DISTANCE: 7km / 4.38 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 363m / 1192 ft.
TIME: 4:10
ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST
EL DORADO COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Iron Maiden: Remember Tomorrow
PHOTO ALBUM
MAP
The Shealor Lakes (one big one and one small one) are sparkling alpine gems of the Carson Pass area, just off of Highway 88, on the border of Amador and El Dorado Counties. An easy hike, family and dog friendly, takes you straight to the bigger of the two lakes, where an afternoon of picnicking, scrambling and exploring can be enjoyed. Camping overnight is also an option. This trail gives you the feeling of backcountry isolation at a pristine, alpine, granite bound lake, with minimal effort. This also make it very popular.
My little brother Axell needed a ride out to Jackson, our parents' house, to take care of some van business. I happily agreed to drive out him there, which resulted in me spending a few days on the "farm" (if you can have a farm of manzanita and poison oak), clearing brush, splitting wood, and sending long term vegetarian goals into the gutter. After two and half days of farm work, we decided to take a break and do our first Sierra hike of the season. Since it was already after lunch, we decided to do something short. First up on the menu for what would hopefully be an exhaustive program of Sierra summer hikes would be Shealor Lake, a childhood favorite. It was there that I had first discovered the joys of scrambling upon the sparkling granite, the crunch of trail beneath the boot, the rush of plunging into an alpine lake on a warm day, the aroma of incense cedar, pine, and juniper in the radiant sun.
We drove an hour up Highway 88 from Jackson, and upon arriving at the Shealor Lake Trailhead, found it greatly expanded! Since the last time I had been there, sometime in mid Y2K, it had been paved and doubled in size. And it was not empty on this fine Wednesday afternoon. Hiking didn't begin until 3:30PM, but luckily, there was an abundance of available daylight this time of year. And the trip down memory lane (trail) began! The Shealor Lake hike is an easy one, which is why our parents had liked to bring us here. Good for the kiddos and whatnot. It goes up and over a small ridge, and then down the other side, directly to the main lake. This time, Axell and I took a side trip to the high point of that little ridge, whereupon lies a picture perfect round boulder, and a stunning panorama from Thunder Mountain to the Crystal Range.
The trail down from the ridge top to the lake was, and still is, a bit hard to follow, winding through open granite shelves, through cascades of kitty litter rock sand, but it is well ducked, and one must simply pay attention to follow the correct path. We were down to the lake shore 45 minutes after starting out, and this time of year, to my delight, a seasonal waterfall cascaded down the cliff on the opposite side of the lake, a backdrop for the waterfowl that plied the glassy surface. The non empty parking lot had suggested a non empty backcountry experience, and we weren't surprised to find people camped around the lake. We circulated to a less popular side, and took a quick dip. Zuma the dog was having a field day, Axell got a leech, and there's a crafty handmade stone bench over there.
Hungry for exploration, and not content to simply hang out by the lake, as we did when we were children, we ascended a nearby granite ramp that had a seasonal creek cascading down it. This was my first time here in 20 years, and I was finally free to explore without limit. We went up and over the south-west ridge, to a little swampy lake, then went through some brush and down a light class three (Zuma managed somehow) scramble, to Little Shealor Lake, north-west of the main one. Another party had camped out here. We enjoyed the lake, tip-toed past the camp site, and got to what may have been the best part of the hike: a system of streams and waterfalls that poured out of the lakes, and into Tragedy Creek, as it raced down the canyon to eventually meet the Silver Fork American River. It was a fairyland of rushing water, prefect granite, and majestic pine trees. Hiking around the cowfields of the Bay Area all winter and spring had been nice, certainly, but this seemed like an earthly paradise in comparison.
We ascended through the waterworks, flush with snowmelt, through the giant boulders. Zuma had some nervous (whiny) moments at the creek crossings, but he pulled through. He's getting better! We circled around the north-east edge of the main lake again, and and rejoined the trail. Back up over the ridge, the remains of daylight illuminated Thunder Mountain and Silver Lake. We were back at the van by 7:39PM (still light out), and were back in Jackson in time for dinner... asparagus... mmmm...
FURTHER READING
•Hiking Project: A little blurb with map and elevation gain
•Weekend Sherpa: "Tahoe's Shealor Lake" (?)
•Kevin Gong: Mini report with good photos
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