Two years ago I hiked to Tinker Knob but found no safe route to the summit. This was a bit frustrating, for I had stood atop the summit two or three times before. Today I returned and reached the top.
Tinker Knob is the core of an extinct volcano at the crest of the Sierra Nevada in Placer County. It sits along the Pacific Crest Trail, and is a popular hiking destination. The elevation is 8,949 feet. The slopes are rocky and steep. A short path from the Pacific Crest Trail reaches the base, then it splits into several paths. Only one (as far as I know) goes to the summit. Absent finding this path, scrambling is required to reach the top.
I departed the trailhead at Donner Pass at 6:20 AM, my destination about 7.5 miles away. I walked in solitude until 7:05, when I passed the first hikers, a father and his teenage son. Many trees on this first section of trail are bent at the base from the weight of deep snow on the steep slopes.
I reached the base of Mt. Lincoln at 7:55. The going would be fairly level from here to the approach of Anderson Peak. Patches of snow still blocked parts of the trail.
Tinker Knob came into view as I rounded Anderson Peak. By now I had passed about ten hikers who told me they were going the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada.
At 11:00 I was at the base of Tinker Knob. I took two paths that led to large rocks on steep inclines that I didn't want to tackle, then I saw a young couple taking a route that involved some scrambling. I followed them and was soon on the summit.
At the summit is a military ammunition can that holds small notebooks. In one notebook I found my entry for July 31, 2010: "Second time here. Great!" I signed in to the current notebook.
The couple I followed to the top stayed but a few minutes. I talked with a group of hikers who were at the top when I arrived. Soon we were joined by Rob, a man in his fifties who lives in nearby Truckee. He had been to Tinker Knob the previous Saturday, and he said he goes there several times a year. He had started his hike at Donner Pass, and would finish it at Squaw Valley.
A woman in the group did a yoga headstand.
Here are the sights from the summit. Rob said that on a clear day one can see the mountains of the Coastal Range across the Sacramento Valley. I told him that Tinker Knob can be seen from Iron Point, the starting point of Euchre Bar Trail, near Alta.
View west, the canyon of the North Fork American River
View north, the Pacific Crest Trail and Anderson Peak
View south, Lake Tahoe
With my Kenwood TH-F6 2-meter radio, I called the W6EK repeater in Auburn, and got a response from a ham operator in Winters. Later, at the base of Anderson Peak, I heard Richard WA6RWS on the repeater, and I made contact with him. Richard and I are members of the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club.
I met a man hiking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, having started in early May. He was checking the news on his smart phone. Reception on the trail is limited. He had last heard about the coup attempt in Turkey, but not that the coup had failed.
Thunderstorm approaching, view towards I-80 with Donner Lake to the right
Today I took a leisurely hike on the Pacific Crest Trail at Donner Pass, until an approaching thunderstorm made me decide to turn around, and then I took a very brisk hike back to my truck. Had I turned around ten minutes earlier, I would have driven home dry. I rate this hike as Interesting.
I hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail between Old Highway 40 and Interstate 80. This entire section is 2.6 miles long. The Highway 40 trailhead altitude is 7110 feet. The high point on the trail is 7331 feet and the low point is 6842 feet. Donner Pass gets a lot of recreational activity. There were many people about.
Donner Pass is named after the Donner Party. The emigrants were slow on their westward trek, and upon reaching the Sierra the snows were too deep to cross. They spent the winter in camp at the base of the mountains. Some resorted to cannibalism to survive.
This was my first hike on this section of the trail. Many times I've hiked the section of trail south from Donner Pass, some hikes all the way to Tinker Knob. Having hiked both sections, I found the south route to be more scenic, and the north route less strenuous.
I parked my truck in the large lot across from the trailhead, and in minutes I was on my way. I saw several climbers on the granite faces. Some were children with adults giving instruction. I had a grand view of the train snow sheds on the rail route carved out by Chinese laborers in the 1860s. This historic section was abandoned in 1993, after it was decided to run all trains through Tunnel 41, which was built in 1925. Now hikers and bicyclists go through the snow sheds and tunnels.
I shot this video of the snow sheds.
The trail wound up the mountainside. I met a man in his fifties hiking the length of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada. He said the remainder of his hike should take two months. Over the years I've talked with several hikers going the full trail, and never once have I asked them what they do for a living that allows them to take months off for the hike.
I reached the high point of the trail. I saw thunderclouds to the east and wondered whether I should turn around. No, keep going.
The trail went downhill, and I had good views of Interstate 80 in the distance. I passed a group of teenagers with some adults in charge. I think these were city kids getting a lesson on the outdoors. The coming thunderstorm would give them a real lesson.
I got to less than one-half mile of Interstate 80 when the sound of the thunder made me realize I needed to get back to my truck. I turned around. Soon I passed the group of teenagers. The clouds blotted out the sunshine and the thunder got louder. I reached the high point of the trail. This was exposed granite and all I could think of was a lightning strike. The wind was kicking up. I wound down the mountainside. The clouds now covered the peaks to the south.
