HIking Mount Rose Meadow

Right next to the highway over Mount Rose, connecting Lake Tahoe to Reno, just on the southwest side of the pass, is a beautiful alpine meadow. It's around 8500 feet elevation so the sky is very blue, the air is cold even on a warm summer day, and the sun burns you in minutes. You take deep breaths and walk slowly or you'll pass out from the thin air.

There's a boardwalk into the wetter areas. The meadow is green because a stream drains slowly across it, and they don't want people's feet eroding the ground. This sounds silly but its actually true.

 

I hiked there with my Dad last Sunday. Lovely warm day, but only 71'F due to the elevation.

The meadow is big and winds a couple miles down to the South.

So peaceful.

The slight scar running left to right? That's the highway.

Note the antenna on the hilltop near the center.

 

The yellow plants in the foreground are a type of poisonous corn lily, found through various alpine meadows. They also grow in the Upper Bear River Valley, near the intersection of Hwy 20 and Interstate 80. They're several feet tall, for scale.

Several people ate lunch on the rock at the top and center of the mountain there, across the narrow valley and above the meadow on the far side.

Meadow.

 

 

Trail on the right. See it?

It was a nice hike and while short, was scenic. A good place to take pictures and eat lunch.