Desolation, Cobras, and Summer Snow – South Lake Tahoe to Sierra City

Day 79 – 10 miles/1101

Again, we had a tough time getting out of the hotel room, but we were packed up and out on the town a little earlier than usual. We got some bangin’ breakfast sandwiches Tahoe Bagel Co. before heading out of town. As we were walking to the bus stop across the street, we saw the bus drive by, so we waited an hour for the next one. Getting around the bigger towns is frustratingly slow without a car. We rode to the end of the bus line, which still wasn’t particularly close to the trail, so we needed to hitch out. After 15 minutes out front of the grocery store parking lot, a woman loading up her car offered to give us a ride. We loaded up with her young daughter and a fresh haul of potted plants from the nursery. On the way up to Echo Summit on Hwy 50, we got stuck in traffic due to road work. After 10 or 15 minutes a standstill, our driver was slowly growing more uncomfortable, since she was working from home that day. It was only another mile to the trail, so we got out and road walked to the PCT, ironically passing a long line of cars most of the way.

It was a just another quick mile to Echo Lake, where we stopped and made lunch. A pair of families were out day hiking, amd they struck up a conversation with us. We did a little Q&A session with them, both kids and adults curious to learn about life on the trail. We really got moving again around 3pm. We walked the length of Echo Lake, admiring all the cabins that dotted the shoreline.

Before long, we entered the Desolation Wilderness, named as such not for the lack of people (it’s a very popular backpacking destination) but for the lack of trees. Much of the area was scraped clean by glaciers, leaving little soil for plants to take root in. It makes for awesome wide open views, especially around Aloha Lake, one of the larger alpine lakes the PCT grazes.

We hiked a few more miles, crossing the 1100 mile mark. We camped by Susie Lake in a small secluded tentsite, happy to be back on trail, but surprisingly worn out from a 10 mile hike.

Day 80 – 21 miles/1122

Eager to get some miles behind us, we woke up at 5:30am and were on trail at 7:30. The day started by climbing up to Dick’s Pass. The higher we went, the better the view was of the Desolation Wilderness. It was a gorgeous combination of alpine lakes, rocky peaks, and a thin smattering of trees.

We stopped for a snack break at the top of Dick’s Pass. A curious (i.e. hungry) marmot greeted us in its high altitude home. On down the north side, we were of course on some snow, which was surprisingly solid and icy from the recent rain and cold nights thereafter. We crossed the snow without spikes, since they were in the mail back to New Mexico. We caught up to another hiker and talked while we carefully stepped down the snow fields. He was going for a calendar year triple crown. He had already hiked 1,800 miles of the AT, here he was 1,100 miles into the PCT, and he planned to be on the CDT going southbound by late July. Wowza. His walking pace on trail wasn’t that fast, but he did walk past our camp later, and we never saw him again. The snow ended before long, and we were cruising down. A few miles later, we needed water, so we stopped for an early lunch by Velma Lake.

It was so peaceful. The water was calm, except for a small snake I saw swimming across at one point. The day was sunny and warm. We were there by the lake for over an hour and a half, and we probably could have stayed longer. Alas, we needed to carry on. The remainder of the day was nothing to write home about. Just miles of conifer forest, much of it overgrown and littered with blowdown. Nothing could grow in the understory with all the sticks and logs scattered around. I’m no ecologist, but this felt like some forest that could use a prescribed burn.

Since we were still in the shoulder season, a.k.a. mud season, the trail graciously provided several wet, mucky spots. At first we were tiptoeing around the mud, but eventually, we gave in and started walking through the water and the slop. Without much to look at, we moved fast, and we got to camp just after 5:30pm. The mosquitoes were with us, although not terribly so. We started a small fire in an existing ring for some anti-bug smoke, which worked decently well. Maggie and I made dinner and retired to the tent before 8 to read and write.

Day 81 – 22 miles/1144

We started at 7:30, covering a few easy miles through the forest. Before long, we were up on the ridge with great views all around. The trail crossed over to the east aspect for a good look at Lake Tahoe. A mile or so later, Maggie slipped on some snow then got tripped up on a root, which scraped all the way down her shin. It was bruising within minutes and bleeding a bit too. A few deep breaths and swarming mosquitoes got us moving again. Not 10 minutes later, we crossed some trickling snowmelt, and I stepped on a large flat rock. Well that rock was extremely slippery and I was on the ground before I knew it. I banged my knee and upper shin pretty hard on a rock and hobbled out of the mud to recover. Another superficial injury, so we kept walking, perhaps a little more carefully now.