Approaching thunderstorm at Donner Pass
I reached a small grove of pine trees just as the rain and hail began to fall. A group of teenagers (not the one I passed earlier) was taking shelter nearby under a tarp strung to the trees. I removed my nylon rain jacket from my Jansport pack and put it on. It would keep my upper body dry. The rest of me would get soaked. Up on the mountainside the group I passed earlier was coming down the trail. Lightning was hitting perhaps a mile away judging by the sound, and I thought about their safety in that exposed location. I looked about for shelter from the rain and hail. A downed tree some three feet in diameter lay atop another downed tree. I crawled under the trunk and curled into a ball, my back to the tree. That worked well. Other than being struck by lightning, I was most concerned about keeping my video camera dry. Now the hail was coming down heavy. The hail was BB size, too small for any damage. The group coming down the mountainside reached the grove of trees. They paused on the trail for a few minutes near me. All had a poncho or other rain clothing. They looked miserable. I thought they would seek shelter in the grove, but they continued on. We were about ten minutes from the parking lot.
I stayed under the tree trunk ten or fifteen minutes, the better part of the hail storm. When things let up a bit I decided to make my way to the truck. The hail had largely stopped but the rain could last for hours. Many parts of the trail were filled with ankle-deep water with hail floating on the top. My boots were soaked. My pants were soaked. The main thing on my mind was the lightning, but there were no strikes close enough to give me a scare.
I reached the group of teenagers with the adults in charge. The youths shuffled zombie-like in single file along the narrow trail. Not a smile on any young face. Nature isn't what you see on Dora the Explorer, kids. I passed them and a few minutes later I was at my truck. Small piles of hail covered the parking lot.
Two women hikers asked me for a ride to nearby Soda Springs. They were in their early twenties, one from San Diego and the other from Vail, Colorado. Both were hiking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail. One started in late April and the other in early May. After a few weeks of solo hiking they met up and agreed to stay together. Miserable from the hike in the rain and hail, they had reached the parking lot just as I was leaving. One had a package of hiking supplies waiting at the post office in Soda Springs, and they both wanted a good meal there, so they asked me for the ride. We had a nice talk on the drive of some five minutes to Soda Springs. I dropped them off and wished them a good hike.
Driving away, I thought, dang it, I didn't ask them what they did for a living that allowed them to take months off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
Heavy rain on Interstate 80 slowed westbound traffic to 40 mph. The skies cleared near the Highway 20 exit and traffic sped up. I was back in a parched land.
To mark the tenth anniversary of my open heart surgery, I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from Donner Summit to Tinker Knob, a round trip of 15 miles.
I departed the trailhead (elevation 7,063 feet) at nine o'clock. A pair of runners took off ahead of me. This is a popular trail. I would see a few runners, and many hikers, including a few people walking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada.
I've lost count of the number of times I've ascended the steep granodiorite face just beyond the trailhead. Sometimes I went to Donner Peak, other times to Mount Judah. A few times I went to Tinker Knob, elevation 8,949 feet. I know I've stood atop Tinker Knob twice. Maybe I've been atop it three times. I'd have to go through my journals to be certain. One thing I know - the camera has not been invented that captures the grandeur seen from the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
The trail in places is literally on the crest of the Sierra, rain on the west side of the trail flowing to the Pacific Ocean, rain on the east side flowing into the Great Basin.
Today I spoke with two women on solo hikes of the entire length of the trail. The first was an American, in her early thirties. Later I met a woman in her early fifties who spoke English with an accent, possibly Danish or Swedish. She said hiking the trail was the most incredible experience of her life. Over the years I've spoken with several women making a solo hike of the entire trail. I wonder how many were inspired by the book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.
I met a group of three men in their fifties, and spoke at length with one, a ham radio operator who inquired about the Kenwood TH-F6 radio attached to my Osprey pack. He said that this was the first day of a three week hike for his friends and him. They were hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Donner Summit to Yosemite. They were from Oregon and go on many long hikes throughout the Western United States.
Most of my hike was spent alone, my thoughts going here and there, while I took in the views around me.
I reached Tinker Knob around 12:30 PM. Tinker Knob is the core of an ancient volcano. I spoke briefly with a couple coming down from the summit. There is no marked route to the top. I tried to follow the couple's path to the top, but could not find a safe route. I looked about. Nothing looked certain. This is not a good place to suffer an injury. I decided it best to turn around.
I made two 2-meter contacts with my Kenwood radio from the crest, both with 5 watts of power. The first transmission was on the west side of Anderson Peak. I was just above the headwaters of the North Fork American River, and my signal bounced down the canyon walls to the W6EK repeater in Auburn, a distance of about 50 miles. I spoke with a man in Foresthill, and he said I was his first ham radio contact. I regret not writing down his call sign, but perhaps we will talk again. Later, between Tinker Knob and Anderson Peak, I again reached the W6EK repeater, this time talking with a fellow member of the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club. We switched to a simplex frequency, and my 5-watt signal made it some 75 miles to his house in Sacramento.
A strong breeze blew over the crest on the return hike, and the sun beat down, with the temperature about 85 degrees. (It was about 105 degrees in the Sacramento Valley). I was well-hydrated at the start of the hike. During the hike I went through 2.5 liters of water and 1 liter of Gatorade. Still, I was very thirsty on the last mile of the hike, and my thoughts turned to the cold beer in my refrigerator. I reached my vehicle at 4:45 PM, downed a half-liter of warm Gatorade, and headed home.
Approach to Tinker Knob, from the north
View from the east slope of Tinker Knob, to the south shore of Lake Tahoe
View west from the crest of the Sierra, between Tinker Knob and
Anderson Peak, to the canyons of the North Fork American River
