DATE: Sunday, July 5, 2020
LOVER'S LEAP / HOGSBACK
DISTANCE: 10.14 km / 6.3 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 479m / 1571’
TIME TAKEN: 3 hours
EL DORADO NATIONAL FOREST
ELDORADO COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Black Oak Arkansas: High On The Hog
SUMMITS:
•Lover’s Leap: 2,117m / 6944’
•Hogsback: 1,926m / 6320’
PHOTO ALBUM
MAP
I was a little tired out from yesterday’s epic trip to Pyramid Peak, and it had been party time in Kyburz Camp last night, with my brother Axell and his girlfriend showing up to hang out. So I really didn’t get an early start this day. No one wanted to go with me, so I took one of the two available vehicles to the Lover’s Leap Trailhead, determined to keep exploring the features around the area while I had the convenient home base of Kyburz. Lovers Leap is best known as a rugged cliff, training ground for technical rock climbers, handily located as a nice day trip from Sacramento. Lacking the kinds of skills needed to climb up the famous front, I was going, naturally, the easy way. From Kyburz it was Highway 50 East to the 42 Mile Stone Road near Strawberry, through the summer cabins, along the dusty dirt Strawberry Creek Road to the trailhead, where I arrived just before 1PM. The trail was signed, obvious and well trodden, also, dusty and hot on this July afternoon. Up through the pines I went, planning on making a tidy loop of the whole thing. I reached the top of the Lovers Leap cliff in about 35 minutes, and took in the expected sweeping views of Highway 50 below, Pyramid Peak, etc. There were a moderate amount of hikers about, but not as bad as I was expecting for a holiday weekend. I went off the top of the cliff area, continuing on the trail first east, then north, back down into the pine forest, and got down to the bottom, at the Pony Express Trail, just after two PM. Now west on the Pony Express Trail, but not for too long, because I soon broke off to go up and over the Hogsback formation, a picturesque granite ridge that sits in the shadow of Lover’s Leap, to the north.
It was nice to finally get up close and personal with these big rocks that I had seen so many times, driving by on Highway 50. Even if the traverse of Hogsback from the NE to the SW isn’t anything super special, just class 2 on nice rock, don’t forget you also get the best possible view of Lover’s Leap. Coming off the SW end of Hogsback, I came to the crux of the day, with a surprise class 3 downclimb, then it was through some mild brush, and back to the Pony Express Trail. I made a quick stop at Strawberry Lodge along the way to see if the bar would sell me a bottle of bourbon to go (no dice). So, it was back on the the trail, er, road actually, a thing called Strawberry Lane that took me along the quaint vacation homes by the river, to the end of civilization, where a fortunate connector trail took me through the woods and back to the dirt road where I has parked. Now back to Kyburz. Once back at camp, I can only imagine I treated myself to some kind of late lunch, but I don't remember.
SUGARLOAF
DISTANCE: 2.33km / 1.45
ELEVATION GAIN: 402m / 1319 ft.
TIME TAKEN: 1:24
SUMMIT: 1533m / 5030’ (reached?)
EL DORADO NATIONAL FOREST
ELDORADO COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Def Leppard: Pour Some Sugar On Me
Eventually cut through the laze and haze of a summer late afternoon, and set out for an early evening hike down the road, my brother Axell joining me this time, now to have a look at the local formation known as Sugarloaf. Now, there are many rock formations and hills in the world known as Sugarloaf, and some of them look like sugarloafs, but this one most certainly does not. Like Lover’s Leap, here we have another rock climber’s mecca, which, as usual, shall be attempted to be climbed by me the easy way. We waked down the highway from Kyburz to Sugarloaf at about 7PM, still plenty light out, found the unmarked trail by the roadside and went up. Very soon entered an area strewn with large boulders, climber’s trails crisscrossing every which way among them. Not a climber to be seen, however.
We stuck generally to the west / left and easily made our way to the base of the big rock. Then north, around the back of the granite sentinel, where there’s said to be the easiest ascent of the thing. Scrambling on the rocks, which got into class 3 territory, we got within about 15 feet of the top, then ran out of skills. But a nice hike and granite scramble, cool views of the sunset light on the hills, Now 8PM, we descended, this time along the east side of Sugarloaf, where there is actually a better trail to get down. Back into the jumble of big boulders and climber’s trails. Back through the woods in the deepening twilight, to relax, dine and drink one last night of the 4th of July holiday at the Kyrburz camp.
FURTHER READING
•Alltrails: Lovers Loop, like what I did, but without Hogsback
•Hiking Project: Another Lovers Leap hike
•Lover's Leap on SUMMITPOST and PEAKBAGGER
•Hogsback on PEAKBAGGER
•Sugarloaf on PEAKBAGGER
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