Day 64

June 15, 2021 PCT Mile 1090 to 1112.8

PCT miles today 22.8

Mark drove us back to the trailhead near Echo Summit at about 6 AM. We hiked around Echo Lake and the lovely cabins perched on the hillside looking over the lake. We saw our first bear while out hiking (common sight at home, but seldom seen on the trail). A pretty shiny black bear was behind one of the houses up on a rise about 100 ft away. He/she saw us and took off running - fast.

Hiked up around gorgeous Aloha, Susie and Heather Lakes and made our way to Gilmore Lake in the Desolation Wilderness Area. Dicks Pass is a long way up when starting from Gilmore Lake - longer when starting from Heather Lake. Very windy and white caps visible on Aloha Lake. When the wind subsided clouds of mosquitoes would instantly envelope us. Wind was our friend this day. We have hiked in this area often and never tire of these lakes. The lakes in the Sierra are so special compared to any other mountains we’ve hiked (the Alps, the Dolomites, the Himalayas) - these beautiful jewel-like lakes sitting in polished granite bowls.

Went up Dicks Pass and had a gorgeous view of the Desolation Area lakes to the north and south. Dick’s is the last time the PCT passes above 9000 ft. Bummer. We remember hiking here in early Spring a few years ago. Very different then. There had been an avalanche on the north side of Dick’s Peak into the lake and had stacked up giant slabs of ice on the north end.

Sadly, the wind subsided later in the day. The remainder of the hike was through hoards of mosquitoes, so we kept moving as fast as we could. We stopped by a stream to camp and got our tent up in record time. Hid inside. Lady (trail name) stopped by about 7:30pm after we had dinner in our tent and set up nearby. She moved quickly too, as mosquitoes were looking for a meal. We warned her we were up early, but would be quiet.

We were hiking by 4:45 AM the next morning and don’t think we woke her. Meeting people on the PCT is a little weird because we’re all moving north at different speeds - you may end up leap-frogging someone for the next week or you may never see them again.