Showers Lake Videos

Showers Lake in the
Morning

Showers Lake under
Ice surrounded by Snow

View looking North at the Southern end of the Lake Tahoe Basin with Christmas Valley and the South Upper Truckee Drainage at our feet, taken from just North of Showers Lake.

Views hiking South to Showers Lake from Echo Summit had been generally obscured by steep mountains and dense forests.

Our views up until now were fleeting seconds as we momentarily emerged from the dense forests and peeked around the complex terrain filling the Southwest corner of the Tahoe Basin.

Approaching the shelf Showers Lake sits on begins opening up wider views of the South Upper Truckee Watershed draining Christmas Valley into Lake Tahoe.

Freel Peak is the biggest mountain on the far Right edge of the picture. We can see the haze of the faint blue of Lake Tahoe visible below the Carson Range in the furthest distance. That's the East Shore of Lake Tahoe.

Though Christmas Valley is a narrow U-shaped valley on the South end of the Tahoe Basin, the views we get from Showers Lake looking down through Christmas Valley to Lake Tahoe feel, and are very expansive compared to the relatively claustrophobic character and general lack of views along our hike from Echo Summit to Showers Lake.

Approaching Showers Lake we begin to get good overviews of the terrain wrapping around the South end of the Tahoe Basin that were mostly shrouded by forest and rock until we approach Showers Lake.

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The open terrain around Showers Lake begins to grace us with some expansive views to the North of South Lake Tahoe. The best views are to our East and Northeast, across the Carson Range and into the high desert beyond. Finally getting an expansive view imparts a greater understanding of the context of the terrain we could not completely figure out until we could get a series of overviews.

This process of questing for information and understanding our context in obscured conditions is part of becoming an excellent backpacker. Your view of the terrain does not just seek out the beauty, but also sees beauty in the logic of the terrain and its drainiges in a cascading set of contexts.

Internally the terrain establishes the physical stress, our heart rate, breathing and energy consumption. This level of exertion establishes the mental reality we will view the world through.

Externally the terrain affects the weather, which affects the distribution of life, which affects the rate of erosion and change. Every piece of this grand puzzle fits into every other piece to create the operating reality we deal with.

This reality and its operations, characters, and logic are available to properly tuned human perception.

To the practical observer the logic of the terrain will reveal the most likely route, the likely approach, and give us hints about the nature and difficulty of our upcoming experiences. Our observations allow us to calculate the degree of physical investment we will have to put into crossing the terrain, and how to most effectively disperse that investment.

Premium Overlook in Meiss Country Roadless Area
The great views around Showers Lake are combined with beautiful protected campsites on the flat aprons around Showers Lake's North and South shores, by the compass. These view and camping assets make Showers Lake the arguably best spot to camp in Meiss Country along the line of trail from Echo Summit to the Carson Gap.
Regardless, Showers Lake is an excellent place to relax after any hard hike. Long distance hikers are advised to plan Showers Lake as a campsite. It gives us the best overview of our hike across Meiss Country.

Showers Lake is also ideal for medium and short distance backpackers. It almost splits the distance between Echo Summit and Carson Pass, making it an excellent mid-point for a quick local backpacking trip across the Meiss Country Roadless Ares.

Sweet Overlooks
While you are at Showers Lake, even if you are a long-distance Pacific Crest Trail backpacker running through, make sure you stop and check out the two granite overlooks just North of the lake on the two bluffs protruding off the North edge of the flat shelf of terrain the lake sits. Both have magnificent panoramic views of Lake Tahoe and the whole visible Northern Horizon framed within the walls of Christmas Valley.

At Least Stop for Lunch
So, long distance hikers should put Showers Lake on our daily hiking schedule at least for a long break, or one of our daily lunches, if spending a night there does not fit into our overall hiking plan. I would re-jigger my schedule to make it a campsite.

If you are just passing through and want to see the overlook view, the first overlook extends out to the North next to where the trail South from Echo Summit enters the flat apron around the North Shore of Showers Lake.
Just look over your left shoulder when you enter Showers Lake's campsite flat from the North, and you will see the well-worn footpath to the overlook. The second overlook is located about 50 yards to the East along the edge of the bluff.

