The last leg of this trip was a three day, 32.3 mile backpack through the Desolation Wilderness. And the treat on this trip was Katie; it was to be three of us for this trip yet again. And oh what a blast we had.
We packed and got ready at Echo Lakes:
We had some confusion over which way we should go
And then we got going up an easy if extremely crowded trail (I'd heard the Desolation Wilderness is crowded, but holy wow! Tricia counted 188 other hikers in 15.2 miles on our first day):
Very soon we were above the Echo Lakes, closing in on Aloha Lake:
Fuel (in the form of food) is critical to keeping these two going, so we take frequent short breaks to stuff it down:
We approached Susie Lake and decided to have lunch there at 9.3 miles from our start:
At lunch we talked about where to go for the day. The two choices were Gilmore or Dicks Lake. These were about 4 1/2 miles apart and they are separated by Dicks Pass. While this pass wouldn't be a big one in the southern Sierra, here it was big enough and late enough in the day that it would take some real grunting to get over it. But if we didn't do it today, we'd have to do it tomorrow. Big first day or big second day?
The decision actually turned out to be easy: Katie thought we should make it the 15.2 miles to Dicks Lake and then have two more-cruiser days afterward. Tricia immediately agreed.
While at lunch we also found out that Katie was getting blisters. In fact, she was also very tired and took a 15 minute nap. As both issues came to light I started to realize some of the incredible amount of good Katie has realized from just her first year at college. She had brand new shoes and hadn't done any training hikes with them before this trip, and so her feet were suffering. But she didn't complain, she just kept on walking. She'd gotten only a few hours of sleep before we started (she was traveling up here) and yet she hiked onward (and suggested the longest possible distance for the day).
Katie has become pretty heavily involved with U.C.S.B.'s "Excursion Club." Actually she's been more than heavily involved: as a freshman they made her a club leader. She's been leading hiking, sea kayaking, stand up paddle-board and backpacking trips for other, less experienced kids. And man has it toughened her up (mind you, she was fairly tough to start with). Nothing seemed to faze her, no complaints.
We started up Dicks Pass:
This geographic feature actually includes a "false" pass and the real pass. The false pass has the views, so we stopped there for trail milkshakes:
The views from here really were phenomenal. We could see our lunch spot at Susie Lake below (and Aloha Lake to the right of that):
We could see our day's destination, Dicks Lake:
And Tricia and I were thrilled to see Elephant's Back and Round Top from here. These feature (which she clearly recognized and described to me) are south of Carson Pass - we had hiked past them two full hiking days ago! They must have been at least 25 miles from us, and yet we could see them clearly. This telephoto shot shows Elephant's Back (which the PCT traverses) right in the middle. It's left side is steep and shaded, the right side is lower angle and curved (the larger Round Top is to its right):
The "real" Dicks Pass was pretty if a little plain (but it also provided great views):
Our last two miles down to the lake were one of the best parts of this wonderful day. Tricia blazed ahead on the trail (talk about a tough and together kid!), while Katie and I went a little more slowly. As we hiked she talked and I mostly listened. And as I listened, I realized even more how good for her this first year of college has been.
When we arrived at the last trail junction before Dicks Lake we got our first view of Lake Tahoe from the Desolation Wilderness:
And then we got to camp (Dicks Lake was crowded with campers - but a group of Tahoe Rim Trail hikers kindly showed us a flat and pleasant place to set up for the night). I went for water while Katie and Tricia started setting up camp. This is a normal routine - and for their part they usually start with the tent. But when I came back from the lake the tent wasn't set up. Instead the girls were "stretching" using the new acro-yoga methods that Katie has gotten into down at U.C.S.B.:
I may have strained some face muscles myself on this one. Not so much from the exercises themselves, but from coming back to camp to hear my two girls laughing and giggling together once again. I had a pretty damn big series of smiles.
The night was already late, so we ate quickly and then got ready for bed. But just before bed we had one more treat for the evening. Although we often have freeze dried ice cream for dessert, Vicki had found freeze dried ice cream sandwiches for us to try this time. Our take away? We gotta get more of these things! They are quite the treat when the overall food picture isn't up to high epicurean standards!:
