Wednesday, July 20, 2011

July 17, 2011

It was a leisurely morning at the Silver Lake cabin, eating breakfast and changing back into our hiking attire.  Around 7:30am, David drove us back to the trail and we were on our way to Echo Pass.

Monument to Snowshoe Thompson at Carson Pass


With only about 15 miles to go to get to Echo Pass it was a very leisurely day.  Not very far into the hiking for the day we joined up with the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), which circumnavigates the lake.  The circumference of the lake is about 72 miles, while the trail is 165.  Being a Sunday, we ran into quite a lot of hikers out for weekend trips to various lakes, or doing part of the TRT.  It's always fun to talk to weekenders and hear about their travels.  It seems that usually they are coming from a lake not too far away, and plan to hike in a day the amount we have already hiked by lunch.  It's also interesting to get their assessment of trail conditions.  We talked to a couple groups of people who warned us about the upcoming snow on the trail past Showers Lake, who inquired whether or not we had a GPS because navigation was difficult.  To be fair, there did end up being a fair amount of snow, but with well worn footprints and past experience finding the trail, there was little trouble with navigation.

First view of Lake Tahoe in the distance


Sign at the junction with the Tahoe Rim Trail

Meiss Cabin near the TRT junction


We took a nice a long lunch to relax, not in a hurry to get into Tahoe until dinner time, and I was able to get a hold of a friend, Katie Kuchenbecker, who offered a ride to/from the trail and a place to stay.  After the siesta, we continued the remaining 6 miles to the trailhead at Echo Summit (Hwy 50), which was almost all downhill.  With just over 3 miles left, we ran into a couple who had started from Carson Pass just after us.  They were a bit lost and asked us if we knew where we were going, to which we said yes, and then they asked if they could follow us down.   12 Ounce led the way and after descending some steep, snowy switchbacks and getting down to flatter ground.  We followed a creek for a while, then found the trail again, and took off ahead of the other hikers once they were back on the trail as well.

Good thing there was a trail sign to tell us the trail was straight through this section, especially since there were no intersecting trails


Once at the trailhead, we were just starting to hitch, when a car pulled into the trailhead, then turned around and was about to leave.  12 Ounce jumped on the opportunity and we were able to get a ride down to Meyers with two guys in their 20's.  Once in Meyers, I checked the address Katie had given me, and lo and behold, her house was less than half a mile from where we were dropped off!  We decided to walk rather than call for a ride so that it would be more of a surprise when we showed up.

We hung out at Katie's for a bit, then went to dinner at Orchid Thai, followed by the Snow-Flake drive-in for a malt.  Back at Katie's we talked a while longer before heading to bed, since it was past our hiker bedtime and Katie had work in the morning.












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