June 30th, 2022 by Jon
Our longest day yet! We woke to a wind that howled overhead, shaking the trees and sending pine needles onto our tent. The night had been much of the same, and unfortunately, it made for some difficult sleeping. We made breakfast, and I got to try having my Oregon chai tea, which really leveled up my breakfast. We got ready kinda slowly as we all felt tired after a restless night before finally setting out around 6:40. We had a climb up a big hill to get up and over Dick’s Pass. It was about 4 miles uphill, with a good amount of elevation gain as well.
As we climbed, we passed small ponds all around held by small rocky basins carved into the rocks. We went by trees too, that grew up from cracks in the rock. We switchbacked up higher and higher before leaving the tree line for the most part, now fully taking the brunt of the wind. It seemed we had finally gotten to the top for a moment, when we came to a saddle, only to realize it was not where we would pass over the ridge and drop down the other side. As it would turn out, we continued up even higher, with the ridge about 5 feet to our left. We paralleled the ridge for a long while until a half mile later, we passed up and over a different saddle that was totally covered in snow. We took a picture with all three of us on top of the pass before beginning our climb down the other side.
The trail had about 10 snow patches to cross for the first mile, then it was just dirt switchbacks down the ridge into a new, lake-filled valley. We walked past many of them, at times getting only feet from the water’s edge, and crossed a number of small streams that connected the lakes and provided a way for all the snowmelt to flow out of the valley. We ran into a number of hikers going the other way. Apparently, Desolation Wilderness is very popular for backpackers, and we saw more dogs on the trail today than we have on the entire PCT.
After passing a first set of lakes, we dropped down into another basin, moving through thick forest. We found Biscuit sitting beside a small creek and took our first real break of the day, having already gone 8 miles. We had a snack and then walked through a thick forest for many miles. The trail was fairly flat, going up and down over small hills and ridges, but it headed north in this valley we were in. We grabbed water from a creek that spilled over a 12-foot-tall boulder and fell into a small pool before continuing down the stream. It was a good resting place while we filtered and headed out again.
After more thick forest, we reached the rocky side of the mountain, where there was less water everywhere, and the ground looked parched and sandy. We ate lunch on a large sandy area, and I forced myself to eat what I would consider to be two normal lunches. I’ve been losing weight faster than I should, and haven’t had the energy I need to really hike how I think I need to hike lately. When I did some of the math in town, I found I was in a larger calorie deficit than I thought. It’s impossible to eat as much as you burn by hiking this much, but the difference was around 2500 calories. So here’s to trying to eat more.
After a 40-minute break, it was back to the trail. We hiked along a thick forested ridge for a very long time. It was almost totally flat, and I cruised to a new playlist that I downloaded while in Tahoe. I don’t listen to music a lot while I hike because I prefer to just enjoy the silence, but today I wanted to listen to music while I cruised through the forest. The trail had zero views for the next 5 miles, but I didn’t care. It was just nice to walk in the woods for a while. Eventually, we reached a large creek and crossed without issue. We filtered more water, took a snack break, and decided to push another 4 miles up to a trailhead where rumor had it that there was a pit toilet. From there, we would decide how much further to go.
We all hiked apart for the next section, cruising uphill through alternating meadows and more dense forest. The trail meandered quite a bit, like it couldn’t make up its mind about which way to go. All I could hear was the birds and the panting of my breath as I climbed. Eventually, I crossed a dirt road, and we got to a small parking lot where, sure enough, there was a pit toilet. Yay for bits of modern convenience! Biscuit, Singsong, and I all sat at a picnic table talking with another hiker we knew, and bemoaned the fact that there wasn’t any trail magic. It was the perfect spot for it.
And then wouldn’t you know it, a car rolled up, and a couple got out, looked at us, and asked if we wanted pizza and beer. We looked around at each other, astonished, and delightedly answered in the affirmative. We ate and chatted, and more hikers came up and partook of this kindness. In talking with the couple who showed up, we realized it was the parents of a couple we met right before Tahoe who told us they were meeting their parents there. Apparently, they decided to do a couple of days of rest while also fitting in a few slackpacking days. That’s when you hike with a day pack and get picked up or get your bags dropped off when you finish. They planned to do the 30-mile section from Echo Lake in one day, and their parents came early to do trail magic before picking them up. So cool!
After thanking them profusely and asking them to send on a hello, we pushed another few miles over the ridge and down along a new ledge. From there, we had great views of Lake Tahoe far below. We found a spot just down off the trail in a small clearing with one big spot where we crammed our two tents. The three of us had dinner and hung out for a bit before calling it a night. Tomorrow we plan to do another big day, and we will see how far we get!
