On a weekend stop in June of 2021, I met up with a good friend of mine, Kyle. Now, when me and Kyle get together and head into the mountains, we never have easy, relaxed days on the trail. Kyle’s a rock climber, so I have to find exciting stuff to get him interested in hiking!
On this occasion in Tahoe, I suggested a hike that I had had my eye on for a while. This trail would take us on a circuit up and over three of the tallest peaks in the Lake Tahoe area. Freel Peak (the tallest in the area), Jobs Sister (second highest in the area), and Jobs Peak (4th highest in the area).
We knew we were in for a long and tough day, but it ended up being significantly harder than either of us imagined!
Miles/Elevation:
12 miles
3,829 feet vertical gain
About Lake Tahoe:
Always be sure to follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles when in the outdoors!
If you’re from California, you’ve almost certainly heard of Lake Tahoe, or maybe just Tahoe. It’s basically a cult out here, and especially in the Bay Area, it’s a crazy popular getaway for people during all parts of the year. Skiing, hiking, boating, you name it and you can probably do it up in Tahoe!
The largest alpine lake in North America, Lake Tahoe itself is about 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, with a maximum depth of over 1,600 feet! This is a big lake in an otherwise dry state, and that is part of the attraction! While the brilliant blue waters stay cold pretty much all year, warm summer days make swimming attractive for thousands.
Situated in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the lake is obviously the centerpiece, but there are a number of cities and towns that surround the star attraction. South Lake Tahoe CA and neighboring Stateline NV make up the largest “urban” area, and a number of smaller towns are situated along the remaining shores of the lake. These smaller towns include Meeks Bay, Tahoma, Tahoe City, Dollar Point, Incline Village, and more.
While there are a number of California and Nevada state parks that manage land in the Tahoe Basin, the main land manager is the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. A part of the National Forest system, the Tahoe Basin Management Unit encompasses over 150,000 acres of public land, much of which is open to all sorts of recreation.
For the most part, you will not encounter parking fees in the national forest land around Lake Tahoe. However, if you venture into some of the state parks that ring the lake, be prepared for parking fees and restrictions.
Getting To The Trailhead:
The closest city to the trailhead is South Lake Tahoe. From South Lake, head south on Highway 50 to the intersection with Highway 89, also known as Luther Pass Road. Continue south on 89 for about 9.5 miles.
After about 9 miles, Highway 89 will begin a long right hand bend. Before the road really starts bending, you’ll be turning left onto a small gravel road. It’s tough to see, but there aren’t a lot of turn offs around here, so you’ll probably know it when you see it.
The road you are looking for is called Willow Creek Road. It’s not marked by name, so you’ll have to hope you’re in the right place!
Once on Willow Creek Road, the fun really begins! This is not a nice road. In fact, it’s not paved. Do you have to have 4 wheel drive to make it? Probably not, but you definitely need high clearance. I would not even try to make it up this road in anything less than an SUV or crossover.
I can’t tell you the exact mileage that you’ll be on Willow Creek Road because it isn’t really marked anywhere, but I would guess it’s somewhere in the range of 4 miles. The trailhead also isn’t marked, but you’ll know it when you see it. There’s a large open area with parking, and even though we got there pretty early, there were probably already 10 cars there.
Freel Peak, Jobs Peak, Jobs Sister Loop:
Which Direction To Hike:
The traditional direction to hike this loop is clockwise, starting with Freel and then heading towards Jobs Sister and Jobs Peak. There’s no real reason you couldn’t hike this counterclockwise, but you would be climbing uphill through the sandy beach that is Jobs Sister instead of downhill. Either way works, but descending Jobs Sister towards Jobs Peak is definitely easier than ascending, hence the traditional clockwise direction.
Starting Off:
From the trailhead, the trail begins climbing pretty much from the beginning, albeit not too steeply. The trail is forested, and you have to earn the treeline on this hike! The views begin to open up as you climb, but you’ll have to wait awhile for views of Lake Tahoe itself. At about the 1 mile mark, you’ll reach an intersection with the Tahoe Rim Trail. This backpacking route circles the entirety of Lake Tahoe, but you’ll just be on it for a couple of miles! Turn right to continue on the TRT!
Once on the TRT, the trail actually chills out quite a bit, and your next mile or so is more or less flat. You’ll still be in the trees for the first part of the TRT portion, but the views do open up fairly quickly. You’ll begin to have excellent views looking out towards Desolation Wilderness and its distinctive white mountains!
You’re in bear country, so be sure to always be bear safe!
Eventually the trail begins climbing a bit more, although it still isn’t too crazy. There’s a couple of switchbacks as it picks up, and now views of Lake Tahoe will begin to reveal themselves.
