Tamarack Peak Loop, 20 Sep 2025
Tamarack Peak is the 9,897 foot mountain whose eastern flank you walk along when you hike out to the Galena Creek waterfall or start a Mt Rose summit attempt along the Mt Rose Trail. Because I normally hike this area by starting on Relay Road and coming down the waterfall trail, I found myself circumnavigating Tamarack Peak maybe a dozen or more times in the last decade without once climbing to the top. Today I decided to fix that.
What kept me off the mountain in the past is there are no maintained trails. I like trails. But I reckoned the route seemed straightforward enough I didn’t really need any trails to follow. And you can hardly get lost, as there are roads or trails in every direction; once you are at the top, whichever direction you go, you will soon cross a road or a trail. Just stay way from the shear cliffs at the eastern and northern faces.
Anyway, I traced a route with my finger on the topo map right up the ridge from the intersection of the waterfall trail and the new Tamarack Lake Trail. It would be a climb, but it was a straight run to the top. When I got to the trail junction this morning and stepped off to the left to start up the ridge, I was gratified to see there was indeed a very distinct trace trail I could follow all the way to the top. So people do definitely hike this route, though I literally didn’t see anyone.
The summit is just about an even 1,000 feet of elevation gain in one and a third miles from the parking lot, so not exactly a walk in the park, but not super challenging either. I lost the trace trail a couple times, but was able to easily regain it after walking in what appeared to be the most obvious direction.
Upon reaching the top I could have turned around and headed straight back for a just under three mile round trip, but I like loops. So I made a loop out of it by continuing down the ridge on the other side of the summit and connecting with Relay Road, finally getting back out via the waterfall. Overall, my loop was 5.66 miles.