Hike and Bike: Keith's Dome - Echo Peak and Flagpole Peak

My Swiss hiking projects typically didn't have the same starting and end point, because I was almost exclusively traveling with public transportation and I would often choose to end my hike at a different train station or bus stop than the beginning of my hike. Here in California public transportation is basically non-existent, in particular if you want to go to the Sierra Nevada. Therefore, my start and end point of my hikes are almost always the same, there where I parked my car. However, for this day I had a little alternation planned for the normal routine. I first went to the end of my hike to drop of my bicycle, then drove to the starting point of my hike and at the end enjoyed a 20km bike ride back to my car. Like this I could "finally" do a hike here in California with a different starting and end point: I walked form Fallen Leave Lake to Echo Lake and climbed Keith's Dome, Echo Peak and Flagpole Peak, a very scenic route and Flagpole Peak surprised me with some fun class III scrambling as well. The catalyst for this hike was actually the recent visit of the 3 peaks by mountainhiker. It reminded me that Flagpole Peak was still on my to-do list.

My starting point is the same as here. First I walk back on the road towards Fallen Leave Lake. After about 400 yards, I find the not very obvious Tamarack Lake trailhead. Even though marked as "very difficult" I find it rather easy. I follow this trail to the eastern base of Keith's Peak. From there I hike up along the rather flat east ridge to the summit. The name Dome is quite suitable for this mountain. After a break I walk back down to the trail and then head towards Echo Peak. Since I want to check out Indian Rock and Angora Peak I head towards the point where the Echo Peak west ridge drops off. After reaching that point I "have" to take a break, because the view from there towards the lakes is simply breathtaking.  For a moment I think about also visiting Indian Rock and Angora Peak, but since my fitness has been better and I have commitments at night, I postpone this project to another day.

The walk along the ridge to Echo Peak and later Flagpole Peak is very pleasant and scenic. Shortly before Flagpole Peak (at around 8400 ft) it is not always obvious where to follow the ridge, sometimes I choose to bypass drops or walls on the southern side, sometimes north, sometimes I get stuck and have to find an easier route. Eventually I get to the base of the obvious Flagpole Peak which I climb directly from northwest - a stiff class III maybe even IV. The easiest access to the highpoint of Flagpole Peak is from southeast, an easy class III.

The view down to Echo Lake is marvelous up here. After a break I then head down towards Echo Lake dam. For the first 300 yards I strictly follow the ridge (class III) and then bypass the big vertical drop on the southern side. From there the terrain gets easy and I cross down to the trail along the shore which takes me to my bicycle. After a short break I then ride my bike to Highway 50, follow it to Upper Truckee Rd and get over to Fallen Leave Lake and from there ride back to the car.