Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Sardine Lakes, Calif - Saturday, 25 Sep 2021. 3:30pm.

Once you've been to the top of a mountain, what do you do next? Would you believe, look up at it from the bottom again? After driving most of the way up Sierra Buttes, hiking the last bit including 150 or so stairs stairs to the Sierra Buttes fire lookout and coming back down, we decided we hadn't had enough of the Sierra Buttes for the day. We drove back down the ridge and around to the Sardine Lakes.

Now, Lower Sardine Lake is an easy drive-to spot. There's a paved road right up to it. There's even a small resort there, with cabins, boat rentals, and a small restaurant. Resorts really aren't our thing, though. We drove straight past the little resort onto a rocky 4x4 trail and made the trek up to Upper Sardine Lake.



There's no up resort here. Just all of nature. And plenty of places to hike where there's barely even a trail.

We climbed up a low ridge below the foot of Upper Sardine Lake. From here we could see down to Lower Sardine Lake.



You can see a small beach at the far end of Lower Sardine Lake. That's where that little cabin-y resort is. They'll rent you a kayak down there. You want a kayak up here? You damn well have to carry it.

We climbed down the ridge to the shore of Upper Sardine Lake and sat there for a while. On a rock. Just us and nature.

When we had our fill we went back to the car for the slow ride down the rocky trail.



In beauty I walk. And drive.

Sierra Buttes, Calif - Saturday, 25 Sep 2021. 1pm.

After climbing the metal catwalks and stairways anchored into the rock atop Sierra Buttes I made one final climb: up the stairs of the fire lookout tower itself. The lookout hasn't been staffed for quite some time AFAIK— which is kind of ironic given a) the number of fires burning in California the past few years, and b) the fact it's smoky right now— but the catwalk around the perimeter of the tower is at least open to visitors to climb up for the 360° views.



My favorite view is the one to the northeast, looking over the Sardine Lakes, Upper and Lower. They're in the middle of the picture. That tiny lake off to the right is Volcano Lake. These are just a few of the many lakes dotting this area I call the Gold Lakes Basin. Why gold? Well, the biggest lake in the basin is named Gold Lake. It likely got its name from an era in the late 1800s when gold was discovered in the exposed rock of these spires. At one point there were over a dozen active mining claims on this mountain. I don't think any have been active for 100 years now.



The view to the southeast is fun, too, looking over the tops of the other spires of Sierra Buttes. This is one of the angles where you can really see the extent of smoke in the air.



Smoke is a big factor in the view to the southwest, too. The deep valley here leads down out of the Sierras, past the gold rush town of Downieville. This view is one of those Vertical Mile views: a place where you can see lands differing in elevation by more than a mile (5,280' / 1.6km).

Keep reading: There's more to see on the way down!

Saturday, 25 Sep 2021. 12:15pm.

On our trip to Sierra Buttes today we drove most of the way. ...No, I don't mean just the fact that we drove about 50 miles from Truckee to the base of Sierra Buttes this morning. We actually drove most of the way up the buttes, too. Since our first visit here almost 25 years ago, when we hoofed it up a climb of almost 3,000', we've learned where paved roads and 4x4 trails are that can take us virtually all the way to the top.



Here's a photo from a stop at the shoulder of Sierra Buttes. It's approximately elev. 7,900'. From here it's still quite a climb to the summit at 8,591'. The view out over the distance shows how much climbing we've already saved.

That small lake in the foreground is Young America Lake. Though it's a steep drop below our feet from this viewpoint it's actually very high up on the mountain. You can't even see it from points below. In fact you can't even see it from a few hundred meters to either side; other ridges block it. It's like a secret lake you get only at this spot.

A certain number of 4x4ers know how to get to this point. Today we saw 6 other rigs here. Hikers and bicyclists huffing and puffing up the foot trail stared at the coterie of vehicles parked here like alien life forms. But this isn't the end of the road. There's still more climbing we can let our SUV do for us.



I know from hiking all the way to the top a few times that technically we could drive to the point where the trail ends and ladders begin. I also know that it's narrow up there and there's room for, like, one car. So we stopped here about 1/4 mile down the trail where there's still room for another vehicle to pass us. I've never seen another 4x4 up this far, though. Dirt bikes, yes; four-wheelers, no.

This isn't just a good place to park the car, it's also a worthy place to get out and look around. After all, the specialness of Sierra Buttes isn't just being at the top; it's everything about getting there, too.



As the trail rises to our right, off to the left is a great view on its own. This is one of the lower spires of the Sierra Buttes. We hadn't really thought about climbing it, but a pair of hikers standing at the top today show that exactly that is possible. (BTW, we later saw them struggling to get down without slipping; that dampened our desire to go up there.)



Pivoting back around from the lower butte on the right shows again how high up we are. Down below in the distance are Lower Sardine Lake and Upper Sardine Lake. The first time we hiked up here, around 25 years ago, we started from near the lower lake. You can see some of trail climbing the first ridge above the lakes. That's how much huffing and puffing we've saved with this 4x4 drive!

In beauty I walk.... Even the parts I drive.

But we're not all the way there yet. Stay tuned!

Next entry: Stairway to Heaven

This weekend is our anniversary. Hawk and I have been together for 27 years, officially married for 15 of them. We're celebrating with a quick weekend trip. Tonight we'll drive up to Truckee, California.

"WTF is Truckee?" you might ask. "Do you drive there in your caree on the roadee?" Well, the town's name is derived from that of a  native Paiute chief and spelled phonetically in frontier English. It has nothing to do with trucks. But more to the point, Truckee is a town just over the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It's an excellent jumping-off point to Lake Tahoe to the south and the Gold Lakes Basin to the north. We'll spend the weekend hiking out there.

This trip also has a special relevance to the occasion. We were hiking in the Gold Lakes Basin when we decided to get married, and we were staying in Truckee that weekend. This weekend we'll even stay at the same hotel!