As you’re really starting to get up high, you’ll come to another intersection. Continuing straight on the TRT will take you north and away from your summit destinations. Instead, turn right onto the Freel Peak Trail, and begin the ascent up the tallest mountain in Tahoe!
The Freel Peak Trail:
One you’re on the Freel Peak Trail, the trees thin out very quickly and you definitely get the sense of being up very high. Lake Tahoe sprawls out behind you, and the peaks of the northern Sierra Nevada make up the skyline behind it.
Always follow basic trail etiquette when on trail!
Freel Peak may feel close, but it’s definitely not! From the start of the Freel Peak Trail, you still have around 1,000 feet of climbing to do, so get ready for some thigh burn!
Unlike much of the Sierra Nevada, Freel Peak is not a white granite spire in the sky. Unfortunately, it and the other peaks you’ll be climbing, are basically just piles of sand and gravel. It’s honestly awful, and everytime you take a step forward, you slide a little ways back. We thought we were in good shape when we started this hike, but even before we made the summit of Freel, we were seriously struggling.
An awesome hike in the foothills below Tahoe is the Stevens Trail. Check out our write up here!
If you’ve never experienced it, summit fever is definitely a thing, and the closer we got, the harder we pushed. Eventually, the summit finally was within reach and we crested the final obstacle and there we were, on top of Tahoe!
The summit area is actually fairly small on Freel, but there are a few places to sit and a small rock windbreak, so we enjoyed some snacks, and discussed if we wanted to continue. We were both really feeling it, and struggled way more than we thought even just to get this first summit.
Because hiking is a stupid hobby and people who enjoy it are apparently stupid too (what I tell myself when I’m exhausted and beat everytime I’m almost done with a tough hike), we decided to push on. I mean, we already had done most of the climbing, can’t be that bad right?!
To Job’s Sister:
From the summit of Freel, the trail descends steeply down a sandy and loose slope towards the saddle. The trail down from Freel is steep and a bit treacherous, but take it slow and you’ll be fine.
The hike to Fordyce Falls near Spaulding Lake is another good hike in the foothills below Tahoe!
Once down from Freel, the trail crosses over a sandy and exposed ridge between the two peaks. Views up here are insanely good, and ridge walking like this is about my favorite thing to do on a hike! The views were epic, the trail was flat, the weather was perfect, and life was good!
Job’s Sister is a pretty obvious target on the far side of the ridge, and we made it to the base of the peak pretty quickly. While flat walking was still easy for us, climbing was not. Pretty much as soon as I hit the incline, my legs let me know that this would not be easy!
The climb to the summit of Job’s Sister is only about 400 feet, but man it was not easy. The entire thing is the loose sandy gravel that we had been on now for the last couple miles, and that combined with the prolonged time at altitude was taking its toll. There’s nothing technical whatsoever on the climb to Jobs Sister, so it was just a matter of pushing your legs to keep moving.
It didn’t take too long to make the summit, although it sure felt like it! Once at the summit, all feelings of tiredness evaporated again, and once again spirits were high and we felt good. The views again were awesome, and from Jobs Sister you get a bit better view of the Carson Valley in Nevada. We had another little snack, and then dropped off Job’s Sister on the way to Jobs Peak.
Descending Job’s Sister:
I can be a dramatic person from time to time, but I am not being dramatic when I say that the next hour of hiking was on the absolute worst “trail” I have ever experienced.
The descent from Jobs’ Sister was a nightmare. As we had seen already, these peaks are big piles of sand and gravel, and the steepest side of these piles of sand and gravel apparently is the slope you have to descend from Job’s Sister.
There was basically no possible way to walk without immediately sliding another 6 inches into and through the sand. If you’ve ever been on a sand dune or a steep beach, imagine climbing up or down one of those. Except here you have to descend 800 vertical feet.
The descending was extremely slow, and all positive feelings were gone. We were tired, and this crap was just making us more tired. To give you a sense of just how slow this was, the mile of hiking up Jobs Sister and down the other side took us 57 minutes. That means 1 mile of hiking with a bit under 400 feet of climbing took us nearly an hour. Brutal.
The High Meadows to Cold Creek hike is a much easier option in Tahoe!
Anyway, after getting cliffed up once or twice and having to backtrack, we made it to the bottom of the descent. The good news was I only fell once. The bad news was I fell once. Oh well, wasn’t too bad, though I did have to drain the rocks and sand out of my shoes at the bottom!
The bottom of the descent is at about 9,800 feet of elevation, and Jobs Peak is about 10,600, so now we got to do more climbing. Yay!
