Mount Reba
Hike Review:
Mount Reba is a short and sweet hiking trail.
I hiked Reba Road and Odenn Trail looking for an opportunity for snow shoeing, but because of the low snow levels, snowshoes were really not necessary.
The elevation gain is steep in the first 1.5 miles, but then it levels off, and isn’t too hard after that.
There was almost no shade on the entire trail. It’s very exposed, so sunblock is a must.
I had brought my crampons and ice axe in the car, but once I saw that the peak of Mount Reba was dry, I left those in the car, and did not need the crampons. I could have used the ice axe for glissading, but it ended up working out okay.
What I Learned:
The main thing I learned is that my hip, knee, ankle, and toe are back to 100%! I did not experience any pain or discomfort during the entire hike.
I wore my mountaineering boots, and although loosening the shoe strings helped, all I thought about while I was hiking was wishing that I had brought my trail running shoes.
So, confusingly, there’s a peak called Reba and it’s right next to my actual destination of Mount Reba.
For lunch, I just bought an apple strudel from a gas station on my way up, and it tasted great on the trail.
I bought one trekking pole, but I didn’t end up using it. They are the most valuable to me when I go down steep slopes, but I ended up glissading them, so I didn’t need it. On the topic of glissading, glissading is a lot of fun and I found out how to do it standing up!
Reba Road is actually an off-road trail, and in the summer, one could drive up this same trail and park their cars less than 1 mile from the peak of Mount Reba. When I was hiking the trail, I could clearly see signs of previous visitors who had snowshoed, skied, and ridden their snow mobiles.
I picked up a good amount of trash that I found on road 207, and I was very happy with myself for doing that.
Media Consumed:
Midwinter Murder—finished!
What Happened?
7.2 miles, 4 hrs 27 mins, 1785 ft of ascent
I wanted to snowshoe to an easy peak to test out my legs and see if they had fully healed up. For the past few weeks, I had been taking it easy, so I wanted to test them out doing the same activity where I had hurt it last. The planned hike was half the distance and elevation gain of the Mount Tallac Trail, so I figured, it would make for a great test.
Because I had to work pretty late the day before, I didn’t camp at the Alpine Lake Sno-Park, but instead drove there early in the morning. As I was driving up, I was surprised to see that there was zero snow at Big Trees State Park, whose elevation is around 5000 ft . I was starting to think that there might not be enough snow at Mount Reba, but kept driving on .
When I arrived at 9:30am, my suspicions were confirmed and there was very little snow, especially at the peak that I could see. So, I started hiking without my snowshoes, crampons, or ice axe.
The first mile-and-a-half was pretty tough and it was slow going, but once I reached the top of the ridge, I was able to hike at a steady pace that suited me. The part that I don’t like about this hike was that because the trail runs across a ridge without much trees, most of the trail was exposed. Also, because it’s on a ridge, there are lots of ups and downs. Still, the upside of this ridge was that the view of the surroundings was just gorgeous.
I first reached the peak of Reba, took some pictures and hopped on over to Mount Reba. There is an optional short class 2 rock scramble, so that added an extra bit of fun when going up to Mount Reba. After taking more pictures, I thought about taking the direct route to the Odenn trail, but decided against it. However, after backtracking the route I came, after a certain point, I decided that I did not want to hike on the ridge, and dropped down into Round Valley. I was worried that I would be post-holing without my snowshoes, but there was only a short stretch where that was an issue. This path was much nicer in that there was very little elevation gain and it was mostly a steady path down the mountain. Once I met road 207, I just hiked on the shoulder off the road.
