Loch Leven Lakes, Tahoe National Forest
June 2012
This trip started out spending the night at Donner Lake, compliments of the McCoy cabin. The next morning Darrell and Katrice met us at the trail head parking lot and we began our journey in search of High Loch Levin Lake. The hike began with a steady upward climb. Once we hit the railroad tracks, we realized we were off our trail mark. After dodging the oncoming train, Ernie diligently walked the train track in search of our trail. Success! We all followed down the track, hit the trail and began the steady upward climb, passing through patches of pine forest, negotiating large erratic boulders and scrabbling across exposed granite. The hike took us past Lower and Middle Loch Levin Lakes to the awesome High Loch Levin Lake, (elevation 6920) where we met up with Stacie and settled in for two nights. After lunch and a little rest, Darrell and Katrice headed back out. The rest of us were exhausted from the climb and eager to light a fire, sip some beverage and enjoy appetizers, dinner, and Phase 10. Early Saturday morning met us with rain. Thanks to Mike for putting up a tarp, we sipped coffee and stayed warm under the tarp. Mark and Stacie managed to get a fire going and the rain slowed to a drizzle by 1:00 pm. We played more Phase 10, collected wood and relaxed through the evening. Sunday we packed up and headed out, stopping in Truckee to enjoy Mexican food, beers and a mighty fine margarita! Elevation climb: 1265.