If we are hiking Northbound through Showers Lake the overlook is the trail we see off to our right just as we are hiking to the end of the campsites on North end of Showers Lake.

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Christmas Valley far below.

Great Cloud far above.

Our view is looking beyond the complex upper valley down at the flat where the run of the South Upper Truckee flattens out, and much of the houses making up the little township of Meyers are located.

Pulling our perspective back a bit we can put Christmas Valley into context in the South end of Lake Tahoe. The road maps below the full Desolation Wilderness Hiking Map also gives us some context.

Road Maps of South Tahoe Basin

Carson Range wrapping around the East Shore still decorated with Spring snow during June of 2010. Snow was historically common in June, but the last two decades have seen Spring move earlier into Winter, Winter grow shorter and weaker, with dry Fall conditions pushing into December.

Above we see thinning snow still clinging to the upper elevations of the Carson Range on June 7th. The fact is that the grand weather patterns over the whole North Pacific Ocean have radically changed during the past twenty-five years.

We have already become a drier, wetter climate. Our four-season weather pattern born out of the Northwest seems to be moving towards a two-season pattern spawned in the tropical oceans to our Southwest.

This long, slow change in weather patterns over the course of my life has deep, powerful implications for man and Nature. Though these changes seem "slow," happening over the course of a single human lifetime, this pace of change of weather patterns is unprecedented over geological time spans.

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Knarly twisted lodgepole about to fall into mulch, much to the benefit of its brethren's future growth.

Trees work both individually and as a group to convert rock and meadow into nice forest-floor to provide for their future health and expansion.

The lives and actions of each tree supports its own, and its fellow tree's welfare through coordination, cooperation, and fierce competition.

"Forest" is almost too-static of a term to describe the group movements of individuals who are acting more like a "herd of trees" than a staid "forest."

I see trees and their forests as being a whole lot more rowdy than that, but on a time scale that escapes most folk's attention spans.

Trail post, but no trail junction.

Rather than a loop off the main trail to Showers Lake the whole trail loops around its North Shore.

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Showers Lake exists because of this Check Dam.

More on
High Sierra Check Dams.

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Showers Lake
A Jog in the Trail
A Pleasant Campsite
A Fantastic Overlook
Southbound hikers hit the North Showers Lake trail junction post pictured above at the head of a gully running down-mountain to our Left, and turn Left, to the North, down the gully.

We can see something a bit strange about this junction. It is that the main trail has been rerouted, deflected through its one-time loop around the North shore of Showers Lake. We are hiking down the gully to approach the campsites on the Northeastern apron of Showers Lake. A short ways down the gully the trail turns Right to climb to the Northeast corner of Showers Lake just below the check dam.

Looking at the post above we can sense what's strange is that the old main route proceeded straight, wrapping around the South Shore of Showers Lake where the North end of the Showers Lake loop turns down the gully.

Well, visiting Showers Lake is good to meet folks and see the sights, so a good thing overall, but it's a little detour around the most direct line across the terrain, which is what most PCT hikers are looking for.

Well, instead taking the option of pushing straight through this little detour, and following what remains of the old route straight around the West-Southwest shore of Showers Lake, we'll cop a Left at this junction to visit Showers Lake.

Both the old 30 minute and much newer but still "old" 15 minute maps still depict the trail's old configuration around Showers Lake.

Hiking down this gully we have a great rock wall of beautiful forest shaded granite rising to our Right, until we find ourselves threading our way to our East through a break in its expansive wall following our trail turning Right out of the gully for the brief climb up to Showers Lake.

This rock is part of the great rock formation that wraps around the Northwest Shore of Showers Lake that is so nice to scramble around on. Showers Lake is a very pleasant and pretty piece of rock/terrain, water and forest to camp and take delightful walks/scrambles to explore the surrounding terrain from our Showers Lake campsite.

Turning Right out of the gully around the bottom of this cool rock we quickly scramble up to the compressed apron around the Northeast shore of Showers Lake that serves as its main campsite area.
On our final steps hiking Southbound up to Showers Lake we can see where the deeply silted-in check dam/outlet stream from Showers Lake is located off to our Right as we enter the great camping flat around the Northeast shore of Showers Lake.

We can see the soils under the forest around the Northeast Shore of Showers Lake have been compressed by many years of backpackers camping here. There are also a couple of sites across the lake off its Southwestern Shore.

PCT-TYT-TRT HINTS
Long distance backpackers can take advantage of this little detour.

Best View of the Meiss Country Roadless Area
Swinging around the North shore of Showers Lake puts us within feet of one of the BEST overlooks we are going to get of the South Tahoe Basin and Lake along the length of our hike around the Meiss Country Roadless Area wrapping around the very Southernmost Corner of the Tahoe Basin and Lake. It's certainly the best overlook of the Southern extent of Lake Tahoe and its surrounding basin.

But, though this fantastic viewpoint is not on the trail, it is close. This fine overlook is a few feet off the route of the PCT-TYT-TRT along the North end of the rerouting the of trail route around the North shore of Showers Lake.

At the far North end of the flat apron of campsites around Shower Lake's Northeast shore is a well trod trail to the Northeast (Southbound hiker's Left) that pushes through some brush for a few short feet until it splits into two trails, each leading out to the end of two great rocky ridge-fingers jutting out from our mountainside flat over the end of the sheer and complex Upper Christmas Valley drainage.
In the drainage tributary fingers of the South Upper Truckee reach up to Showers Lake and the shelf it's sitting on.

From these overview positions we get a good sense of the nature of the terrain around us, such as this shelf under the top of the Tahoe Rim mountains holding Showers Lake, as well as Meiss Meadow.
We also get long views of the whole Southern end of the Tahoe Basin.

Descending East shoulder of Little Round Top-Sierra Crest-Tahoe Rim
behind Showers Lake in Morning Sun

I kicked it late at camp, and did not depart until the Sun hit the lake.

One way of measuring effectiveness and efficiency on the trail is the length of our hiking day. How long it takes us to develop the capacity to comfortably hike from Sunrise to Sunset is a measure of fitness.

Another is how many days in a row can be hiked from Sunrise to set before needing a day off.

And finally, what speed can be maintained over those full days.

These are interdependent variables.

Each greatly affects the others.

Carefully consider how you mix them, and carefully monitor the results.

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by Peter Skaff.

Thanks Peter!

Also See Peter's
Emigrant Wilderness Backpacking:
Crabtree to Gem Lake, Deer Lake, and More

Send me your shots through the forum or Email.

Departing Showers Lake hiking South on Day 5 from Meeks Bay to Tuolumne Meadows after a nice night at Showers Lake.

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This video shows part of a Spring snow trip to Showers Lake from the South Upper Truckee trailhead. May and June brought heavy Spring snowstorms, leaving a heavy snow cover in early June.

REMEMBER THAT.

Many PCT and long distance High Sierra Backpackers are beginning to believe that Summer backpacking conditions begin in May!!

They do not.

Though recent trends have brought a snow free Sierra in June and even May, this is highly unusual, and makes anyone in the Sierra during May and June subject to "unexpected" Spring snowstorms. The same danger is true during October and November.

October and November have been getting warmer and the onset of Fall and Winter storms has been delayed by the same climate mechanism that is triggering early Spring Thaws. Hikers in Fall are subject to powerful, unexpected early season Winter storms blowing in, as are early Spring backpackers subject to unexpected Spring storms.

Early and late season backpackers must be ready for the worse weather that the time of the year they are hiking can possibly blow in, despite the recent changes in Fall and Spring weather.

I believe that many more backpackers are subjecting themselves to increasingly dangerous situations in late Fall and early Spring precisely because the climatic tilt towards "good" weather during these critical periods of weather transitions have drawn out many hikers not properly experienced or geared to deal with the potential weather that can blow in during early Spring and late Fall.

To have the best backpacking trips possible we must always consider the worse-case scenarios possible. Otherwise "things" can get way out of hand.

SPRING CONDITIONS at SHOWERS LAKE

Though we approached Showers Lake from the Northeast coming up from Meyers, this video well depicts Spring conditions in the Meiss Roadless Area.

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Sun breaking through the trees over Showers Lake campsites on the flat apron around the North Shore of the lake. Besides composing the majority of campsites here, the big flat makes the whole North side of Showers Lake one big campsite.

There's also sites on the other shore of Showers Lake.

