Elevation
8640

Mileage

17 miles South of Carson Pass

9.78 miles North of Ebbetts Pass

.97 of a mile to Raymond Lake.

	Raymond Lake Trail Junction.

South from the Raymond Lake junction on the Pacific Crest Trail

Lay of the Land

"Roller coaster" characterizes the nature of our next 5 miles South on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Raymond Lake trail junction to Eagle Creek. We will be crossing two drainages hiking South off of Raymond Peak meaning we hike over two ridge arms descending off of Raymond Peak's Northeastern facing flank. Check out the trail around Raymond Peak on the map.

Ups and Downs
Specifically, the Southbound trail from the Raymond Lake trail junction first drops 280 feet into, and then climbs 200 feet out of, Raymond Canyon's forked drainage. The trail then bends around through a gap in the ridge arm descending off of Raymond Peak before finally traversing down 420 feet to Pennsylvania Creek.

After a 200 foot climb South out of Pennsylvania Creek's upper ravine we cross the next ridge to overlook Eagle Creek, and the terrain radically changes.
As we hike down the South flank of the ridge dividing Pennsylvania from Eagle Creeks we notice this ridge also divides the drainages flowing off Raymond from Reynolds Peaks. Hiking down to Eagle Creek we are now dropping down to the Northern base under the high point along Reynolds Peak's razor backed ridgeline.

Volcanic Rock Sculpture Garden
The terrain South after climbing out of Pennsylvania Creek changes in many respects. First, the terrain moderates in difficulty for the remaining distance to Ebbetts Pass. The next two ridges our trail climbs over that are descending off the Northeast flank of Reynolds Peak are very low.
But by far the most interesting change is how the general composition of the volcanic terrain changes between Raymond and Reynolds peaks. The very soils making up the terrain under our feet changes from the loose, finely eroded volcanic material typical of what we encountered on Raymond Peak to a much harder volcanic rock that composes Reynolds Peak. This really affects how these two mountains look.

Raymond Peak is a great degrading mass of broken down volcanic soil while Reynolds projects great spires of hard volcanic material into the air from the exceptional sharpness of its razor back hard rock crestline.

Even better, hiking down and looping around the head of Eagle Creek under Reynolds Peak brings us into and through an amazing museum-like menagerie, a natural rock garden full of eerily eroded other-worldly sculpted volcanic forms.

I've got to hike through here on a fully moonlit night.
It would be amazing.

As we traverse down the ridge dropping down to Eagle Creek we notice amazing shapes cut into the hard volcanic rock along the upper section of the ridge we crossed from Pennsylvania Creek. Amazing forms. We can't help but compare these hard rock spires with the very different character of Raymond Peak's heavily eroded reddish volcanic soils we just crossed.
The quick transition from Raymond Peak's eroded volcanic mountainsides to Reynolds Peak's sharp spires and razor back ridges composed of hard volcanic rock is rewarding hiking.

Mostly Good Hiking
But don't worry about the difficulty or danger increasing with the change in terrain. The Pacific Crest Trail winds around the base of Reynolds Peak's sheer features rather than through them. The trail across Raymond Peak's eroded flanks has more potential for nerve-racking crossings over sections of trail that have eroded off the mountainside to the angle of repose. This depends on how fierce Fall and Spring rains have been, the intensity of the runoff, and the last time Toiyabe Backcountry Trails or the California Conservation Corps has dug out the trailbed.

The trail passing through the hard rock around Reynolds Peak is much more stable.

As we continue to the South end of Reynolds Peak's extent its fine hard volcanic sculptures give way to a field of interesting composite boulders, and finally we climb the last low ridge descending off Reynolds Peak's Southeastern flank to overlook, then drop into a dense forest punctuated by Lower Kinney Lake along with refreshing little islands of granite formations we see poking through the forest cover.

The granite indicates we are departing this vast ocean of volcanic terrain we have been crossing, with a few short exceptions, since departing the Lake Tahoe Basin.

On our way down into the forest South of Reynolds Peak we looks about the terrain around Raymond and Reynolds Peaks to get our last look at these impressive remnants of ancient volcanoes. Many of these volcanic projections appear to be volcanic "plugs," the remnants of ancient central shafts of lava exposed after their surrounding volcanic cones eroded away long ago. These features have very distinctive shapes.

South of Reynolds Peak we again enter forest cover but we first get looks at Upper and Lower Kinney Lakes nestled in the dense dark green forests ahead. The last few miles of the Pacific Crest Trail South of Reynolds Peak passes around, rather than across steep sections and undulations in the terrain, so we will easily and quickly pass by the Kinney Lakes and around Ebbetts Peak to arrive at Highway 4 through Ebbetts Pass.

Planning the Resupply
If we arrive at Ebbetts Pass on Highway 4 too late in the afternoon to hitch down to the Lake Alpine Lodge for resupply we may want to camp near Ebbetts Pass. Nestled within the forests just a short hike North of Ebbetts Pass we just passed by Sherrold Lake and Upper and Lower Kinney Lakes. All of these lakes have very nice campsites where we can hold up for the night.

These are good places to camp if we plan on hitching down to Lake Alpine to pick up our Resupply the next day. If we are continuing South our next reasonable campsite will be 4 miles South of Ebbetts Pass at Noble Lake. Noble Lake did not look so good in September of 2009, at the end of the Summer backpacking season.

Noble Lake Cows

Noble Lake's shore was extensively post-holed by cow hooves, and the water had a lot of algae, moss, and that nasty cow smell that indicates you may want to find a better water source, if possible.
The ranchers need to fence off part of the lake to keep it sanitary for backpackers and hikers. I don't mind the cows or Sierra grazing, but adjustments must be made when cows or backpackers trash the terrain.

The Kinney Lakes trail junction is 1.36 miles North of Ebbetts Pass.

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Water

The PCT across Raymond Peak traverses its exposed treeless eroding volcanic flank. Narrow fingers of thinning forest follow the drainages up mountain. We've got little cover up here. A few areas of thin tree cover, rapidly crossed

South of the Raymond Lake trail our Northeast facing terrain nourishes these thin fingers of forest cover in narrow drainage canyons.

The trees mostly reach their limits below where the PCT crosses Raymond Canyon Creek's two upper branches.

This North-Northeast facing terrain is badly situated to catch what little moisture remains in the air carried across the Sierras from the Pacific Ocean by the prevailing NW winds. Not much rain makes it up here.

This rare moisture, along with springs at the tops of these gullies sustains the thin forest fingers climbing up the gullies on these North facing ridge-sides. Thus we can see thin strips of forest running up Raymond Canyon and Pennsylvania Creek, but not quite making it up to our position on the trail.

I've found good cold water in both, if flowing at restrained levels, and a very little bit of nearby shade to enjoy it under during late Summers of dry seasons. The Northern branch of Raymond Canyon Creek seems to dry out before the Southern branch. Getting water out of either of these when they are barely flowing may require the "stick" method of water purification.

Or we continue South to check out the higher levels of water in Pennsylvania and Eagle Creeks...

Low Water Filtering
When a creek or spring's water level is sooo low that even putting your filter intake into the water disturbs the clarity, or even wrecks the tiny pool we wish to draw from, we must first establish a stable platform for our intake hose.

I find a stick that bridges the pool or section of flowing water I wish to draw from that does not disturb or cloud the water. I drape my intake hose over the stick and slowly lower it into the tiny pool or flow, hopeful that I will not screw it up. Once I've got the intake situated I pump carefully so any movement of the intake hose with each stroke of the pump does not damage or cloud up the little pool or the low flow I am drawing from.

Terrain
Passing South of Pennsylvania Creek the nature of the terrain changes dramatically. The compacted small reddish rocks and reddish eroded volcanic soils piled steeply to make up the eroded volcanic flanks of Raymond Peak now solidifies into razorback ridges of uniquely eroded hard lava. This transition is most notable when we pass over the ridge dividing Pennsylvania Creek from Eagle Creek.

Look up Pennsylvania Creek and we note of the massive hard volcanic formations along the crest line that feeds Pennsylvania Creek's headwaters. When we cross the subsequent ridge South to pass into Eagle Creek's drainage, we will be standing at the entrance of a fine gallery of hard lava formations, carved by the combined forces of erosion into a wide range of spires and other interesting and delightful shapes.

This is really cool terrain. Note on the topo map how Raymond and Reynolds Peaks are part of the same massif, though each expresses different very characteristics.

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Amazing erosion carves exotic shapes which rise out of the volcanic debris

Passing South of Pennsylvania Creek demands a 200 foot climb that crosses through a saddle in the sheer crestline of the ridge coming off of Raymond and Reynolds Peaks that divides the Pennsylvania and Eagle Creek drainages.

Crossing the highpoint of this exposed ridge brings the canyon surrounding Eagle Creek into view. The southbound trail traverses Westward down the open ridgeside towards Eagle Creek's headwaters, paralleling the creek until the trail drops down to cross the creek right under the shadow of Reynolds Peak towering above.

Within Eagle Creek's canyon is an amazing gallery of volcanic spires carved into a wide range of striking shapes and textures carved by wind, rain, and runoff.

