Climbing a low ridge South of the Big Meadow trail junction we see fine granite slabs making up the ridgetop to our West.

To our West the geology and terrain is Granite, to our East it is Volcanic.

We are sitting astride this wandering interface.

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South Upper Truckee to Meiss Meadow

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South of Big Meadow Trail Junction
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Round Lake

Over the short .58 of a mile separating the Big Meadow trail junction from Round Lake we climb and drop over a couple of low ridge arms composed of granite to our Right (West) and volcanic terrain to our East. The exact position of this interface can be obscured by the deep soils and thick forest filling this narrow little valley, though it is apparent volcanic terrain thickens to the East and the granite to the West.

We make our final ascent to the top of the last rise and begin the short descent to Round Lake before we get our first views of Round Lake through the trees, and realize we are finally descending to our destination for tonight's campsite. The thick forest wrapping around the Northeast corner of Round Lake, where the trail coming South from both the South Upper Truckee and Big Meadow trailheads approach obscures views of the lake until we are almost on it.

Look to your Right descending to Round Lake. First, we will see a campsite. It's kind of hidden from the trail, but we can see it across a fallen tree between two low rises in the terrain. Next, we will see a trail branching off to the West, our Right, when we reach lake level. This trail leads along the North Shore of Round Lake to the check dam past campsites along the ridge rising above the North shore of Round Lake, and this trail also leads to the rather large improved campsite we observed while hiking down the last bit of trail approaching Round Lake.

Though the steepest part of the trail coming up from the South Upper Truckee is now behind us, and the steepness and difficulty had already moderated by a degree when we hiked South of the Dardanelles Lake trail junction, we are still getting worked hiking up to Round Lake, though just not as hard as when backpacking up the lower section of the trail.

Though the total elevation rise between the Big Meadow trail junction and Round Lake is only 160 feet, we hike up this distance of elevation a couple of times as we climb up and down the low ridges between the Big Meadow junction and Round Lake.

The steady climb of the trail up from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead moderated into a rolling-rising terrain, even opening up a bit more after the Big Meadow trail junction. Here at Round Lake the surface of lake itself has forced the dense forest to open up enough allowing us get fine views of the lake, the towering volcanic features rising above the East shore of the lake, and the low granite wrapping around the South and West shores of this pretty little lake.

To our South we can see the South end of the Tahoe Rim rising above what we know is Meiss Meadow.

Contribute comments, questions, and bits of your experience hiking through here on the Trails Forum for this segment of the trail through the Dardanelles Lake and Big Meadow trail junctions, and its Comments Feature.

How do you enjoy this place?

Over a Ridge

Though the thick forests and deep valleys make it more difficult to get long views across the Meiss Roadless Area, the boundary between the Granite and Volcanic terrain will be a striking and continuous theme as we backpack the High Sierra Trails from Lake Tahoe to South of Mammoth Lakes.

Sweet granite sheet composing the ridge descending Westward.

Our route South moves to the Left, South towards Round Lake, crossing the top of the ridge.

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Everything is painted with life's brush.

South of Big Meadow Trail Junction
Approaching the Last Ridge to Round Lake

Composite Boulder Garden

Coming off the South side of a low ridge wedged across our path as we continue climbing up the canyon from the Big Meadow trail junction, we drop into the unique environment created by the composite boulder garden pictured below.

To our West-Southwest (Right) we can see the channel of the tributary we've been more-or-less following up the mountain from the South Upper Truckee trailhead bending off to our Right into a deep gully, while directly ahead of us to the South we see the unusual garden of composite boulders pictured below.
In the image below we have just passed South of where the creek cuts Right.

This is where we part company with the main body of the creek we've followed up from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead, by hiking South, straight into the rock garden.

In the image below notice the steep flank rising on the Right side of the image. That ridge wraps around the North shore of Round Lake. Our route bends us to the Southeast, meaning we will exit this boulder garden out of the far Left of the image, where we can see the ridge dropping to the gap we are shooting for, beyond which lays Round Lake.

We are climbing up to the easiest way to the lowest spot between the ridge to our Right and the great volcanic features towering above our Left flank.

Terrain

The harsh Red Rock of the volcanic remnants is beautifully contrasted by the sensual contours of the steel gray granite as we begin hiking along the boundary between these two very different terrains. The Sierra can be a study of contrasts.

Though the terrain is "opening up" a bit, it is still a bit claustrophobic in here. Our route following the tributary up the mountain has been shaded under dense forests squeezed into the narrow space between the tightly-spaced ridges rising bracketing the banks of the creek. We've been stressed by the steepness of traversing up their flanks, while being essentially kept on track by the narrowness of the valley, at least during Winter.

