Sun Rock - Stopgap in the Desolation Wilderness

Recently I discovered that the 4 peaks of the extended Crystal Range north of Rockbound Pass (Red -, Silver -, McConnel - and Tells Peak) have a relatively short access from west. The so-called "Ice House Road" from Kyburz to Loon Lake is a regular asphalt road and supposedly plowed all winter long too. The minor single lane asphalt road to Tells Creek Camp then offers a rather good starting point to these mountaintops, accessible with a non 4 wheel drive car. So far I thought, not owning a 4WD vehicle would not allow access for me from the west side of this range to these peaks but needed to be climbed from south, east or north, requiring a lengthy approach and would not be feasible for me as a day-hike. However, I found well described directions on Pete Yamagata's pages on how to get to the "Tells Peak Trailhead" with my low clearance 2WD car.

So on this day I planned to climb Tells Peak with my snow shoes, but failed due to an outdated map and the lack of properly preparing this hike. After giving up on Tells Peak about 1/3rd up the mountain, I looked for another peak to climb and found the close-by "Sun Rock" which served as stopgap and made sure I didn't have to return home without having at least climbed a named peak on the map :-)

Thanks to the Pete's directions, I easily find the one lane road about 21.7 miles north of Highway 50 which would lead me to the Tells Creek Trail Head. The short and actually sufficient description of the approach is to drive a little more than 21 miles on Ice House Road from Highway 50 to get to this small road leading to the Tell's Creek Trailhead. However, as Pete mentioned in his directions, this road is not plowed in the winter time. Since the snow on the road is not too bad, I start driving towards the trail head anyway. About 2/3 of the way there, I have to admit that under these wintry conditions, it doesn't make sense for me to go any further without a 4 Wheel Drive vehicle. I park my car on a little turnout and walk the rest of the way to the trailhead. From there I follow the Highland Trail for almost 1.5 miles to a clearing in the forest with a weather station. I quickly check my map and gps and notice that I must have missed a turn off about 1/4 of a mile before, because the trail is supposed to cross Tells Creek further west and not here. No big deal I think and since the terrain is open and easy I just walk across the meadow there and try to find the actual Highland Trail on the other side of the creek. According to my gps I am "on the trail" again about 5 minutes later.

However, nothing looks like a trail here. It's just forest, no real signs of a path. Sometimes I think, oh now I found the trail, just to lose it again after the next 50 steps. I try to follow this "imaginary trail" for almost half a mile, I keep checking my gps and according to the map and my gps I'm supposed to be on it. Is the trail maybe only a faint usetrail and the little snow on the ground makes it almost impossible to see & follow? I also remember Pete's statement "Tells Peak is a challenging, trail navigation problem, although technically easy." So I pause and think about this. I don't feel like walking through this forest and checking my gps every 2 minutes to make sure I'm on the right "path". The terrain is not obvious enough to just walk towards the peak, because there are all these little ups and downs and I can't see the peak through the forest. So I decide to return and give this peak another try some other day.

However, it's too early to go home. On the map close to the trail head I see a little named peak called "Sun Rock" and immediately declare this as my goal for the day. In order to get there I retrace my steps almost to the beginning of the trailhead. My map doesn't show any trail to the top of "Sun Rock", so I "dive" into the forest there and head towards this peak. After a few hundred yards, all of a sudden I end up on a clear trail and it actually takes me to the top of this small peak, which is actually a pretty interesting phenomenon: The top of this little mountain and the rather steep south facing slope is without any major vegetation, just bare granite. This actually makes this peak a pretty good viewpoint. After a short break I also visit the close-by northern neighbor which has the same characteristics. Lots of bare rock on top and the south slope and almost no vegetation. After that I head back towards the street and before going home collect some Christmas decorations to take home.