2 Nights on the PCT

The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2,650 mile trail from Mexico to Canada and it runs along the Sierras, just a short drive from our house.

I found myself with a 5 day weekend (sort of unexpectedly).  I was planning to attend a 3 day continuing education course in Sacramento so I had requested time off from work but, it was an intense and expensive pediatric course considering I only have 5 kiddos on my caseload.  So, I skipped the course and went on a double overnight backpacking trip along the PCT instead.

Mike and I were pretty hesitant on going backpacking since the weather has been a little crazy here lately.  We've had frequent afternoon thunderstorms.  Here are some pictures from our deck over the past week:

It looked like the sun was balancing on top
of the mountain. 

Smiley face in the clouds?

We decided to brave the unpredictable weather so Friday morning I went to the Forest Service office to get permits for our hike.  I was feeling a little guilty and selfish for skipping the course and I thought I could make myself feel better by doing something for someone else.  So, I went to Safeway, bought a dozen donuts and took them to the nearest fire station to show my appreciation to the local firemen.  They seemed very grateful (and a little shocked) by my gesture.  It just so happens that I started at Fire Station #1... totally by accident.  But, it made me feel so good that I'm thinking about doing something for Fire Station #2 next weekend... and so on.  All firemen and policemen are heroes but it's fire season right now and I'm especially grateful that they work so hard to protect us.

Anyway, I felt a little better after my random delivery of donuts and when I got home we loaded up our stuff and began our trip.  We parked my car at our planned exit point and drove Mike's truck to our starting trailhead.

Day 1: ECHO LAKES TO LAKE OF THE WOODS (3 miles)

Since Zater is getting older and can't handle really long hikes like he used to, we chose to take a water taxi across Upper and Lower Echo lakes which took off 3.2 miles of hiking.  

We weren't the only ones taking the short cut. 

There's a small channel between the 2 lakes.
It connects Upper and Lower Echo Lakes. 

We let Zater jump off the dock a few times before starting our hike.
It was pretty hot out so we thought that would keep him cool. 

We had only ~3 miles of actual hiking to get us to Lake of the Woods.  Since we left after lunch time... and because it was hot and sunny... I was grateful for the short hike.  

Looking back on Echo Lakes

Beautiful wildflowers... and Pyramid Peak in the distance. 

Lake of the Woods

We camped on the East side of the lake so we could watch the sunset over the mountains.  We walked around the lake, went for a swim and laid on the warm granite rocks.  

Dinner was freeze-dried Mexican rice/beans from a bag (which tasted a lot better than it sounds).  We ate s'mores granola bars while watching the sun set and then headed to bed.  

We slept with the rain fly off the tent.  It was a cloudless night with tons of stars.  You could see the silhouette of the tall trees around our campsite and a perfect little sliver of moon.  When the sun came up there was a gorgeous pink glow on the mountains.  I waited for the sun to come up a little higher before crawling out of the tent.  

Morning reflection. 

The other end of Lake of the Woods - lots of rock islands. 

DAY 2: LAKE OF THE WOODS TO SUSIE LAKE (4 miles)

We made coffee & breakfast before going for a morning swim.  

It was a short 1.5 mile hike to Lake Aloha (on my bucket list).  We originally wanted to camp overnight here but there were no permits available.  It is a very popular spot and now we know why.  It's amazing.  

Lake Aloha.  

 Lately, I've been reading a lot of books about backpacking in the Sierras.  Lots of hikers apparently name their packs ("Monster"... "Big Heinous Pack"... etc).  I decided mine was like a turtle shell on my back, but it's not quite the right color so I came up with... The Citrus Tortuga. 

Anyway, we found a perfect shady spot by the lake with a big rock peninsula.  We swam and dove off rocks.  The water is as blue as Tahoe.  It was cold, but not freezing.  Truly refreshing.  We filtered water and made lunch.  

Our rock peninsula facing the backside of Pyramid Peak. 

It was actually deep enough to dive (safely).  I know it doesn't look like it.  

 The winds picked up and we noticed storm clouds ahead of us AND behind us.  We followed the PCT to the end of Lake Aloha where Mike spotted a perfect rocky shelter.  We were prepared to hide out and wait out the storm but we didn't have to.  The storm in front of us and the storm behind us met right above us but they basically stalled each other out.  We saw a lot of lightning and rain in the distance, but nothing too close to us.  In fact, we got no rain at all.  

Shelter for the Citrus Tortuga in case of rain. 

We waited for HOURS here.  It never came much closer. 

Raining towards Heavenly.  Probably raining at our house.  

After waiting a few hours, we decided to push on.  We hiked past Heather Lake to Susie Lake.  It was overcast and cool but no rain. 

Heather Lake. 

A cool twisty tree overlooking Heather Lake. 

Looking down toward Susie Lake. 

Another cool, twisty tree by Susie Lake - right on our campsite. 

 We set up our stuff and made dinner and then decided to lay in the tent and read for a while.  Suddenly, everything turned pink outside so I grabbed the camera and took a hundred pictures of the beautiful sunset.  

Amazing cloud formations. 

Yes I know those pictures all look the same.
It was so beautiful I couldn't stop taking pictures. 

 That night, it didn't rain but it did stay cool and I slept like a baby until 6:30 am.  

DAY 3: SUSIE LAKE TO GLEN ALPINE TRAILHEAD (5 miles)

We were packed up and hiking by 7:45.  It was 5 miles of downhill to get back to the car.  

Reflections.  It's hard to notice the lake because of the reflection of the mountain.

Desolation. 

We were back at the car by 9:30.  We stopped by McD's for biscuits on the way to pick up Mike's truck and we were home/unpacked by noon.  After a long shower (which felt amazing), I sat on the couch and helped Mike devour an entire batch of homemade guacamole. 

We had a baby shower to attend at 3:00 but around 2:15 Mike noticed an awesome storm in Carson Valley.  We sat on our neighbor's deck and watched the storm cross the valley and come up the ridge towards our house.  

The power went out for ~5 hours (the baby shower was still awesome... even without power).  We heard stories about how bad the weather had been in South Lake the last 2 days (hail storms and lightning, etc).  We were so fortunate to have had good weather while in Desolation.  Truly blessed. 

Sorry for the long post.  And sorry I missed my family reunion at Mt. Gould.  Wish I could have been there!  I miss you all so much and would LOVE to see you all soon!