About Ready to Hit the Trail.

The sleeping pad is my seat, the pack is the seat back. I'm ready to get up, stash the stove, pot and fuel, strap all the externals onto the outside of the pack (tripod, 2 extra food bags ((and the Garcia inside)), sleeping pad, and gallon water-storage bottle) and hit the trail.

Note the lack of people in the background. Though Showers is very popular during Summer, it gets quiet in mid-September. Very nice.

This is one of about 5 campsites on the Northeast Shore of Showers Lake, but the well-trodden flat around the North apron of Shower Lake makes any spot adequate to throw the pack down. Even if the place is full you will be able to find a nice flat to crash on.

Meiss Country Roadless Area, LTBMU

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Pete and Jason
Doing an Echo Summit to Showers Lake backpacking trip at Showers Lake ending the day I came through.

Member Wisdom
on the
The High Sierra Trails

Jason and Pete's
Fire Tip
TW Member Backpacker Experience & Experiences
from the
Trail

Peter's fire tip
"I included this one for the trail tip - the green moss/lichen at the base of the fire makes GREAT starter material." (quote & photo: Peter Skaff, Jason prepping the Fire with moss. Also see Peter's killer photos on this page and the previous page.)

Alex fire tip
When you encounter fallen snags that have dried and cracked into little dry cubes, you have encountered nature's fire perfect starter. Pop out a few of these wood cubes, put them in a plastic bag, and keep them in your pack. Split shards off a cube to kindle one of the cubes. They virtually burst into flames.

You know you have the right stuff when the cube you observe is dried to almost the density and weight of Balsa Wood. Along with dried moss picked dead and dry from trees, cubes and moss are two of nature's pyrotechnic fire starter materials.

Having a bit of both stored in a plastic bag in your pack is good policy.

Camp and Trail Skills

Alex note
I never make fires, except for emergency situations, or during the rare times I backpack as part of a group. That is rarely, as I'm a solo backpacker. I have only considered making an emergency fire twice in my life, and on each occasion ultimately decided that fire was not necessary. I have made plenty of social fires, but I believe that fire takes away from the natural experience, though they add to the social.

My reasoning behind forgoing fires is simple. Fires create a sphere of light that limits vision to within that sphere of light. We are blind outside of the sphere of light. Foregoing fires allows eyes to adjust to the falling darkness. The capacity of vision, of sight, and the things to be seen are amazing. After adjusting to natural darkness, artificial light will seem like an insult to your senses. Pick the right campsite, and remain quiet, and the natural equivalent of the "changing of the guard," takes place as day critters bed down and the night life comes out. This transition cannot be viewed from within the sphere of light.

This guide will be peppered with stories about nighttime in the High Sierras, and some of them should be yours.

I apply the same minimalist principal to tents as light. If we cannot see past the light of the fire, we have less to no chance to observe from within a tent. If no weather or mosquitoes are threatening I do not put up a tent. I have been known to tent up after a few nights exposed under the fullness of a bright moon, just for sufficient darkness to sleep.

Many consider fires and tents as indispensable parts of the camping experience. I do not. They are safety and social components in the backpacker's "toolbox."
I put social considerations into secondary position when traveling through nature. This is not to say that I am anti-social on the trail. Far from it. I am generally the most social long-distance backpacker on the trail. I pack extra food so that I can take the time to explore both the personality of the natural terrain, and the personalities of the fine people who travel through it.

But when I travel through, camp, or just sit quietly in a remote wilderness area, I want my mind tuned to, and reflecting the natural environment, and not the people around me. When an individual travels lightly and quietly, the things that walk, crawl, swim and fly do not easily notice our presence. This Summer I had a bobcat walk through the edge of my camp near the headwaters of the E fork of the Carson River. The bobcat was totally unaware of my  presence. This has happened with bears, birds, coyotes, and people. Groups will never have this happen, unless they are being targeted for food. The noise and bustle of a group would have warned off the bobcat long before anyone observed her.

Maybe I enjoy company more after not seeing anyone, or saying anything, for three days to five days. The longest I have gone without seeing anyone in the High Sierras is five days. This happens mostly in Winter, late Fall, and early Spring, when traffic in the Sierras goes way down as the depth of the snow rises.

