Day 55 was the day of lakes! Headed over to Echo Lake first thing in the morning as others were getting off the trail there to resupply and we were hoping to get a celebratory milk shake at the Echo Lake Chalet store. Quickly covered the 8 miles to Echo Lake by 8:45 am (& saw Lake Tahoe off in the distance, which I could not believe it at first since it was still some 20+ miles to It), but alas the store was closed and even when it opened at 9 am, all it had was some packaged foods and refrigerated beverages. Not even hot coffee or any fresh baked goods. Oh well!
I continued on the trail towards Dick's Pass and beyond. There were so many alpine lakes that could be seen from the trail on this day that I figured it should be called Day of Lakes. I even had lunch next to one. Here are a couple of the bigger/prettier ones.
Before reaching the campsite, I crossed over Dick's Pass which was much more snow covered than I expected considering it was lower than other higher passes. Of course, this was more flatter though.
Today (Day 56) started with a bit of an issue. The plan was to get to Barker Pass Trailhead where Ravin & his friends would pick me up. However, I heard and then saw on the web that the 7.9 mile road from Hwy 89 to the Trailhead was closed and only going to open later this month. Shalini even called the Forest Service that manages the road and they confirmed that it was closed. Darn! That would mean that I would have to hike another 7.9 miles to Hwy 89 to get picked up by Ravin, which meant an extra 3+ hours of hiking 🤦🏽♂️. Oh well! So, I quickly covered the 16-odd miles to the Trailhead 6.5 hours to reach it by 11:30 am. Now I still had 4 hours to get to Hwy 89 - well in time for Ravin to get there and pick me up. Then we could go to the Tahoe City State Recreation Area campground - our stay for the next 2 nights. But when I reached the Barker Pass Trailhead, I saw some cars were parked there which meant the road was open. I even asked one of the driver's who was coming in and he confirmed that the road was fully open. Guess even the agency that manages the road was wrongly informed! Anyway, since I had time, I started hiking out. But, within 5 mins, I saw a car going in my direction and I requested a ride. John & Ann were super-nice enough to go a few miles out of their way to give me a ride all the way to the grocery store in Tahoe City! Since there were still a couple of hours before Ravin arrived into the City with his friends, I completed my resupply shopping at the store and also got lunch.
BTW, on the way to the Trailhead, I saw a big, fat rattlesnake on the trail. It has been a long time since I saw one...in fact, not since the Desert section.
A couple of miles later, I saw another long snake slithering away from the trail. Must be a snakes-warming-up-on-trail day!
Data:
D-55
D-56
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