Please follow all applicable California, Placer County, and Nevada County coronavirus precautions, including stay-at-home orders (if these runs require you to travel far from home, please reconsider), social distancing, etc.
Drunken Deer Loop (8.5 miles and with about 1500 feet of vert):
Start at the parking area for Drunken Deer/the Old Commemorative Emigrant Trail (heading west, away from 89) on Alder Creek Road. Run the flattish Emigrant Trail along Alder Creek itself to warm up. Cross the road at the campground, and then use the East Perimeter Trail to connect to the Tahoe Donner East Perimeter Trail. Continue up into the Tahoe Donner trail network via the Sweetness Trail (it’s awesome) and you’ll hit a fire road. Use the .gpx and map well here, as the start of Sober Deer is a little obscured from the main road (aren’t you glad you’re a DPMR member and get inside info like this?). Turn left off of the road/through a few bushes to find the Sober Deer Trail and start your descent to Carpenter Valley Road. Once you’re down, you’ll connect onto Drunkeen Deer and run the Tahoe Donner classic back to your car (it’s a net descent from Carpenter Valley Road to your car, so open it up!).
Pdf map here: Emigrant Loop Map
See also this Caltopo map: DPMR Run of the Month July 2020. A gpx track can be downloaded from the “Download File:GPX” tool on the Export menu
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