Day 3 of 2020 Lake Tahoe Trip, Snowshoing to Rose Knob Peak and Pats Knob in Mount Rose Wilderness

Third day of my Lake Tahoe trip. I decided to snowshoe to Rose Knob Peak on the Nevada side of the lake today.

Overlooking Lake Tahoe

While weather was warm and sunny for the previous two days (I wasn’t even wearing the winter jacket that I brought), today it took a turn for the worse. On the bright side, the forecasted 30% precipitation rate did not result in any snowfall. However, wind was certainly the strongest I’d seen for the entire week. In anticipation of this not-too-cooperative weather, I opted to hike Rose Knob Peak, which was shorter than Roundtop Peak two days ago, and had even less elevation gain than Maggies Peak the previous day.

Rose Knob Peak Trail

At about 9:30am, I arrived at the trailhead by Tahoe Meadow / Incline Lake Road. After dressing and packing up, I ventured into the forest.
Here’s GPS tracking:

Trail
First the trail cut through some forest.

Trail

Soon after that the trail followed “Incline Meadow Road”, a wide winter thoroughfare with slight downhill.

600m from trailhead, the trail broke away from “Incline Meadow Road” and entered backcountry.

Creek

900m from trailhead, the lowest elevation point of the trail. If one followed the map there should be a footbridge, otherwise the creek wasn’t that hard to cross without one.

Trail

After the creek, there were many tracks in the forest, it’s hard (and unnecessary) to follow the exact one on map.

Slope

On my way up the mountain, I strayed away from trail and stayed at lower elevation for longer. As a result, I must climb this steep slope straight on.

Snow-covered Hill

Tracks in Forest

As trees grew sparser, the snow was more packed down by the wind, so the ski tracks weren’t as deep.

After that, I came out of the tree line into a giant steep slope.

Slope

Before the ridge/detour to Pats Knob, there’s a wide open slope that’s quite steep, reaching the top of it was quite the workout.

At 11:10am, I reached the top of this slope, that’s about halfway to Rose Knob Peak. Before continuing on, I chose to take a 400m one-way detour south to Pats Knob, directly overlooking Lake Tahoe.

Cross Country Skiers

The slopes up till Pats Knob were popular with cross country skiers, who left a lot of tracks in the snow for me to follow on my way up. This was the only time of the day that I ran into other people along the trail.

Mountains to the East
Captured from the ridge towards Pats Knob.

Pats Knob

About 20 minutes later, I was at Pats Knob.

Pats Knob
A few rocks, surrounded by snow, with vantage views of Lake Tahoe in front.

While the towering views of Lake Tahoe in front would be magnificent, there was strong wind coming from the south. Unlike later in the day on top of Rose Knob Peak, the wind didn’t stop me from appreciating the scenery, and I was glad that I did.

Overlooking Lake Tahoe

Distant Mountains beyond Lake Tahoe

Distant Mountains beyond Lake Tahoe
Left : Freel Peak in Carson Range. Right : Pyramid Peak in Crystal Range.

Slide Mountain

Named appropriately for Mount Rose Ski Resort on its northern slope. A few signal towers were erected on its top.

Mount Rose to the North
Which I planned to summit the next day.

Surrounding Mountains

Mountain
Which I would travel around on my way to Rose Knob Peak.

Rose Knob Peak from Pats Knob
Which I was about to summit, with great effort.

After that, I left Pats Knob and continued my way to Rose Knob Peak.

Trees

Relay Peak

Trail
After Pats Knob the tracks on the snow was faint and at times invisible.

Trail

In addition to that, most to the trail past Pats Knob was along tilted slopes. Traversing along them (side-hilling) was quite difficult (especially given that most of the snow was shaped solid from the wind). At times (bottom), the angle of slopes could be challenging.

Despite there wasn’t much elevation change, the angle of slopes that the trail covered until Rose Knob Peak made it a taxing journey.

Boulders on Mountain
Along the ridgeline to Pats Knob.

Mountain
East of Rose Knob Peak.

It’s 12:45pm by the time I reached the saddle point of Rose Knob Peak and another mountain to the east (photo’d above). With strong winds blowing from the south, I determined the north side of that saddle point was the only feasible place for me to have lunch.
Despite that it’s still a challenge to find a rock/branch on the snow field that’s sheltered from the wind. This probably turned out to be the most unpleasant field lunch I had for the year.

20 minutes later and after an unpleasant lunch, I pressed onward to Rose Knob Peak.

Rose Knob Peak Ahead

Final Stretch before Summit

A steep and open slope, with little shelter from the howling wind. Drifting snow veiled the slopes from time to time, making it a treacherous approach.

Throughout the final stretch, it’s a daunting sight watching drifting snow carving out the rocks at summit. It’s an arduous journey climbing this steep slope to begin with, high winds meant I was in the cycle of “sheltering behind trees recovering” and “dashing towards the next tree in sight”. But nonetheless, 22 minutes later, I covered the final 300m and was at the summit of Rose Knob Peak.

Summit

Drifting Snow

Unfortunately, with my face constantly battered by the drifting snow, I couldn’t unleash my camera, nor was I in any mood to appreciate the scenery nearby. So I quickly snapped the following few photos to mark my presence.

Rocks at Summit

If I had to find something positive here, it’s that this time I finally arrived at the actual summit, unlike my previous two days ending up at some rocks before the actual ones.

Lake Tahoe from Rose Knob Peak

Mountains to the West

Mountains to the East

Rose Knob Peak

After spending a mere 7 minutes at the summit, I headed back down.

Overlooking Mud Lake

A lake that’s covered by snow in winter. The trail to Rose Knob Peak circled around this lake. It’s tempting to travel downhill in snow, so the lake’s low elevation served sort of like a trap.

Trail

Boulders

Trail

Trees

Forest

Finally, at 3:45pm, I got back to the trailhead.

Tahoe Meadow

Since there’s still time till sunset, I decided to unleash my drone and take an aerial tour of surrounding Tahoe Meadow.

Mount Rose Highway

Northbound direction. The trailhead to Rose Knob Peak was on the left of this photo. In the morning a gentleman told me snowmobiles were confined to the small trailhead parking lot, and advised me to park on the opposite (right) side of the road. Winter parking along Mount Rose Highway near Tahoe Meadow seemed to be allowed and free of charge.

Overlooking Tahoe Meadow

Forests by Tahoe Meadow

Lake Tahoe from Tahoe Meadow

Distant Lake Tahoe

And here’s a video clip:

Sunset at Memorial Point

After that, it’s about 4:10pm, half an hour till sunset. I arrived relatively late at Memorial Point for sunset 3 days ago, so I decided to head there again today (since it’s on my way back to hotel).

Sunset
I certainly arrivd in time for these glittering waters.

This time, I also launched my drone, and flew it ~~to the center of Lake Tahoe~~ enough away from shore, snapping these panoramic sunset glows surrounding Lake Tahoe.