left to the other side of that mound/granite formation via a granite channel closer to us than the mound.

Departing Showers Lake we will hike South through broken meadow and thin forest that we can see composing the terrain beyond that mound, to cross the low ridgeline running across the middle of the image.
We can see that the ridgeline in the middle distance is running Right to Left down to its low spot coming off the ridge making up the Tahoe Rim on the Right side of the image.

Can you identify the low ridgeline in the middle distance descending from the Sierra Crest in the image above?

We'll see that low ridge behind us as we enter the North end of Meiss Meadow. Scroll up and down from this link to get a few good views of this low ridge looking back from Meiss Meadow.

Our Southbound PCT-TYT route South from Showers Lake crosses the Left side of that low ridgeline and then veers right (SE) towards Red Lake Peak on its far side, while at the same time dropping down a couple of hundred feet of elevation through thin and thinning forest progressing into broken meadow sections opening up into the heart of the Meiss Country Roadless Area, the expansive Meiss Meadow.
From the low point of the trail on the far side of that low ridge we will begin a gentle ascent through moderate but thinning forest into expanding meadow sections and fingers for about a mile, up to where these broken meadow fragments begin merging together, finally opening up into Meiss Meadow.

Meiss Cabin and its associated barn will sit off to our Right as we hike up to the Round Lake-Big Meadow trail junction. Meiss Cabin is located in the Southwestern end of its namesake meadow in this special little hiking area, in about the most logical place you could select for a cabin in here.

The distance South to Meiss Cabin from Showers Lake is 1.88 miles dropping a total of 280 feet of elevation, though we dropped a bit lower than that on the far side of the low ridge pictured above, before beginning the gentle climb up into Meiss Meadow.

Big Picture
We can see the end of our hike in the Tahoe Basin from here.

See the descending ridge line of the furthest-distant mountain (Stevens and Red Lake Peaks) in the far background of the picture?
That ridge drops down to the Right, to the Southwest off the crest of Red Lake Peak, down to the low spot along the Tahoe Rim that I call the "Carson Gap."

The Carson Gap is where our Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trail routes exit the Lake Tahoe Basin.

We can see that our exit from the Lake Tahoe Basin, and this short hiking section through the Meiss Country Roadless Area, are both drawing to a close.

Our exit from the Tahoe Basin through the Cason Gap is 3.4 miles South of Showers Lake.

South of the Tahoe Basin we enter the tiny Carson Pass Management Area circling Carson Pass located at the high point of Highway 88 on our way into the Mokelumne Wilderness on both the PCT and TYT routes.
PCT and TYT hikers will be hiking in different directions on different trails across different sections of both the CPMA and the Mokelumne Wilderness.

The ridgeline descending to the Right off Red Lake Peak that we'll cross to hike through the Carson Gap up ahead is the Southern part of the Carson Range. I figure the ridge we see to our Right, which is capped along this section by the mass of Little Round Top, is the crest of the Sierra Rim around the West-Southwest shore of Lake Tahoe.

The Carson Gap roughly marks where the Southern end of the Carson Range intersects with the Sierra Crest along the West shore of Lake Tahoe.

We'll cross the junction between these two mountain ranges at the far Southern point of both Meiss Meadow and the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Again, our Carson Gap exit from the Lake Tahoe Basin is the low point of the ridge descending off the Right flank (Southwest flank) of the furthest-distant peak we can see in the middle-Right of the image above, being Red Lake Peak.

The upcoming trail route from the position in the picture above, North of Showers Lake, will swing down and to the Left through the granite formations on the near-Left side of the image above, to hike around Showers Lake before climbing over the middle-distant low ridge for the drop down, and then up into Meiss Meadow.

There we depart the Tahoe Basin.

Your Thought and/or Experiences Here?

First Steps into Meiss Meadow from the North.

Cross Country Route

Meiss Lake
to
Round Lake

As we enter Meiss Meadow from the North, Meiss Lake appears on our Left, visible sitting offset to the North by about a half-mile, off the combined Pacific Crest-Tahoe to Yosemite trail routes.