We stopped for water and snacks before climbing back up on the ridge. Wild flowers were in bloom all around as we entered the Granite Cheif Wilderness. The wind had been picking up all morning, and it was a stiff breeze with hearty gusts up on the high, exposed ridge. We ate lunch behind some trees with a great view of Lake Tahoe.

The trail took us across more ridge. We dropped down. We climbed up. Near the end of the day, we crossed Palisades Tahoe ski resort. The terrain was inspiring enough for us to feel the need to come back in winter. The dense manmade snow was still sticking around, which provided us a steep little snow descent, my favorite.

On the way back up, we saw three trail runners, all very toned muscles, and speaking with Australian accents. We figured out later were scoping out the Western States trail for the upcoming 100 mile race, and I wished we had talked to them a little longer. We cruised through the last two miles to get to camp around 6:40. We didn’t see anyone else that night. The wind was making the trees sway quite a bit, which made me nervous, but they stood for one more night. We were in bed by 9, excited for a little pit stop ahead.

Day 82 – 10 miles/1154

With only 9 miles to Donner Ski Ranch, we didn’t wake up too early. Our plan was to get there for lunch, so we got going around 7:45. We climbed up the side of Tinker Knob, the wind was howling and blowing us around the trail. We layered up with the fleece and rain gear to save our skin from the biting cold. The west wind was freezing our left eyeballs as we moved north. The trail briefly went on the east side of the ridgeline, where we got some wind protection and took a snack break. We carried on towards the next peak. As we rounded the north face, the trail ended in a tall snow bank. We backtracked a few step and followed a bootpack on to the snow field. We immediately noticed that the snow was icy and frozen solid from the cold night.

Again, we had mailed our spikes and ice axes home, so we walked carefully across the slick sidehill. Of all the miles of snow we had traversed thus far, I wanted my spikes the most on this half-mile section. We had grown accustomed to kicking step in the soft snow since Sonora Pass but the snow here was too firm to do so. The snow field was probably only 15-20° steep, but it went downhill for several hundred feet into trees and rocks. Falling and going for a ride would’ve definitely had consequences since we probably couldn’t self-arrest. Slowly but surely, we made it across safely, thank goodness. On down the trail, we started seeing day hikers and weekend backpackers heading south on the PCT towards the ice slope. One guy had spikes to take on the snow, but the next couple did not. They looked concerned, and I was concerned for them. We wished them luck and continued on towards Donner Ski Ranch. At last we dropped below treeline, and the day hikers became more numerous. I said hello to an older gentleman hiking up. Skipping over introductions, he says, “Are you thirsty? I have cold beer and soda.” We obliged to lighten his load by two PBRs, fresh out of his bear canister loaded with drinks on ice.

The man was from Reno, and he clearly enioyed handing out beers to thru hikers in his free time. “I guess it’s going to be one of those days,” I said. Waiting for us at the ski ranch was a free 40oz bottle of malt liquor. It was only 11am! We cruised down the rest of the trail, feeling lighter now with 12oz of America’s blue ribbon beer winner in 1896. We got to Hwy 40, where we found more trail magic unattended in the parking lot- assorted chips, apples, oranges, gatorade, and… beer! We took it all, except for beer. The next beer was only a quarter mile away. Maggie and I arrived at Donner Ski Ranch just after noon, and the place was mostly empty, save a handful of other hikers.

We got our free King Cobras, served with a small plastic cup so we didn’t have swing around the massive glass bottle. We got food and chatted with another hiker, Guru, a guy about our age with a wildy, bushy red beard. More people started filing in, mostly hikers, but a few groups of guys out for the weekend showed up as well. We ordered a whole strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert and split it with Guru and Energizer, a Dutch hiker. We got to talking with three weekenders at the table next to us about thru hiking. After a bit, one guy offered to buy us beers. We looked at each other, having been there for over two hours already, but with faint aspirations to keep hiking through the afternoon. Maggie nodded her “yes” to more beer, so I couldn’t say no. Our neighbor returned with two IPAs with a splash of mango juice, a taste for sore tongues after 40oz of garbage water. The chit chatting continued for another two hours, and we finally decided to get back out on the trail. The temperature outside had dropped noticeably. In fact the forecast was calling for a chance of snow above 7,000 feet the next day, so a cold front was definitely on top of us. We trudged back to the trail, aiming to hike about 7 miles. Perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise that we took the first site we saw a mile from the road. It was a great day, especially setting up camp at 5:30 and enjoying a few hours of quiet time. We got to bed around 9. Some precipitation started, tinkling on our tent, then rolling down the sides. Grauple, little snow balls like dip-n-dots, was falling. It started light, but a couple times in the night, the precipitation turned up, disrupting out slumber. This was strange, to say the least, since it was only three days till the summer solstice.

