Tahoe National Forest
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Little Bald Mountain Loop Tahoe National Forest |
July 31, 2025
At the Robinson Flat Trailhead
What's left of the local museum
Finding the trail
This Pearl Crescent will be a new addition to my butterfly page
Mule's Ears
Crimson Columbine
Giant Red Indian Paintbrush
Rose Meadowsweet
Arrowleaf Ragwort
Broadleaf Lupine
Chaparral Dodder
More climbing
The Tahoe Sierra Crest
Seaside Buckwheat (at least, that's what my phone says)
What a pose!
The cliff at the end of the ridge
These could be the most colorful rocks I ever saw
Zoom in on these images for best effect
"The horn"
The destination appears
"Are you sure that's as far as we are going?"
Inside the Duncan Peak Lookout
We actually are on top of Little Bald Mountain, but the lookout's name was retained when they moved it over here.
Cameras will replace the humans soon
French Meadows Reservoir
A great group shot
Ranger 'Duncan John' of the tall tales
The Five Stalwarts
Easy going on the shortcut back
§: Well, it's a shame that the ranger felt the need to fabricate so much
about his PCT exploits, because he otherwise had a lot of interesting stuff to tell
us and show us. Perhaps he habitually makes up stories for all of his visitors
in order to perpetuate a sort of "lonely career fire-watcher mystique".
In any case, rattlesnakes do not chase humans; in fact, they dread us more than we dread them. Also, you can walk faster than they can crawl. Perhaps John's "Brown Recluse Rattler" designation was an intentional clue as to the fictional nature of his prattling.
Also, four days later I realized that John had misidentified French Meadows Reservoir as Hell Hole Reservoir.
One question remains for Mary: Is it wise to trust John's trail advice?
Check out my original visit with Ranger John here: Hike #220 - Duncan Peak Lookout Loop
Note that the historical displays were in rather better condition twelve years ago.
