Photo adventure: Tahoe’s 8,878-foot Twin Peaks

[SF Chronicle RSS Feed - Tom Stienstra]

Why do people climb mountain peaks? Maybe this 20-photo adventure of my trip up 8,878-foot Twin Peaks west of Lake Tahoe (near Homewood) will help explain it. The trip is 12 miles, including a trek over rock blocks for the final summit ascent. The trailhead is at 7,650 feet at Barker Pass, where you hike the Pacific Crest Trail for five miles, then split off on the Tahoe Rim Trail to the foot of Twin Peaks. Then comes the moment of truth: You leave the trail and clamber over rock blocks for a steep ascent of the final summit. In the process you walk on pretty trails amid old-growth forest, [...]

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