At the head of Eagle Creek we are sitting directly below Reynolds Peak.  Is this not great?

Since passing South of the Wet Meadow Reservoir trail junction we have crossed Raymond Peak's mostly barren eroded volcanic mountainside, only enjoying little bits of thin forest cover running along the tops of the ridges between the drainages.
Now we're passing through/under a gallery of unique eroded formations carved of volcanic rock.

Sweet.

Now we will again enjoy a nice partially shaded section of thin forest hiking over the low ridge separating Eagle from Raymond Meadow Creek.

We've good access to water in both creeks under the imposing line of the jagged, razor-backed hard volcanic rock called Reynolds Peak. This is an amazing place.

Eagle Creek
Under Reynolds Peak

Mileage

22.26 miles South of Carson Pass

5.24 miles South of the Raymond Lake trail junction.

4.54 miles North of Ebbetts Pass.

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West of Reynolds Peak
South of Raymond Peak

The Cylinder

On the South side of Reynolds we encounter what appears to be composite boulders composed of aggregates of many types and sizes of stones suspended in a cement like materials.

Below we see a wide variety of different glacial cut and polished rocks suspended in a weak cement-like volcanic slurry. As we can see this weakness indicated by the sand and pebbles that have eroded free sitting on top of the boulder.

Composite Boulders

On the South side of Reynolds Peak we pass though an zone of composite boulders decorating the flattening terrain. Most of the previous terrain we've crossed over Raymond Peak has been over volcanic materials eroded into unconsolidated soil, or around the harder volcanic material making up Reynolds Peak's jagged forms.

These composite boulders we encounter are composed of a uniform cement-like material that has engulfed and captured many different types of rocks and stones.

All of these different rocks are now locked into the cement, and as erosion breaks boulders off the composite volcanic cliffs and terrain above and around us these strange boulders reveal clues about the distant past of this particular location and the variety of eruptions that created it.
It becomes apparent that for this cement-like material to have swept up so many different types of rocks, it must have flowed over significant distances.

Another observation is that although these composite zones and composite boulder fields are associated with hard lava areas by proximity, these composite materials have significantly different properties than the harder volcanic rock formations around them. Each is the product of a distinct type of volcanic flow, while other types of flows produced different types of terrain features.

This indicates that our surrounding terrain was built up in layers by different types and characters of eruptions, and these different layers are now breaking up in different ways at different rates, depending mostly on how their hardness holds up to erosion and resists the intrusions of brush and tree.

The most important observable difference driving the ancient terrain here seems to be the difference in heat between the various volcanic flows that deposited them here.

The hard volcanic material was brought to us by molten flows who's high heat brought about a much more uniform internal composition, and left hard volcanic rock behind, such as the hard rock making up Reynolds Peak and its hard volcanic sculptures.
A second type of high-heat eruption seems to have left behind a much weaker magma that left behind the great masses of unconsolidated material that compose Raymond Peak's rapidly eroding mass.
A third type of eruption seemed to produce lower temperature lahar flows that caught up and captured what we now see as the composite boulder's diverse collection of unaltered rocks within porous cement-like gray-to-red materials.
These unaltered stones and the cement-like quality of the material binding them together indicates not just a much lower temperature, but of the presence of large amounts of water and volcanic ash.

I wonder if the Romans figured out the secrets of cement from their volcanic experiences...

What the Heck Happened Here?
I can barely imagine the scene 10,000 years ago when a series of volcanoes lining the Eastern Escarpment of the Sierras first cut loose with massive eruptions. But to imagine an eruption happening while the remnants of the receding ice age were still burying many of the Sierras Peaks and valleys requires one reset their imagination to a much larger scale.

Imagine the lava and ash flows of ten or fifteen Mount Saint Helens, erupting not across the idyllic forests, lakes, and meadows that were destroyed by Mount Saint Helens, but erupting from under massive ice caps hundreds of feet thick along a hundred miles of ancient Sierra Crestline. 
The same ice that cut the beautiful granite formations all along the length of the Sierras fed giant lahars of almost unimaginable size that buried the valleys the glaciers originally created.
These boulders are ancient remnants of this fantastic process of constructive destruction.

Because of the presence of Ice Age snow and ice in proximity to major volcanic eruptions, I speculate that the first of these lahars must have measured hundreds of feet in height as they flowed down into foothill valleys dozens of miles distant from the actual eruption.

Alice, our resident consulting geologist, pointed out to me that lahars would tend to flow down the already present ancient drainages cut by the glaciers, and harden to fill these drainages. These lahar-filled ancient valleys have slowly eroded out, but this time the forces of erosion would cut through the rock deposited by ancient lahars, ultimately removing most indications of their presence.