The terrain finally begins to open up a bit above the Dardanelles Lake trail junction, and even more passing the Big Meadow trail junction. This trend continues at Round Lake, which sits at the top, and end of, the narrow channel we hiked through up from the trailhead. Though the lake is "cozy," in that it is situated under a massive volcanic cliff formation rising above its East shore, while the rest of the lake is encircled by dense forest and pleasing granite formations, we can finally see some details of the broader configuration of the terrain surrounding us, here where the encircling arms of the Tahoe Basin mountain ranges converge at the Carson Gap.

Arriving at Round Lake we can finally see the ridgeline making up the Southern extent of the Tahoe Basin rising in the Southern distance above the forests surrounding Round Lake. Our knowledge that Meiss Meadow wraps around the base of the Southernmost corner of the Tahoe Rim above us gives us an excellent understanding of how much further we have to hike to get to Meiss Meadow, and how much higher that hike will bring us on our way over the gap in the Tahoe Rim to get out of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

We'll cross that gap when we get to it. In the meantime, Round Lake has given us our first good vantage point looking South since starting out of the South Upper Truckee Trailhead. This view gives us some context on our upcoming trails.

Looking South from Round Lake reveals the high point we will be climbing over to exit the Tahoe Basin, as well as giving us a pretty good idea about the much shallower angle of our upcoming climb will be compared to our freeking steep hike up here from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead.
Everything we hike South of Round Lake in the Meiss Country Roadless Area is significantly easier than our hike up to Round Lake, including our upcoming hike out of the Tahoe Basin via Meiss Meadow and the Carson Gap.

View of our position here at Round Lake from above and to the West
Let's get some Context
Take a look down into Christmas Valley, at our current position, from the Tahoe Rim South of Echo Summit. Vantage points overlooking Christmas Valley from South of Echo Summit gives us the perspective necessary to see how Christmas Valley splits into granite terrain on its West side and volcanic on its East. Yes, we've investigated it from down here at ground level, but a good "bird's eye" view gives a broader context to the situation.

Check out this Winter video of the final leg of Navigation up to Round Lake from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead.

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Composite Boulder Gardens

Above and below
Hiking South through the last flat before our last little climb to Round Lake.

If we follow the seasonal creek, which cuts off to our Right, to the Southwest just before the point pictured above, we will end up at Round Lake's check dam.

I've hiked that way up to Round Lake during Winter, after first making sure there was no avalanche danger off the big ridge making up the South side of the gully twisting its way up to the check dam.

This is not a great way in when devoid of snow. The snow of Winter covers the brush filling the gully during Summer, making it passable. Not just passable, but a real sweet route decorated with features you can only see during Winter.

Otherwise it'd be a real nightmare to pass.

This is very a very rough environment for Summertime cross country travel that opens up during Winter.

Composite rocks, likely remnants of ancient lahars that flowed over a rather large section of the Northeast Sierras.

These particular composite boulders are interesting because they are typical of the composite boulders here. They are mostly composed of fine small stones held together by a weak cement-like material.

This differs considerably from the dense composite boulder we encounter on the East shore of Round Lake. The very different densities of the volcanic material holding these composite boulders together, and the very different types of rocks swept up by the formation of these two examples of local composite boulders, make them almost exact opposites.
The material of the composite boulder on the East shore of Round Lake is dense, thick, and enduring. It captured large rocks whole as it flowed.
On the other hand, the majority of the weak-cement boulders we are walking through pictured above and below are composed of much smaller stones, and are held together by a much less dense "granular" volcanic material which resembles a weak, faulty mixture of watery cement. And, this cement-like material weathers much the same way we see weak human-made cements weather.

The weak-cement consolidated boulders are composed of thousands of small and medium size rocks, apparently swept up by the violent power when these great volcanic lahars that originally formed them roared down Christmas Valley.
The dense consolidated boulders contain large rocks, being almost devoid of the smaller gravel typical of the composite boulders held together by "granular cement."

These two very different types of volcanic composite boulders are located in very close proximity to each other, and to the granite terrain to our West.

This configuration challenges imagination and intelligence.

The evidence indicates that a series of lahars of very different characters, and likely different heat and density levels, flowed through this ancient canyon during the series of violent volcanic events that marked the end of the last ice age.

