Life's been different lately . As a school teacher, past summers have been filled with vacations, numerous wheeling trips, camping, and basically the freedom to do and go where ever I wanted.
Then we had a baby. My wife and I are thrilled beyond words to have out little guy (born June 16) , but obviously everything in life changes. Now at the five week mark, my wife gave me the green light for a wheelin' day trip. I tried to convince her to let me throw the baby in the front seat but she advised, "maybe wait until he can hold his head up" . Anyway , on to Signal Peak ...
Getting 'em started early !
Signal Peak is off hwy. 80 about 20 miles from Truckee . It's neighbor is the famous Fordyce 4x4 trail. The start and first few miles are the roughest part, not difficult really, just quite steep...
The trail meanders steeply up the side of Signal, past a few small streams and meadows ...
...until you exit the forest for the last mile carved out of the side of the mountain . Numerous side trails tackle steeper approaches to the summit , but all are reportedly closed for wheelin' now , too bad...
lake Spaulding in the background ....
After a few more miles of easier trail you reach the top of Signal Peak at around 8,000 feet ...
Signal Peak got its name because the railroad would keep watchmen up on the summit to lookout for fires. Not forest fires , but fires inside the wooden snow sheds that protected the railroad line. If a fire was spotted inside one of the snow sheds, the watchman would call in a special fire fighting locomotive to try to save the shed . This structure was built in 1909 as quarters for the watchmen ... It was last used in 1935
Needless to say , the views are excellent . You can see all the way down into the central valley to the west , and up into the higher Sierra to the east...
The last few shots I have are aerial shots. I hope to put together a short video in the next few days . You can take an easier exit off of Signal . From there you can hook up with Fordyce 4x4 trail or Fordyce lake ...
All in all it was a perfect trail for quick day trip ...
Then we had a baby. My wife and I are thrilled beyond words to have out little guy (born June 16) , but obviously everything in life changes. Now at the five week mark, my wife gave me the green light for a wheelin' day trip. I tried to convince her to let me throw the baby in the front seat but she advised, "maybe wait until he can hold his head up" . Anyway , on to Signal Peak ...
Getting 'em started early !
Signal Peak is off hwy. 80 about 20 miles from Truckee . It's neighbor is the famous Fordyce 4x4 trail. The start and first few miles are the roughest part, not difficult really, just quite steep...
The trail meanders steeply up the side of Signal, past a few small streams and meadows ...
...until you exit the forest for the last mile carved out of the side of the mountain . Numerous side trails tackle steeper approaches to the summit , but all are reportedly closed for wheelin' now , too bad...
lake Spaulding in the background ....
After a few more miles of easier trail you reach the top of Signal Peak at around 8,000 feet ...
Signal Peak got its name because the railroad would keep watchmen up on the summit to lookout for fires. Not forest fires , but fires inside the wooden snow sheds that protected the railroad line. If a fire was spotted inside one of the snow sheds, the watchman would call in a special fire fighting locomotive to try to save the shed . This structure was built in 1909 as quarters for the watchmen ... It was last used in 1935
Needless to say , the views are excellent . You can see all the way down into the central valley to the west , and up into the higher Sierra to the east...
The last few shots I have are aerial shots. I hope to put together a short video in the next few days . You can take an easier exit off of Signal . From there you can hook up with Fordyce 4x4 trail or Fordyce lake ...
All in all it was a perfect trail for quick day trip ...
