We encountered no snow and no water on our April 19, 2015 hike on the Prosser Hill Trail. There were only four bikers and no other hikers on this partly sunny and warm Saturday afternoon in April. Noise from cars and trucks on CA 89 travels up the mountain and can be heard at times. More disturbing can be noise from small private jets flying to and from the Truckee airport. This is becoming a growing problem for this beautiful area and requires action to discourage such environmentally damaging and wasteful travel by a few rich individuals when more eco-friendly travel alternatives exist, such as flying commercially to Reno. Overdevelopment is another problem, but fortunately this part of Truckee is less affected thanks to being surrounded by a national forest.
The trail was dry and dusty in parts. The lack of any snow or water was astounding for early spring. Prosser Creek Reservoir has shrunk considerably.
Some parts of the trail are rather steep, but it gets flatter near the top. Granite Chief Wilderness peaks can be seen from the trail.
We picked up Prosser Hill Trail from Emigrant Trail, which we accessed off Alder Creek Rd. on the west side of CA 98. After crossing CA 89, we walked briefly on the side of Alder Creek Rd. and picked up a trail along the creek. After a short distance, we crossed Alder Creek Rd. and took Emigrant Trail. Then after about 10 minutes of walking we took a spur toward Prosser Hill. Unfortunately, it is not marked. The loop which led us to the summit took about 2.5 hours to complete. The views of the valley near the top of Prosser Hill were quite spectacular.
All EcoTruckee.org photos for this post are in the public domain. Feel free to download and share them.
View of Prosser Reservoir and Mt Rose from Prosser Hill Trail
View from Prosser Hill Trail
Prosser Hill Trail
Granite Chief Wilderness Area As Seen from Prosser Hill Trail
Prosser Hill Summit
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