July 3 (Saturday)

Arrived in camp around 4:00 PM (Fallen Leaf Camp).

Set-up camp.  Prepared Santa Maria style BBQ tri-tip, beans and garlic bread with Joe, Albert, Dennis, Terry, Charlotte and us by 7:00.  AMS had brought along the tapioca pudding she’d made and everyone enjoyed the treat.  Later we were all annoyed by a very loud (and large) party causing a ruckus that kept us all up.

July 4 (Sunday)

Woke up to find bear signs around our camp.  There was a bit of rubbish from another camp that had some nice teeth marks near our food storage.  Breakfast: cinnamon French toast, eggs over easy, juice, milk, sausage and fresh-brewed Peet’s coffee under the pine trees.

Late start to set-off for Pyramid Peak.  Climbed part way to Pyramid Peak (9983 ft) via Horsetail Falls and South East Ridge (class 2).

We had to turn back as we didn’t have enough time to summit and get back before nightfall.  The kids were actually handling the difficulty quite well, but climbing out of the Horsetail Falls canyon proved to be the hardest part of the climb as there were no distinct trails to follow and it involved some 1,000 feet of class 2 scrambling and cross-country navigation with a smattering of class 3.  It would have been reckless and dangerous to try coming back this way if darkness fell upon us – so we turned around about a third of the way up this trail-less climb.

There must be a shorter route up and out of the canyon – maybe further up closer to the falls.  We were still about 2,000 feet below timberline.

Returned early.  Dinner at The Fresh Ketch, South Lake Tahoe Marina.  Stars out at night.  Fireworks on the beach but no one wanted to go see the show.

July 5 (Monday)

Hanging around camp.  Departed for Palo Alto around 9:30 AM.  Heavy traffic on the return.