The Willow Creek Road (FS 51) to the Horse Meadows/Armstrong Pass area has just opened up (5/25/12) but it is very rough. A passenger car would not be able to navigate the ruts and large rocks.
From Reno drive to South Lake Tahoe & turn left on Pioneer. Travel to end of Pioneer Rd. & at the intersection take a left on 50/89 until 89 makes a left toward Luther Pass. The total distance from Pioneer Rd to Forest Service Rd (FS) 051 is 10.1 or 0.8 mile from the Luther Pass summit sign to your turn on FS 051. This is a rocky, bumpy 4-wheel drive road. Travel 3.4 miles to Horse Meadows, where you will park. In that 3.4 miles you will cross a cattle guard & two bridges that cross the creek (Horse Creek or Willow Creek ??). Park at Horse Meadows & you will find a well traveled foot trail in that area. You will know that you are right, because you will cross the creek over a foot bridge built by the Forest Service a few years ago. This is the access trail to the Tahoe Rim Trail & it is one mile up. Take the TRT to Armstrong Pass & at the saddle you will see a sign that says "Freel Peak" which is about a mile ascent. (Seemed further to me due to the elevation gain). Summit is 10,886 ft. From the top,of Freel you can look below & see a foot trail that will lead you to the top of Job's Sister. We choose to take the somewhat visible foot trail down the south side of Freel rather than summit Freel again on our return. This was steep, but sandy so we could slide down on our heels in the sand. It saved us about an hour & 2 miles, even though we got kinda stuck on a cattle trail below & into the Aspen & brush, I had my Garmin to take us back to my car, which it safely did. Cooler than we expected. Glad I wore long pants. There is a pretty good write up in Summit Post under Freel Peak search or Horse Meadows Search. Lacks some of the detail of mileage, which will help navigate & save you time. Party of three summited on Sept. 3, 2015.
JGHarrison - May 31, 2012 10:54 am - Hasn't voted
Rough Road WarningThe Willow Creek Road (FS 51) to the Horse Meadows/Armstrong Pass area has just opened up (5/25/12) but it is very rough. A passenger car would not be able to navigate the ruts and large rocks.
gret_nelson2 - Sep 5, 2015 5:09 pm - Hasn't voted
FS 051 Route DetailFrom Reno drive to South Lake Tahoe & turn left on Pioneer. Travel to end of Pioneer Rd. & at the intersection take a left on 50/89 until 89 makes a left toward Luther Pass. The total distance from Pioneer Rd to Forest Service Rd (FS) 051 is 10.1 or 0.8 mile from the Luther Pass summit sign to your turn on FS 051. This is a rocky, bumpy 4-wheel drive road. Travel 3.4 miles to Horse Meadows, where you will park. In that 3.4 miles you will cross a cattle guard & two bridges that cross the creek (Horse Creek or Willow Creek ??). Park at Horse Meadows & you will find a well traveled foot trail in that area. You will know that you are right, because you will cross the creek over a foot bridge built by the Forest Service a few years ago. This is the access trail to the Tahoe Rim Trail & it is one mile up. Take the TRT to Armstrong Pass & at the saddle you will see a sign that says "Freel Peak" which is about a mile ascent. (Seemed further to me due to the elevation gain). Summit is 10,886 ft. From the top,of Freel you can look below & see a foot trail that will lead you to the top of Job's Sister. We choose to take the somewhat visible foot trail down the south side of Freel rather than summit Freel again on our return. This was steep, but sandy so we could slide down on our heels in the sand. It saved us about an hour & 2 miles, even though we got kinda stuck on a cattle trail below & into the Aspen & brush, I had my Garmin to take us back to my car, which it safely did. Cooler than we expected. Glad I wore long pants. There is a pretty good write up in Summit Post under Freel Peak search or Horse Meadows Search. Lacks some of the detail of mileage, which will help navigate & save you time. Party of three summited on Sept. 3, 2015.