On an extended holiday weekend in the touristy area of Lake Tahoe, we typically either head out or hunker down until the busyness wanes. This time, we did the latter and waited until Monday of Labor Day weekend to venture out and get a hike in.

Heading to Carson Pass, we arrived at the Thunder Mountain Trailhead in the Hwy 88 corridor.

It was sunny and the outdoor temperature was about perfect for a late summer hike in the Sierra, except that it was very windy.

Sadly, the first mile or so of the trail wound up and through a burn area left behind by the Caldor Fire in 2021. Black, torched trees everywhere in sight. Some still upright while others were downed either by nature or chainsaw.

In that first mile, we’d already climbed around 500 ft of vertical gain, which kind of felt like a lot straight out of the gate.

Once we ascended out of the burn scar, giant volcanic boulders were dotting the horizon in front of us.

And the views above Kirkwood Ski Resort opened up to expose volcanic slopes.

The general trend of the trail for this hike was varying degrees of up. And once we reached this exposed ridgeline, it got pretty windy and didn’t let up much the rest of the hike up.

A lot of rocks amongst some hints of fall colors along the trail.

These signs always amuse me.

Continual climbing. This section led up to a rocky switchback that drastically increased in steepness.

Just kidding. At that point, I was thinking/hoping that we were nearing the top, but we still had more steep, rocky climbing to do.

Some nice views along the way, though.

We finally made it to the top of Thunder Mountain, and it was incredibly windy, so we took a few photos and some video and hunkered down behind some boulders to get out of the wind to have a snack.

We wandered around across the top for a bit before heading back down.

When we hiked to Granite Lake & Hidden Lake (in the rain!), Thunder Mountain was in the background, and we’ve also gone to “the potholes” near Silver Lake before, but we’ve not seen Silver Lake from above like this.

But it was time to head back down. We spotted a marmot toddling across the trail and quickly seeking shelter in a bush of scrub trees as we approached, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a photo before he ducked for cover.

Sometimes, when hiking, it looks as though you’re coming up on the edge of the world.

All in all, not a top-10 hike, but it offered challenging terrain, beautiful views, and it is always nice to get outside for a day before summer comes to a close.

Thunder Mountain hike
Total Distance	7.6 mi
Total Time	3:26:23
Total Ascent	2,051 ft
Max Elevation	9,388 ft

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