Over the ten thousand years since these deposits were originally made the majority of its consolidated boulders have long been eroded away, leaving only a wide variety of polished stones as the only clue of their presence.

What is apparent is that massive lava flows and giant lahars were sweeping down both flanks of the Sierras 10,000 years ago during the last period of intense volcanic activity that coincided with the end of the last ice age.

Hiking South we are exiting this extensive ocean of volcanic terrain onto a small island of granite around Ebbetts Pass.

Composite Boulder Forum

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As we continue South of Reynolds Peak, its sharp volcanic shapes give way to a gentler series of terrains characterized by dense forest punctuated by bright meadows and refreshing little islands of white granite formations poking out of this vast ocean of volcanic terrain.

SOUTH

Ebbetts Pass Backpacker INFORMATION

Ebbetts Pass to Tyron Peak TRAIL GUIDE

Lake Alpine Lodge

The
 Lake Alpine Lodge and Bear Valley
resupply page lays out your resource and resupply options when you reach Highway 4 on the Pacific Crest Trail, or Lake Alpine on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.

Ebbetts Pass
on the
Pacific Crest Trail

69.49 miles
South of Meeks Bay

38.78 miles
South of Echo Summit

26.78 miles
South of Carson Pass

29.44 miles
North of Sonora Pass (Hwy 108)

103.24 miles
North of Tuolumne Meadows (Hwy 120)

Resupply Strategy

Reaching Highway 4 at Ebbetts Pass marks the Southbound backpacker's first opportunity to resupply since the Echo Lake Chalet, 40.78 miles to the North along the Pacific Crest Trail route.

Your next location to resupply South of Ebbetts Pass is 29.44 miles South at Kennedy Meadows Pack Station. The Kennedy Meadows Pack Station sits 8 miles West of where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses Highway 108 at Sonora Pass.

My plan always includes hitching West on Highway 4 down to Lake Alpine for at least some food, a few beers, and hanging out with the cool folk at the Lake Alpine Lodge, (and/or the Bear Valley Store and deli) if I do or do not pick up a resupply package at the Lake Alpine Lodge.

I recommend planning your days off. Resupply locations are generally a good place to take a day off, relax, feed your body, and spend some time hanging out with the locals and other visitors in a beautiful location.

I have a real nice campsite on the East side of Lake Alpine where I lounge around for my day off, when I'm not eating and drinking at the Lodge.

Lake Alpine Lodge backpacker's resupply page

Trail Options
South of Highway 4

The Southbound route decision you faced at Carson Pass was black and white. You either took the Pacific Crest Trail or you took the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail South to Highway 4. Your route selection South from Highway 4 to Highway 108 is not so clear cut. The Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trail have a number of trails that connect them between Highways 4 and 108, unlike their routes between Carson Pass and Ebbetts Pass.

From Highway 4, this means you can continue South on the Pacific Crest Trail from Ebbetts Pass, or you may continue South on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail South out of the East side of Lake Alpine through the Silver Trailhead.

My favorite route between Highway 4 and the next Highway to the South, Highway 108 at Sonora Pass, is to follow the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail South out of Lake Alpine to the head of Spicer Meadow Reservoir. From there I follow the Highland Creek Trail up to the Pacific Crest Trail, rather than continue South on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.

This particular route option is a bit longer than either route alone, and involves an extra climb. But this route offers more than either of the others alone by tying together a section of the TY trail across the Western Flank of the Sierras with a PCT section along the Sierra Crest. I believe that this combination of routes through the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness gives a perspective which neither of the trails quite does on its own.

This brings up an important fact of backpacking the Sierra Crest. You don't have to stay on any particular "named" route between Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney. In fact, I believe that the best route between Lake Tahoe and Tuolumne Meadows in the Northern Sierra is comprised of a combination of the PCT and TY trail sections.

When you hitch down to Lake Alpine for your resupply you can continue South on the Tahoe to Yosemite Route South of Lake Alpine. Or you can hitch back up to Ebbetts Pass and continue South on the Pacific Crest Trail.

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7.5 Topo Hiking Map
Upper Sunset Lake to Ebbetts Pass

30 min Topo Hiking Map
Carson Pass to Ebbetts Pass

Note:
Click the Colored Dots on the Maps!

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Miles and Elevations

South
Noble Lake and Tyron Peak on the Pacific Crest Trail

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Section
Carson Pass to Ebbetts Pass

Segment
Raymond Lake to Ebbetts Pass