Hannah the hiker

Street Mountain and Nye Mountain are two relatively easy High Peaks Hikes. It is about 11 miles to bag both peaks. There are lots of scenic places to stop and replenish water, and in the fall the surrounding foliage is breathtaking.

I went on this hike October 9, 2021 at 6:40 a.m. When i showed up to the parking lot at 6:30 the loj was already full so i had to park about 1- 1.5 miles down the road. Parking at the loj is not free, check out their website to plan your next trip. Early October is a popular time for hiking because of the cool weather and beautiful leaves, so get to the trails early.

The hike starts on the Indian Pass Trail which will take you next to Heart Lake at the beginning. Just after you veer away from the lake you will continue on to the Street and Nye Ski Trail which is just straight ahead. This switch is at the 1.5 mile mark.

In the fall leaves coat the trail and can make it difficult to see where you are headed so just be weary of that. There are no trail markers since this is a herds path so look out for rock cairns and signs of wear/compaction on the ground.

There isn’t much to say about the difficulty of the trail. All of it was extremely manageable. It pretty much follow little streams to the top.

At around the 5 mile mark you will be at the mark between the two trails to each respective summit. At this point you have gained around 1,700 feet in elevation, not too bad!

Going right will take you to Nye, and left will take you to Street. I went to Street first since it was farther out of the way. I reached the summit at 10:10 a.m. and sat on some rocks to enjoy a small breakfast. This is a wooded summit so there isn’t any real view besides the summit sign.

After Street i went back down the trail to the junction and continued on to Nye. I reached this summit at 10:50 a.m. Obviously the summits aren’t that spread out. Nye is also a wooded summit but has a nice summit sign to take pictures with.

From Nye, i headed back down to my car on the same trail i took on the way up. I was back to my car by 1:15 p.m.

Overall thoughts on the trail

This was a nice and quick solo hike. I took my time on the way up to test how my feet felt and surprisingly there weren’t any issues. I used my dads hiking boots that he wore on an Elk Hunting trip in Colorado. They were roomy and provided a lot of comfort for my toes.

I was a little cold after i stopped moving at the summit so i would suggest bringing layers.

This hike was really fun and easy with some rewarding views of the fall foliage.

What i brought

• Donner Men’s hiking boots (my dads!)
• Wool hiking socks
• Hiking pants
• Baselayer long sleeve
• Fleece
• Beanie
• wool mittens (handmade by my aunt)
• 2L water in camelbak
• 32 oz nalgene with hydration mix
• first aid kit
• extra phone charger
  • peanut butter and jelly sandwich
  • reese’s peanut butter cups
  • apple
  • trail mix
  • cheese and crackers