Armstrong Pass to Freel Peak

The Hike: The trail begins by crossing Willow Creek on the bridge and following the dirt road slightly uphill to the west. After ~0.5 miles the trail comes to the end of the road and continues by following a single-track to the west where motorized vehicles are not allowed. The slope picks up here and a spring is quickly crossed (~0.6 miles). After a couple of quick switchbacks the trail climbs to the north-northwest toward Armstrong Pass. The junction with the Tahoe Rim Trail is reached immediately southwest of Armstrong Pass at ~0.85 miles. The left trail leads to Big Meadow and intersects with the trail coming from Fountain Face. Stay right and follow the TRT as it slightly loses some elevation to the north-northeast. After a little while the trees thin out, the boulders grow more numerous, and the trail begins its ascent. Along this section are some beautiful junipers. The trees eventually give way to fantastic views of the mountains to the west and northwest including the Crystal Range and Mt Tallac. Here in summer should be a pretty decent display of wildflowers amongst the sage. At ~1.8 miles the base of Fountain Face, a large granite outcrop, is reached. After Fountain Face the trail slowly turns and climbs to the northeast before reentering the trees. The very southwestern end of Lake Tahoe is visible along the climb and Fallen Leaf Lake becomes visible as you climb. At ~2.85 miles the first large switchback is reached. Here, the trail turns to the south before turning back to the north-northeast. As the TRT approaches the saddle between Trimmer Peak and Freel Peak, the trees thin out again and the trail becomes more soft and sandy. Just below the saddle you'll notice a playground of granite boulders that reminded us of the Alabama Hills. At the saddle, the Freel Peak Trail can be found by turning sharply to the right (~3.85 miles). Before continuing up the Freel Peak Trail walk straight a few feet to get a wide open view to the north of Monument Peak and High Meadow.

The Freel Peak trail climbs to the southeast up and around the surrounding granite. As it climbs the views to the northwest over Trimmer Peak get better and better. After a few tight switchbacks the 10,000' mark is crossed at an excellent viewpoint at ~4.2 miles. To the southeast you look up to the summit of Freel Peak. The summit of Jobs Sister is just barely visible to the east and the views from the north to the west are fantastic. Just past this viewpoint you leave the vegetation behind and continue on the sandy trail on a traverse toward the summit to the southeast. Immediately below and north of the rockpile summit, the trail quickly turns to the south to complete the climb (~4.9 miles). Within the windbreak you'll find the peak registry that is currently being held within an old ammo box. Leave a few words or just your name and the date while you take in the outstanding views of Lake Tahoe and its surroundings from the basin's highest peak. From here it's all downhill. We found a nice rockpile just south of the summit to enjoy lunch and the views without being bothered by others completing the climb.

Jobs Sister and Jobs Peak sit tantalizingly close to the northeast and east respectively. However, while others have described the effort required to bag these peaks as "minimal" we would not go that far. It is true that Jobs Sister is only ~1.0 mile from Freel Peak and Jobs Peak another ~1.8 miles beyond that, however that involves the use of unmaintained trails and ~350'/400' of gain/loss for Jobs Sister and a further ~815'/1,000' of gain/loss for Jobs Peak. Therefore, the effort to bag Jobs Sister may be classified as "minimal" but not for Jobs Peak. There are use-trails leading down from Jobs Sister to the TRT near Star Lake and from Jobs Peak down toward Horse Meadow and the Armstrong Pass Trailhead if you decide to summit these peaks. To return to the trailhead simply follow your steps back. We did not continue to these peaks but decided to try an off-trail descent back to the trailhead. There are clear signs on the northwestern slopes of Freel Peak not to disturb the Tahoe Draba growing along the slopes. On the southern side of Freel Peak there are a couple of use-trails leading downhill to the southeast before disappearing or leading toward Jobs Sister. There also appears to be less Draba growing on this side but it is still important to walk carefully. After following one of these use-trails we continued downhill to south and were very careful not to disturb any vegetation we encountered (we didn't come across any Draba growing along our route). The southern side of Freel Peak is very loose and sandy and it is wise to tread lightly because you could inadvertently create first-order streams by forming preferential flow paths for water to travel through.

We were not trail-blazers on this day and followed a rough route probably used by previous hikers and animals (we saw tons of hoof prints). We followed a tributary of Willow Creek steeply downhill (~1.4 miles from Freel Peak) before leaving it (just under 8,800' elevation) for its partner to the west. Near the base of this second tributary we ran into some pretty thick willows (~1.65 miles from Freel Peak) but found our way through it, jumped over Willow Creek (this may not be possible in spring; ~2.0 miles from Freel Peak) and found the dirt road. We followed the road back to our car below Armstrong Pass (~2.35 miles from Freel Peak). In all, this short-cut saved us ~2.55 miles and ~65' in elevation gain/loss. We never recommend off-trail excursions, especially to the inexperienced. As always, use your best judgement when deciding your route and be respectful of the local vegetation.