Goal for the Day: Make it to Carson Pass and then… ?

Morning came and the light came with it.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t completely enjoy the sunrise. My body was shaking and sore all over. If I had an easy way to abort the hike from there, I would have.

After breakfast, packing my gear, and resting for a bit, I decided I’d make the climb and descent to Carson Pass and then abort the rest of the hike. I was two days behind and finished my last breakfast that morning. I did have more dinners since I had split one of my ramen packs into two once I determined I was going slower than I planned and might need extra food. I also had an extra dinner since I didn’t use one of the dinners at Kinney Lake.

There wasn’t a fiber of my being at that point that wanted to continue past Carson Pass. I just wanted to get to South Lake Tahoe and get a real bed to sleep in, a pizza, a Diet Coke, and a shower. Not necessarily in that order.

I dreaded the climb up the ridge that separated me from Carson Pass, but knew I had to do it. I eventually got started going up the trail. There were a few switchbacks, but they were pretty tame in comparison to some switchbacks from previous hikes that I still have nightmares about.

I reached the top of the climb and surveyed the path ahead. As expected, there was a big sign saying no camping all the way down to Carson Pass. But there were a few spots before the sign that I thought could have been used to camp if I had needed to.

Shifting from climbing to descending was somewhat pleasant, but it still seemed like an eternity to descend. I passed Frog Lake (I had no energy to do the loop hike around it) and then reached Carson Pass!!

First, I had to use the pit toilet.

Then I had to throw some garbage away.

Then I went over to the ranger/info station and asked if they sold Diet Coke. No, they didn’t.

But they did have a hiker box with snacks and food that contained…

Cold cans of Coca-Cola!!

Ah… that hits the spot.

As I talked with the staff as the station, I explained my decision to abort my hike to them. In my mind, the short 14 miles of that next section before Echo Lakes would be easy to pickup at a later time. Possibly when I did Echo Lakes to Donner Summit someday.

Still not motivated to continue the hike or even start trying to hitch a ride to civilization, I had another Coca-Cola. And some potato chips from the hiker box. 🙂 After an hour and half resting there, I made a decision…

What the, heck… it was only one more night, so why don’t I just complete the trek to Echo Lake.

What a difference a couple of cans of Coca-Colas make. 🙂

Unfortunately, the hiker box didn’t have any breakfast meals (or even dinners, for that matter). It did have a couple more cans of Coca-Cola, which I added to my pack. With most of the food gone, the weight of a couple cans of Coke wouldn’t strain my back.

I also grabbed some Oreo’s from the hiker box. Not the Golden Oreos that I prefer, but regular chocolate ones. Sometimes when you’re hiking you just have to ‘rough it’. 🙂

One thing I didn’t bother doing that morning since I was planning on aborting was to fix a broken lens on my sunglasses that kept popping out. With me deciding to continue, I took a thin strip of duct tape and secured the lens so it would stay in place at least for a day and a half.

I crossed the highway and followed the PCT signs to continue north on the PCT.

I passed a small pond, indicating the first spot I could legally camp. But I pushed on and reached the Meiss Family Cabin. I took the opportunity to have another rest there and one of the two Cokes.

After the rest, I could have found a campsite around that area. Several were indicated on my maps and the meadow the cabin was is had several water sources and flat areas.

But somehow I still felt remarkably good, so powered on towards Shower Lake. It was a perfect target for this part of the hike and until that moment, I wouldn’t have believed I could have reached it. I had expected to be taking a shower in South Lake Tahoe by that point, not going to Shower Lake. 🙂

Then as my spirit was having second thoughts, I caught my first glimpse of Lake Tahoe. Just a sliver of it on the horizon, but it was another motivating moment that day.

I’d need all the motivation to make it up the steep 500 foot high trail leading to Shower Lake. Maybe it was my light pack or just motivation to get to swim in one last lake, but I finished the climb and set my eyes on Shower Lake.

I was mostly relieved that the long hike was done at that point. I was amazed that I had the motivation and energy to continue beyond Caron Pass. And I was elated that I made it as far past Carson Pass as I had.

I hiked along the east shore of the lake, looking for a campsite. I settled for one midway along the shore on the other side of the PCT trail from the lake to make sure I was far enough from the water.

I had a short walk to the lake to enjoy the view and to take a much needed swim!!

I actuality took the swim BEFORE setting up my tent. It was like heaven. Not too much gunk on the floor of the lake made it one of the more pleasant Sierra lakes I had swam in.

I setup my tent and then had dinner by the lake shore as the sun set.

Fabulous ending to a day which had started out with me planning to bail out from my hike.

It was still so warm after the sun dipped below the cliff to the west that I took the opportunity to take a second swim in the remaining light of dusk.

Ahh… it felt good to be so close to the final goal for this trek.

Goal achieved and more!!

9 miles total hiked (9 miles on PCT)
6.5 hours on the trail

65 total miles hiked on this section of the PCT
10 miles to go until Echo Lake