A longer than usual cold, snowy season has set back a number of high country hikes with the Nevada County Land Trust this summer, including a memorial hike commemorating former Tahoe National Forest Supervisor John Skinner.

“Almost nearly everyone of my hikes this season has been postponed,” said Melony Vance, treks coordinator for the Nevada County Land Trust.

“Last year was a late winter but it wasn't this bad.”

Already, a hike with Julie Carville to see wildflowers of the Donner Peak wilderness area was postponed twice because of colder than normal weather that delayed blooms.

“It's too early for wildflowers. They haven't even blossomed,” Vance said.

Earlier in the season, a beekeeping workshop was also put on hold twice.

“Bees wouldn't even come out in the cold,” Vance said.

This week, hike leaders from the land trust will scout Van Norden Meadow to check for snow cover or thaw too mucky for walking.

Vance says the land trust's schedule of summer hikes will still happen, but the dates are uncertain, so she encourages people to regularly check the website. It's a good idea to go ahead and sign up for the treks and reserve a spot because they do fill up, she added.

Despite the delayed season, temperatures are especially favorable for hiking right now both in the lower and upper elevations.

“The nice thing about this wacky year, if you can get up high, the weather's perfect,” Vance said.

Vance recently hiked in the Gold Lakes area of the Five Lakes Basin with mild temperatures in the 60s. She found most of the trails open but campsites a bit cold and mushy.

Remembering John Skinner

John Skinner was an avid hiker despite a heart condition that plagued him much of his adult life. His writing and knowledge of hikes and outdoor recreation in the Sierra Nevada and Gold Country foothills was extensive. He published his own outdoor magazine Sierraoutdoorrecreation.com.

He died in 2009 after complications to heart surgery and hiked up to the end, just four days before his death.

Vance had only been living in Nevada County a month when she met Skinner on the Humbug Trail in Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park.

“I wanted to hike and he wanted a hiking partner,” Vance remembered.

Skinner became a mentor to Vance, introducing her to many of his favorite hikes in the Tahoe National Forest.

“He showed me the Tahoe. He showed me the country that he loved and knowledge of the area which is priceless to me,” Vance said.

Vance and a group of others close to Skinner scattered his ashes on the top of Mt. Lola, the highest peak in Nevada County.

Vance will lead the memorial hike commemorating her dear friend. The hike has views, history and a cool, clear lake for swimming.

On the edge of Grouse Ridge, the trek begins at Blue Lake then climbs 300 feet to the top of Zion Peak for “fabulous views” of Lake Spalding, Fuller Lake and Rucker Lake. The hike will continue around Blue Lake, up and over granite outcroppings and an old abandoned mining ditch, petroglyphs and to another great view of Fordyce Canyon.

“We see where the Yuba and Fordyce come into Lake Spalding… It was one of John's favorites because it had everything,” Vance said.

Take a trek

For another fun adventure, check out a trek scheduled for Aug. 21 led by Sue Graf and Clarence Motter to see the old train tunnels off Old Highway 40 on Donner Summit. Graf will lead hikers through the tunnels and to ponds where catfish still swim, reminders of the Chinese workers who planted fish there during tunnel construction in the 1800s. Other treats of the trek include Native American petroglyphs and China Wall.

For information visit: http://www.nevadacountylandtrust.org/

Laura Brown is a freelance writer. She lives in Grass Valley. Contact her at 401-4877 or laurabrown323@comcast.net.