Mile 1100.4 to 1111.9 – 11.5 miles total hiked on PCT

Waking up is easy to do when you have a sight like this to wake up to.

As much as I hate to, I had to pack up my gear and head north once again. There were some nice lakes on the way to Dicks Pass (9,383 feet)

Oddly, Dick’s pass has two passes as far as I can see. One is a traditional, one where it’s a gap on the ridge where you see one basin on one side and the other basin on the opposite side.

But then there is a trail that goes up and over wide ridge nearby. It’s almost like they had to run the trail up to that ridge so they changed where “Dicks Pass” was.

Either way some there are there were some great views of Dicks Lake, my second favorite lake in this area.

The hike down from Dicks Pass to the lake was somewhat nerve-racking for me. The last time I tried to hike PCT section K, I stepped down appointed stone in such a way that it injured my ball on my left foot. It was really very odd injury that didn’t really call seem like a bad injury at first. I just recall, wincing and then continuing with the descent to the lake.

It was only the next morning when I started having pains whenever I took a step with that foot that pain would eventually force me to abort the section hike at Barker Pass.

So this time I was being a little bit paranoid about where I stepped on the way down. Try to steer clear of anything pointy or loose.

But then I almost slipped on a slanted granite rock with some sand on top of it. So of course I had to start looking for that as well. Usually, a lot of these dangers on the trail you get so used to me you kind of automatically look for them and avoid them, but I was being extra cautious this time.

Fortunately, I made it down to the bottom of the lake without injuring myself.

Part me really wanted to stop at Dick’s Lake, but I knew that was would make it a very short day and I didn’t want to sacrifice that many miles to stop so soon in the afternoon.

So I did spend some time at the shore of the lake, enjoying the views and taking a lot of pictures.

After Dicks, Fontanillis Lake was next. It was nice lake, but not quite as nice as Dicks.

Middle Velma Lake followed. The upper and lower Velma Lakes could be seen, but you had do some bush whacking to get get to them.

After that, it was mostly a gentle climb up through a forest where I found a nice campsite. Not much of a view, but comfortable.