Day 83 – 21 miles/1175

It was a cool, cloudy morning. There was no accumulation of snow, but the ground was a bit damp. We walked down to I-80 where we did a little re-route to avoid walking through a drainage tunnel with cold, flowing water. Back on the PCT, we hiked through forest around Castle Peak. Some snow was falling, just enough to see a flake in the corner of our eyes every couple minutes. We stopped for a snack break by Peter Grubb hut, but the hut was occupied so we didn’t go in.

We hiked on, crossing over three more ridges. It snowed off and on most of the day. It was quite pretty, not enough for any accumulation, but definitely some steady summer snow. It wasn’t terribly cold, and we were generally protected from the wind, so we hiked in our shorts all day. I’ll take snow any day over rain, since it doesn’t soak into your clothes.

Atop the climbs, we got a couple nice views of the rolling hills and forest all around. We finished hiking around 6pm, camping near an old forest road on a ridge with a handful of hikers. The clouds cleared and we got a nice sunset between the trees. We bundled up for a chilly night. It would at least be short with the northern hemisphere leaning in towards the sun.

Day 84 – 18 miles/1193

Indeed it was clear night and cold morning, probably around 30°F. With only 18 miles to Sierra City, we didn’t rush to get out of camp, allowing the sun to wake up the temperature with us. The plants were blanketed in frost, which looked especially cool on the wooly leaved sunflowers we had been seeing lately.

It warmed up by 9, thankfully, and we were able to shed our warm layers. We stopped by Jackson Meadows reservoir for lunch, setting up on an aluminum dock by the boat launch. A boat was slowly approaching the dock. As it got closer, we could see the man in front paddling the boat back to shore. I helped a pull him the last few feet to the dock. The couple from Reno had been out fishing with their dog when their engine died out on the water. We talked a bit while the guy was troubleshooting his engine problems. Turns out he was on Mt. Whitney the same weekend as us, but he climbed up the mountaineer’s route. After a bit, he handed us each a beer to have with lunch. “I packed four beers, and I couldn’t figure out why I did that, but I think you two would enjoy,” he said. We thanked him and sipped happily in the warm sunshine. It was absurd to think it was snowing the day before, and we woke up to a frosty wonderland. It was now warm enough that I jumped in the water to cool down and get a quick trail shower.

We packed up and hiked on. The trail started dropping down through lush forest. We left behind fir monoculture and returned into pines, incensce-cedars, and the first (regular) Douglas-firs of the trail. There were so many wild flowers and we were taking frequent nature breaks to snap some pictures.

We descended a bit more and finished our day at Wild Plum Campground. It was full of real humans, escaping society for the weekend. It was quite fun to do some people watching, since car camping is wildly different than thru hiking. The couple next to us was very regimented. They made dinner, laid out a table cloth, set up their chairs facing the sunset, and spilt wood for a fire. They clearly had this procedure down. Apparently the axe wasn’t cutting it, so the man sharpened his axe for at least half an hour. We are definitely looking forward to car camping again, but for now, we are happy with the simplicity of living out of our backpacks.

Day 85 – 2 miles/1195

Maggie and I packed up and walked into Sierra City. We had resupply packages waiting for us at the Post Office, but it didn’t open till 10am. We got breakfast at the general store – the breakfast burrito was approximately the size of small child, and smothered in chili. It wasn’t easy to finish, but the hiker hunger has set in, so I made sure to leave a clean plate.

We milled around for a bit, 10am passed, but no one came to open the Post Office. Turns out it was closed in observance of Juneteenth. There were several other hikers in the same boat. We wanted our boxes, so we decided to stay in town for the night. We got a room at Old Sierra Hotel. The inn keeper, Rob, was super laid back. He was a musician in a past life, so he had tons of instruments in the common room. I played guitar for a while to kill some time.

We got some sandwiches and ate lunch down by the Yuba river. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in our room. As night time came closer, we chilled with other hikers and the inn keeper until dark. It was one of our favorite zero days, since we actually got a chance to relax, rather than running around town and doing chores.