If we depart our trail to work our way Northeast along the NW shore of Meiss Lake we are beginning the cross-country and Northern Winter route down to Round Lake. This route has a lot of brush during Summer, and a lot of snow during Winter!

I prefer Winter conditions for cross country travel in the Meiss Country Roadless Area.

For more on this cross country route, see

Video
Spring Snow Backpacking trip
Round Lake to Showers Lake
June 6, 2010

and

Cross Country Advice for the
Meiss Country Roadless Area

Balzaccom's
comments on hiking the
cross country route between Meiss Lake and Round Lake.

Add to our information or ask questions about this cross-country route at the Trail Guide Forum Page for the

Dardanelle Lake Trail Junction

On that page I describe the three cross country routes I use to get from Round Lake to Meiss Meadow during Winter and Spring snow conditions. One route brings me to the far Southeastern end of Meiss Meadow, another route brings me to the far Northwestern end of Meiss Meadow via Meiss Lake, while the third route roughly follows the trail route up to Meiss Cabin.
Call them the "Left," "Right," and "Center" routes.

(I am having some technical problems with videos on the Forum. Check out the Tahoe to Whitney YouTube presentation if that is still on the blink)

Gear
High Sierra Winter Gear

Snow Trips

Snow Trips

This view is from the Northeastern side of Meiss Lake during a Springtime Snow shoe trip, looking South across Meiss Lake at Round Top to our South, located out of the Tahoe Basin. Round Top is the snow shrouded rock in the distance.

Hiking Map South
Meiss Country Roadless Area

The Tahoe Rim is composed of the near mountain, and the ridges on either side of it.

The Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trail routes are buried under snow just past the far side, the South side of Meiss Lake, in the trees in the distance under the Tahoe Rim.

Our exit from the Tahoe Basin is at the low point of the ridge descending to the Left of that near low-rounded mountain top. The picture below puts that mountain in context of its position along the Tahoe Rim. To the Right the ridge is bending Northwest towards the high point of Little Round Top, which was the peak behind (to the South) Showers Lake.

See the links in the box above this picture for more information on snow camping and cross country travel across the Meiss Country Roadless Area.

Below
Crossing Meiss Lake in March 2010.

Note the low rounded mountaintop on the far Left; it is the same low rounded mountaintop in the center of the second picture above.

Note the dark mass of Round Top peeking out from behind the trees on the far Left of the image above, just to the Left of the low rounded mountaintop along the Tahoe Rim.

Meiss Cabin is off to the Left of the distant center of the image, on the edge of the treeline a safe distance from the base of the mountains.

We can see a channel when open snow bends Left in the distant center-Left of the image. We'll see Meiss Cabin and barn when we make the bend Left into that open channel.

More Videos

The North end of Meiss Meadow looking South at Peak 9422 topping the Tahoe Rim.

We have hiked South into the North side of Meiss Meadow along the Pacific Crest, Tahoe to Yosemite and Tahoe Rim Trails, and are glancing to our Right.

Compare this image with the one above and below. The "V" slot-canyon on the Right side of all the images is the same, the only difference being perspective (and the season) from which we are looking at, and approaching it.

In the image above we are entering the North side of Meiss Meadow from Showers Lake along the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail, hiking South following along the base of the Tahoe Rim.

In the images above and below we are approaching Meiss Meadow from the North by the compass from Round Lake, and we are hiking almost directly South across the frozen surface of Meiss Lake.

Small Lake to the Southwest of Meiss Lake, just a bit North of the Meiss Cabin.

Hiking Map South
Meiss Country Roadless Area

Approaching Meiss Cabin we are coming South to the Round Lake trail junction.

The Tahoe Rim trail break off here to the Northeast towards Big Meadow, while the main Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite routes continue South together to the Carson Gap.

Backpacking Trail Guide

North

Showers Lake 

Backpacking Trail Guide

South

Meiss Cabin Trail Junction