It is likely that this valley, who's present configuration we now call "Christmas Valley," was completely filled by a series of massive volcanic lahars flooding through here over time. The different characters of the composite boulders tumbling off the stratified-layers of "composite" cliffs rising above Round Lake indicates that the flows through here had a wide range of characters caused by both different densities of flowing materials at different temperatures over a significant period of time.

What a pretty puzzle this Earth is.

Differences in the composite boulders we see show that different flows sometimes deposited layers of completely different characters and compositions. This is apparent as composite boulders with different types of cement holding differing content break off the volcanic cliffs towering above, and roll through the forests below. We should consider this threat the same way we consider the threat from falling snags, as we select our Round Lake campsite.

Once we get to Round Lake we will be able to make out some of the details of the layers making up the volcanic features towering above the East shore of Round Lake.

Some flows were of dense "classic" volcanic lava, though it appears these dense flows were heated to a level of plasticity cooler than "classic" liquid lava, as indicated by the whole rocks still visible in the composite boulder on the East shore of Round Lake. The large rocks it picked up were not melted into the flow, but picked up whole and embedded into the dense material basically undamaged.

We can easily imagine that the lahars which created the less-dense granular cement-like composite boulders flowing down Christmas Valley as great surging rivers of hot volcanic debris with the consistency of a weak, watery cement. I picture these events as being akin to the liquid-like lahars we saw after Mount Saint Helens exploded.
These "watery" flows sucked up every small rock and pebble in the valley, polished the hell out of them, then froze them in great depths of weak volcanic terrain that is, and was highly susceptible to erosion. The granular cement binding the resulting volcanic "rock" together is "soft" over the span of a geological time-frame, and quickly erodes away.

The great red volcanic features slowly rose on the East flank of Christmas Valley as the forces of erosion cut through and cleared the center of the valley of its volcanic filling. All the composite boulders we are seeing have subsequently tumbled off the crumbling volcanic features rising above the East flank of Christmas Valley. The volcanic terrain that originally filled Christmas Valley up to the the height of the tops of the volcanic cliffs towering above us was long ago cut and swept away by the inextricable forces of erosion and life, which are continuing this process today.

We are just one perspective, at one point in time, looking a constantly changing trail that our observations indicate has had a very long trajectory. We try to get our best insights into its past and future by studying the dynamics of its current status as closely as possible. Isn't that why we are here? To reflect the beauty of the reality around us, at least?

The more common and widely distributed granular cement composite boulders indicate watery-cement lahars were much more common than the classic "lava-style" flows which produced the much less-widely distributed hard rock composite boulders.

I have an enduring mental image of great volcanic activity percolating under the massive ice cap of the last glacial age topping the Sierra. Imagine the mess when a series of volcanic eruptions under this massive ice cap blew.

The lahar flows must have been monumental, judging by the remnants we observe.

The present shape and composition of Christmas Valley, the beauty we are experiencing here, had first been cut by these ice age glaciers, which was then refilled by these ancient floods of volcanic material, and again re-cut by water, this time by the long term geological force of erosion.

The slow but inextricable force of erosion re-cut the South Upper Truckee drainage since the last wave of volcanic eruptions filled it with volcanic debris. It seems this erosion has revealed some of the original granite contours cut by the ice, but now modified, really "re-ccontexted," by the massive remnants of this profound set of eruptions.

We can still see hundreds of feet of volcanic material atop buried granite.
Erosion has cut through and swept away much of the evidence of these ancient volcanic catastrophes from the center of this and many Sierra Canyons, here leaving great tottering red spires and the crumbling burnt-red faces rising on the East flank of Christmas Valley as a dramatic reminder of the overwhelming power of the intertwined ancient and contemporary forces of vast weather changes (ice ages), vulcanism, and erosion.

The composite rock gardens we are backpacking through have all fallen off the crumbling volcanic formations rising precipitously over the Eastern wall of Upper Christmas Valley above us. I imagine the top of these formations was once the floor of the valley here, after the last series of widespread eruptions ended, before the timeless forces of erosion began to wash away all the soft volcanic materials in its path.

Great pieces of the remaining volcanic material still break off the towering volcanic cliffs and spires above us on a regular basis as the forces of erosion continue to undermine them. These composite boulders tumble down onto our trail, as seen above and below, and into the campsites around the East shore of Round Lake like geological time bombs-capsules crashing down to remind us that the ancient and enduring violence continually carving beauty onto the face of the Earth are still operating.

That's why I rarely camp on the East shore of Round Lake.

Today we watch as the weak cement material holding together the vast majority of the composite boulders sitting in the valley rapidly melts away. As the weak cement holding together these vast boulders composed of thousands of tiny stones and pebbles wears away the final dissolution of the cement binding them together releases great piles of tiny stones and pebbles into the terrain.