This is not to say I condemn fires or company. I do not. I enjoyed two fires between Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney during the Summer of 2009. The first, when I shared a campsite with a USGS Small Mammal counting team in the Emigrant Wilderness near Latopie Lake. They were a great crew, and I still thank them for the shots!
That experience makes up a funny trail story, and explains why there was a fire at all, in that fire-restricted area. See the 1st night in the Emigrant Wilderness, further down the trail guide, for the story. The other fire I also shared with BUG, (Erin, snug as a bug in a rug, walking from Sonora Pass to Yosemite Valley-a break-then the JMT to Whitney. Erin! Did you do the whole trip?) and two late-season meandering Pacific Crest Trail hikers, CHILE AND PARTY DOG, know as the CHILE-DOG PCT HIKING TEAM.

Camp and Trail Skills

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Great Folks Everywhere

USGS Team, Erin, and fire at Latopie Lake. See the kid on the left in short sleeve cotton? That explains the fire! Emigrant Wilderness.		Chile and Party Dog, next to Forest Service Keyway fire pit that they well lit-up the night before. It was early, they were crashed, and I was out of there! Stubblefield Canyon, Yosemite.

Although I find that fires, tents, and people are distractions to the real point of backpacking deep into the High Sierras, I always have the ability to make a fire, put up a secure tent, and share a fine conversation, or a friendly campsite, meal, beverage, and a fire, with my fellow backcountry travelers.

What do you think about tents, fires, and group travel?

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Backpacking Trail Tip
Fires, Tents, and People in the High Sierras

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Hit up the Backpacker's Forum with your General wisdom
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Showers Lake Forum

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A crisp and clear sunrise over Showers Lake.

Nifty rock formation on the West shore of Showers Lake good for scrambling around. The trail down the ravine approaching the North Shore of Showers Lake lays on the other side of that great granite rock.

Does that not invite you to scramble over its nooks and crannies?

That's the big rock formation we noted when we emerged from the forests hiking South from the Schneiders Cow Camp trail junction to Showers Lake.

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South on the combined Pacific Crest, Tahoe Rim, and Tahoe Yosemite Trails.

Carson Pass on Highway 88 to the South.

We can also access Highway 89 by turning North at Meiss Cabin along the route of the TYT.

North to Echo Summit.

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(TEXT)
Attention Anglers!

This water is currently being managed with special regulations.

These Special regulations are listed below and are in the...California Freshwater Sports Fishing Regulations Handbook.

7.50(b)(111), Title 14, CCR

Upper Truckee River and tributaries...

July 1 through Sept 30, Only artificial lures with barbless hooks may be used.

Daily Bag and Possession Limit: 0.

California Department Fish & Game

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Fishing Showers Lake

As we hike South from Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney we will travel across a wide variety of vast drainages containing what seems to be endless webs of rivers, creeks, and lakes.

We will also travel across a wide range of fisheries. Some locations and fisheries are highly restricted, such as the Lahotan Trout in East Carson and related drainages in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Other fisheries are problematic remnants of earlier plantings that need to be fished out, to have the planted fish removed. Many of the fisheries in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are unique. Due to their isolation from others of their species, many Sierra trout have evolved unique sub species. Mountain Trout of the High Sierra. Everything up here's special...

Other areas are actively planted with trout, and you have excellent fishing. I say you because I don't fish. I stalk fish with a camera...

What I'm going to do for fishing spots is put a link up to the particular National Forest's Fishing Information for that fishing spot. For Showers Lake that's the Meiss Country Roadless Area in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

I also have transcribed copies of the Fish and Game fishing regulations for Showers Lake that were posted there in 2009. These are the fishing regulations for Showers Lake, and I doubt they will ever loosen up. I'd bet they are more likely to tighten up as water conditions tighten up in the Sierra.

Unfortunately, this link currently leads to no real fishing information. (Since updated to current fishing information) I have hopes it will... Thus I have posted images and transcribed the text of the fishing restrictions posted at Showers Lake, above.

For more and the latest fishing restrictions information call the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit at

(530) 543-2600

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Backpacking Trail Guide

North

Schneiders Junction
to
Showers Junction

Backpacking Trail Guide

South

Showers
to
Meiss Cabin