Jobs Peak, Jobs Sister, Freel Peak Trilogy - A Tahoe Classic

After my "long" hike to Freel Peak a little less than a year ago, I knew I "had" to come back to also bag the close-by Jobs Peak and Jobs Sister. In addition I also still wanted to try the southern access to the 3 highest CA mountains around Lake Tahoe from Horse Meadow. When I saw the report from the "Mountainhiker" to Jobs Peak a few weeks ago and read that he lost his GPS there, I thought that this is a good excuse to go there and also look for his device.

I already failed once to get to the planned starting point at Horse Meadows south of Freel peak with my low clearance non 4x4 car. Since I don't feel like walking the 4 miles from Highway 89 up there and back, I decide to take my bicycle along for this part. However, when I arrive at the Forest Service Road 051 shortly after Luther Pass, the road doesn't look all that bad and I decide to give it another try. It turns out that the Forest Service Road is feasible under the current dry and snow free conditions even for my low clearance car. In certain places it requires some careful driving, but most of the time the dirt road is not too bad. I end up driving past the trail head for the Armstrong pass (second bridge) and leave my car next to the road a little less than a mile after that.

The path all the way to the top of Jobs Peak is rather clear. At the beginning it's a dirt road which later turns into a clearly visible path (not indicated on any of the maps I saw). It leads up to a small pass west of P. 10505 and then follows west of the ridge line between Jobs Peak and P. 10505 without any difficulties (T2) to the highest point. Since I'm trying to find "Mountainhiker's" GPS on my way from the little pass west of P. 10505 to the top and back, I don't follow the actual path but more the ridge line, which includes some optional but fun scrambling. Unfortunately I can't find the GPS device, neither on my way up nor on my way down.

Since Jobs Peak is the most prominent peak visible from the Carson Valley, it offers a very fine view - not just down to the valley, but also towards Lake Tahoe and it's surrounding mountains. Even though the weather is much better than forecasted it's quite windy and I make my break a little north of the summit in a wind protected place. Afterwards I walk back to the little pass west of P. 10505 and from there follow the path traces (north of the not very distinct ridge line) down to the saddle between Jobs Peak and Jobs Sister. From there the "sandy" climb up to Jobs Sister is more or less a straight line on rather soft ground.

After another short break I then follow the path over to Freel Peak. This walk is rather surreal, due to all the sand on the ground it feels like you're at the beach - in particular when you look towards Lake Tahoe. Almost all the snow which fell about 3 weeks ago is gone, only a few patches are left. At the top of the El Dorado county high point I talk to two other hikers on the summit for a while an make another short break, before I head back to my car. In order to do so, I directly "dive" into the south flank of Freel Peak. The walk back to Horse Meadows (in direction southeast) is one of the 'funnest' downhill hikes I've ever done. Due to all the sand in this flank gliding down the >2000 feet is almost like skiing and I'm back at my car way earlier than expected.