Cover photo courtesy of Alex Thissen
The Peter Grubb Hut is located a short drive northwest from Lake Tahoe. The Gaia GPS crew headed up to the hut as part of the team’s annual winter retreat.
About the Hike
Peter Grubb Hut is a 2.5 mile hike from the road with an elevation gain of about 800 ft.
We emptied the car at the trailhead — parking is about 1/4 mile up the road and permits are required
I chose to get a pair of cross-country skis for the hike instead of snowshoes. The climbing was difficult because the snow was slick. Although the terrain wasn’t very steep, this was my first uphill climb on ski’s, and I slowly made my way forward while learning how to ‘duck-walk’.
In some places, the incline was too much for my novice skiing abilities, and I took the skis off to walk. This proved to also be very difficult as I sank over a foot into the snow every few steps.
It was supposed to rain for the hike in, but ended up being a bright and sunny day, and the 2.5 mile trek took the group about 3 hours.
About .5 miles away from the hut is the saddle of Castle Peak where we were treated to some awesome views, as well as a sweet sweet 4G signal.
About Peter Grubb Hut
This year was a record snowfall in the Sierras, with about 19ft on the ground at the start of the trip and another 1.5 feet by the time we hiked out.
Due to the amount of snowfall, Peter Grubb was all but buried. The first and second story entrances for the hut had been dug out. The snowy stairs down to the first floor degraded into a tunnel near the bottom. The outhouse was dug out to the second story, too.
The hut has a first floor sleeping area and a kitchen area downstairs with a wood cutting room. The hut was in mostly good condition with the exception of a broken window downstairs that was patched with some cardboard.
The wood stove made the downstairs room a bearable temperature, but the upstairs room remained cold, even though the wood stove pip ran up through the room. Most of the doors had swollen due to ice and would not close all of the way and I was happy to have a very warm sleeping bag.
On the second night, the stars were out and we were lucky enough to catch a shooting star.
The Way Out
The fresh snowfall made the short uphill climb from the hut much easier. Going downhill proved to be the toughest part of the day for me.
With the new snow, the trail was hidden and I was happy to have experienced backcountry skiers leading the way.
Below is my recorded track from the way up to the hut. You can visit that page and download a GPX file for the track that you can use with your own GPS device.
Photos courtesy of Aileen Gardner, Alex Thissen, and Jason Abbott