To Jobs Peak:
By this point, we had climbed over 3,000 vertical feet, much of which through loose gravel, and had just finished the worst descent of my life. My legs were exhausted, and I hadn’t brought enough food, so I was rationing myself but was pretty much always hungry. Dumb of me but oh well.
From the bottom of the descent, we had about ¾’s of a mile of ridge to traverse to reach the beginning of Jobs Peak. This was more sandy ridgeline with huge views, and would have been fantastic had we had fresh legs. As it was, we were both reaching our limits and had to stop way more than we should have!
The Rubicon Trail is the iconic Lake Tahoe hiking trail!
Eventually we got across the ridge and reached an intersection. Going left would take us to the summit of Jobs Peak, and going right would start the descent back to the car. After a brief discussion, I made the executive decision to go for it. I had no interest in ever doing this hike again, so let’s get it all done with now!
With that decision, we began heading for the summit of Jobs Peak. We only had about 400 vertical feet to climb over the course of .6 miles or so, but it was really slow going. Again, this mountain was a pile of loose sand and gravel, so it was slow and tough going.
After a short but brutally steep final kicker, we were on summit number 3 of the day, Jobs Peak. This mountain presented us with the best views so far of the Carson Valley, but we couldn’t actually see Lake Tahoe anymore. After a brief rest on the summit, I was ready to get going, so we began the descent.
Descent To The Trailhead:
The initial descent off Jobs Peak was done very slowly and very carefully. Once the terrain flattened out a bit, I didn’t have to be so careful, but I did continue hiking pretty slowly!
We headed back across the ridge to the intersection leading to the descent, and then dropped into the woods.
We were both hoping for a nice and relaxing descent to finish off the day, but that isn’t quite what happened. If we had fresh legs and hadn’t just climbed close to 4,000 feet, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, but we were both beat, and our feet had taken a pounding with the terrain we were on.
It wasn’t long before we both were dealing with blisters. The descent was just a bit too steep, so our feet and shoes were struggling a bit, not to mention we had already done about 10 miles.
After taping up our feet, we kept on going. The gauze and moleskin felt great and made a big difference… for about 10 minutes. Then it wore off and everything sucked again. Realizing we could repeat the process over and over in perpetuity, we decided to just deal with it and keep going.
After a descent that felt like it took forever but in reality was only about a mile, we emerged on the gravel road that we had taken to drive to the trailhead. We were still above the trailhead and had more walking to do, but it felt good that we were back on the road and spirits were high!
Spirits were high for about 5 minutes and then it became a waiting game of when the parking lot would come into sight. We had blisters on our feet, our legs and knees had taken a pounding, I hadn’t eaten much all day, and all around we were beat. Walking on a slightly downhill road should have been easy, but we were so done that it dragged on seemingly forever.
Eventually, our purgatory ended and we found ourselves back at the parking lot. Our adventure (or should I say ordeal?) was over. 3 summits in one day with huge views and tons of above treeline ridge walking was definitely an incredible day, but man was I glad to be done!
Topdown Lifestyle Rating: 8/10
This is an absolutely brutal hike that I have no interest in doing again, but I can’t deny that it was a pretty epic hike. Summiting three of the highest peaks in the Tahoe area all in one day definitely left a sense of accomplishment, and I would recommend doing this hike if you can physically make it. The views, the summits, and the adventure all make this a hike worthy of doing.
However, I cannot give this hike anything more than an 8/10. Honestly, the hiking itself was some of the worst I have ever done. Literally sliding down hundreds and hundreds of vertical feet through loose gravel was awful, and I have no interest in doing it again!
Worth doing, but be ready to be exhausted mentally and physically by the end!
Pros:
- Excellent views
- Multiple summits
- Above treeline ridge walking
Cons:
- Rough access road
- Brutal trail/lack of trail
Alternative Hikes:
Hiking in Lake Tahoe: The Rubicon Trail
When To Visit Lake Tahoe:
While the Lake Tahoe area is a haven for athletes at all times of year, hiking is best done here in the warmer months. Tahoe is famous for its massive snowfall, so trails can be snowed in into the summer.
This hike is literally as high elevation as you can get in Tahoe, so snow will linger up here later than pretty much anywhere else in the area. Most years, expect to still be encountering snow well into June, with conditions becoming reliably snow free in July, though you may be able to hike it without snow earlier. Snow is possible anytime during the year at high elevation, but conditions should be snow free until late September or October.
This hike can be done anytime there isn’t a ton of snow on the ground, and even then could make for a nice snowshoe hike or cross country ski outing! I would personally recommend this hike between July and September, and the broader Tahoe area anytime between June and October.
Links For Further Reading:
Lake Tahoe Basin Mgt Unit – Home
Charlie
May 24, 2022Nicely written. I enjoyed your story and struggles. All three in one day is brutal.