Each composite boulder falling off the towering cliff above eventually delivers a truckload of gravel and small rocks into Christmas Valley.

Rocks in Our Head
Soon we will be able to look at certain configurations of piles of smooth stones and gravel sitting in the middle of a dense forest, and be able to see in our mind's eye the composite boulder that melted away over thousands of years to deposit that pile of rocks there. This knowledge will cause us to look up and know we will see the volcanic face where the now-missing composite boulder broke loose.

Seeing that composite boulder's birthplace informs us that our current position would, at one time, have put us at the bottom of an ancient flood of volcanic debris hundreds of feet deep flowing down Christmas Valley. We are standing at the bottom of an ancient line of "volcanic flooding" that covered, destroyed, and created miles and miles of Sierra Crest terrain.

The Sierra Nevada is a pretty puzzle.

Backpacking brings us to moments of experiencing, observing, and participating in the timeless dynamic relationship between the forces of nature that engendered our minds, bodies, and the environment we inter-operate within. Backpacking puts the fundamental mental skills we are endowed by nature with, our observation, analysis, and decision making back into engagement with the natural environment that created them.

Likewise our bodies. Both mind and body were made by nature to engage nature. When successful, we are a reflection of the physical aspects, as well as reflecting the grand beauty and spirit of life in nature. The only church I go to requires a backpack to enter.

Our current position observing the natural process that created the beauty of this densely forested Sierra valley are but as a series of points looking down the path of the ever evolving forces that created, destroyed, and finally recreated this valley. It is our understanding that organizes and gives meaning to, or removes the meaning from, this grand mechanism of life and beauty in active operation around us.

The real point of backpacking is to draw out our fundamental abilities to observe, reflect, and engage this force of life and beauty without getting knocked-off by its destructive aspects.

It's a generator of physical, mental, and spiritual context.

We each decide where we put ourselves within this context, with or without our backpack.

My campsite selections here are conditioned, contexted, by my knowledge of the slow motion avalanche that's under way as the volcanic features above us slowly break down over geological time scales. This is the practical application of the knowledge that the presence of these composite boulder gardens reveal. I camp on the North shore of Round Lake.

Backpacking through nature is better than any movie or play. It offers long, amazing pieces of time-lapse photography that only play on the screen of our mind's eye.

The limits of your backpacking trip are the limits of your perception.

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Composite Boulders

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Reference
A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide to The Sierra Nevada,
by Stephen Whitney, Sierra Club Books, SF, 1979.

High Sierra Geological Links

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Making our way South through a field of composite boulders that are slowly melting into great piles of rock and gravel as the weak cement binding them together erodes away.

The rocks making up the boulders are not going anywhere soon. The cement holding them into boulders is rapidly wearing away.

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Note the piles and scatterings of loose stones remaining after the cement holding together the composite boulders has weathered away.

All of these composite boulders are in the process of melting into piles of stones. The weak cement  holding the stones together is weathering away.

Imagine volcanic eruptions up and down the Eastern Sierra Flank and Crest big enough to produce lahars capable of burying great granite Sierra peaks while filling the valleys between them.

All flows subsequently hardened and erosion and weathering began working over thousands of years to finally erode away and expose the buried ancient granites below, simultaneously carving the great volcanic spires that rose as the valley was re-sculpted by erosion.

Today we see these composite boulders at the last stage of their lives, being the last contribution of these ancient volcanoes to the composition of Christmas Valley. As the composite boulders disappear they leave nothing more than odd piles of stones along our trail.

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Composite Boulders

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Composite Boulder Fields

Also check out the field of composite boulders off the South Flank of Reynolds Peak along the Pacific Crest Trail route between Carson and Ebbetts Passes in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

And the composite boulders along Silver Creek on the North side of Tyron Peak in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.

Looking at the various composite boulders we encounter backpacking down the Sierra Crest makes us aware of subtle differences between each area's terrain. The weak cement holding them together varies slightly, the type of rocks they swept up changes from area to area, and the life span of individual composite boulders is affected by the exposure they experience after calving off from their source-cliffs.

Above we saw an active source of composite boulders: the Round Lake Pinnacle.

The Round Lake Pinnacle also serves as a Winter navigation landmark as well as a source of geological information.

Though the steepest part of the trail coming up from the South Upper Truckee is behind us, the trail having moderated South of the Dardanelles Lake trail junction, we are still getting worked hiking up to Round Lake, though just not as hard as the lower section of the trail.

