Freel Roadless Area
This nonwilderness, nonmotorized recreation area is more than 15,000 acres (61 km2) in size. It is located along the crest and northwest slopes of the Carson Range, bounded on the south by highway 89 and Grass Lake, with Thompson Peak at the southeast corner, then northward to Freel Peak and Star Lake with the Tahoe Rim Trail the eastern boundary. The area is named for Freel Peak, which rises to 10,843 feet elevation and is both the highest point in the Lake Tahoe Basin and in the Carson Range. Of the few lakes in the area, Star Lake is at the highest elevation, 9,100 feet (2,800 m). (Mud Lake is actually higher at 9,239 feet (2,816 m), but is an aptly named, fishfree lakelet.) The forest is mixed conifer of fir and pine, mountain hemlock, and krummholtz mats of whitebark pine. Freel Peak has one of the few areas of alpine cushion plants this far north in the Sierra Nevada/Carson Range area. The Tahoe Rim Trail's length is more than 22 miles (35 km) through this roadless area and includes the trail's highest elevation point of 9,730 feet (2,970 m). This trail section is very popular with bicyclists during the summer months.
Freel Peak was named in 1874 by William Eimbeck, a surveyor, for James Freel, who was a settler at the base of the mountain.
The largest private inholding of the Lake Tahoe Basin area, the Trimmer Ranch, is within the Freel area.
Read more about this topic: Dardanelles And Freel Roadless Areas
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