Goal for the Day: Echo Lake or die trying!
With all the drama of the prior day (will I quit or will I continue?) there wasn’t much to think about this morning. 10 miles to Echo Lake over relatively downward terrain. A few ups here and there, but there was zero reason to even consider to go back to Carson Pass. This was the final leg and all I had to do was head north and not stop until I hit water (Echo Lakes).
I didn’t have a real breakfast left, so ate my bacon jerky and one of my meat snacks as I enjoyed the light from the sun splashing across the cliffs to the west of the lake.
I packed my gear and said goodbye to the lake that had recharged my soul the previous afternoon. Heading north, I had to climb a bit, then descend a bit.
And then I saw several glimpses of Lake Tahoe between the trees and mountains. While I was headed to Echo Lakes in the mountains to the west of Lake Tahoe, I knew seeing Lake Tahoe was a sign I was getting closer and closer to my goal.
One concern I had for doing this section of the PCT this year is last year the Caldor Fire burned a large path of destruction through the forests west of Lake Tahoe and spread through the Highway 50 corridor before being stopped before it could destroy the entire town of South Lake Tahoe.
I was concerned at how much of the PCT could have been affected, damaged, or made into a depressing slog through burned forests. Fortunately, my info showed that there wasn’t that much impact to the actual PCT, but as I neared Highway 50 and Echo Summit, I wouldn’t be able to ignore it. I saw my first signs of it with about a mile left until I reached Highway 50.
Then for the last half mile, I was walking along a ridge line with nothing but charred trees surrounding me. I was a little glad to see some signs of un-burned forests in the distance.
As I left he burned area, I reached Highway 50 and Echo Summit!! What seemed impossible just the prior day had now been reached!
Now, I could have called an Uber or Lyft and enjoyed civilization down in South Lake Tahoe. But the official end of this PCT segment (segment “J”) was Echo Lakes. That was a little over a mile and required some climbing to reach.
I didn’t really think too much about stopping at the highway, I just took a brief break and then crossed the highway and headed into the forest, passing the occasional cabin.
I expected this area to be burned more, but while there were the occasional burned tree or fallen tree the last hike to echo Lakes was pretty pleasant. An occasional smiley face on tree stumps also helped my mood.
Finally, I saw blue water through the trees and knew the long 10 days of hiking was nearing it’s end.
While I kind of wished the last steps to the water’s edge weren’t surrounded by parked cars and pavement, I rejoiced when I reached the destination. It had taken 2 days longer that I thought and had me go through highs and lows (emotionally and elevation-wise).
Goal!!!
Goal!!!!!
10 miles total hiked (10 miles on PCT)
7.5 hours on the trail
75 total miles hiked on this section of the PCT – GOAL! – Section J completed!
0 miles to go until Echo Lake – GOAL!
At ten days, this was the longest I had ever hiked in one go without resupplies. While I spent 25 days on the John Muir Trail, I had three and a half resupplies along the way.
Except for the 4 cans of Coke, the Oreos, and water filtered along the way, everything I ate and used on this segment of the PCT I had started with at Sonora Pass. Pretty good for me.
So, adding this 75 miles to the 46 miles I did from Tuolumne Meadows to Tilden Lake makes it 121 miles hiked on the PCT this year.
Add the 141 miles I hiked on the PCT when I did the entire JMT in 2020, plus 5 more miles hiked on it near Cottonwood Pass and I’ve done a grand total of 267 miles altogether.
So, out of the 2650 miles that make up the entire Pacific Crest Trail, I’ve hiked 267 miles of it. That’s 10 percent of the PCT that I’ve hiked so far!!
While I don’t believe I could ever try to do the entire PCT in one continuous trek over the course of a year, it does seem possible (now) that I may be able to do more of it as section hikes in the years to come.
Or maybe for this Labor Day?
Stay tuned…
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