The steady climb of the trail up from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead has moderated into a rolling-rising terrain, opening up a bit after the Big Meadow trail junction.

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Last Ridge South to Round Lake
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Round Lake

Climbing the low ridge South of the Boulder Garden pictured above we're making our final ascent to the top of the last rise, over the last ridge between us and Round Lake.
We're halfway down the South side of this short descent before we get our first views of Round Lake through the trees, and realize we are finally descending to Round Lake. The thick forest wrapping around the Northeast corner of Round Lake obscures the lake until we are quite close to it.

Well, at least until we become familiar with the terrain. This is a great place to get to know. The trail up from the South Upper Truckee is not too long, but its course is packed with detail, and it is steep. The dense mixed forest, the variety of terrains, and the close-in nature of the terrain makes this a special place worth spending the time and energy to familiarize yourself with.

Look to your Right descending to Round Lake. First, we will see a campsite. It's kind of hidden from the trail, but we can see it across a fallen tree between two low rises in the terrain. Next, after hiking down to Round Lake we see a trail branching off to the Right when we reach lake level. This trail leads around the North Shore of Round Lake to the check dam, past a series of nice campsites. These campsites are tucked into folds in the ridge running East and West above the North shore of Round Lake.
To our Left the trail continues South up to Meiss Meadow and Meiss Cabin along the East shore of Round Lake.

Reaching the high point of the ridge around the North shore of Round Lake we have a short hike down to the Lake.

That's a segment of the trail melting through the snow.

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Round Lake's soft-frozen surface appears through the trees.

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Last steps through the trees to Round Lake.

This rock on the Northeast corner of Round Lake always melts out if subjected to enough sunlight during Winter. It will stay under snow after storms and cold temps, but melts out as soon as the sun comes out.

During perfect camping conditions a snow flat perfect for sleeping wraps around rocks exposed for seating, cooking, and general camp duties.

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View South across the East shore of Round Lake. This is the direction of the trail South to Meiss Meadow, and towards our exit from the Lake Tahoe Basin through the Carson Gap.

We can see where the Tahoe Rim begins lowering to the Carson Gap, from Right to Left, along the ridgeline on the horizon.

Though hard to distinguish, the furthest peak on the far Left of the ridgeline is actually Round Top, sitting outside of the Tahoe Basin. The peak to its Right is closer to us, being part of the Tahoe Rim, and we can make out the faint line of the ridge running to its Left in front of Round Top.

We will exit the Tahoe Basin over the low point of that ridge.

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Snow Backpacking in the High Sierra

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Light Rains and heavy Mists.

Looking at the great volcanic features composing the East side of Christmas Valley above Round Lake. This great volcanic feature is the source of the composite boulders.

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Bathed in Twilight from campsite near check-dam.

The soft glow of the sunset on the rock got me up and out of camp to shoot this, and the pictures below.

Round Lake Pinnacle bathed in twilight glow: A sure Landmark for Round Lake from Echo Summit above, to the Tahoe Basin down in Meyers, up to Meiss Meadow.

Notable feature overlooking Round Lake, both for its beauty, its role as a four-season Landmark, as well as for its constant contributions to the vast field of massive composite boulders littering its base.

Maybe that's why I always camp on the North, rather than East side, of Round Lake. This sucker is coming down! Granted, it is coming down in a Geological Time Frame, but it is coming down nonetheless.

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Rock.

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The instability of the structure is plainly visible in this shot. This explains all the boulders at its base.

The diagonal seam along the Right side presages a major rockfall.

Ka-Boom!

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Composite Pinnacle with Composite Boulders it has shed litter its base.

Many roll down towards the lake taking down swaths of forest on their way.

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Lake and Shadow foreground.

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The same features that make Round Lake cool in the Summer makes it cold during Winter. Winter 2001.

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Another beautifully cold Winter Sunset at Round Lake.

I used the snow berm above as wind shield for my camp.

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I use the tent as my pillow in case anything bad blows in during the night. Otherwise I throw down the pad.

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Nice melted spot provides kitchen and kick-back capabilities.

No bear container to protect food during early March, but note the rock hanging off the line on the Right side of the image.

Two groups of coyotes howled themselves together during the course of the night, meeting over on the South shore of Round Lake. They moved over to where the trail up from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead reaches the lake as the night progressed.

I don't worry too much about coyotes, but I pull my food up high enough they can't jump for it, if they come sniffing around as I sleep.

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Backpacking Trail Guide

North

Big Meadow Trail Junction

Backpacking Trail Guide

South

More Round Lake