Backpacking Bachelors Day 3: Trails? Where we’re going, we don’t need trails!

Our curse of wrong-turns would come back to haunt us on the way out. This time, the curse tried a little harder.

Can you find me? Better yet, what about the trail?

The day started out great. Another peaceful morning, breakfast, filtering water and getting ready for adventure. We took down camp and packed everything up. We made quick time getting around the bottom of Susie Lake and over to Heather Lake.

After a short break for air, we kept hoofing it west, uphill this time, to Lake Aloha. I’m telling you, that lake is a sight you’ll never get sick of.

After passing our lunch spot from the hike in, we were excited to see where we went off trail and discover the section of the PCT we missed. One of the best parts of hiking an out-and-back is the small sense of familiarity on the way back. Yet without warning, we lost that familiarity.

Not too long after hiking the “skipped” PCT section, we cruised along Aloha’s shore enjoying the views again. The snow melt was in full tilt and I swear Pyramid Peak looked more bare than the trip in. We sailed along the base of Cracked Crag and back into the meadows.

This is where we came across a snow drift that we didn’t recognize from the hike in. We went up it, looking for signs of a trail then kept on going thinking we’d find it soon. This was the big mistake; we should’ve hiked backwards until we found the trail again and taken a better look around.

Lesson learned, trust us.

To this day, two weeks later, I still can’t pinpoint on the map where we went wrong. I have a good idea, but it isn’t until half way through our adventure can I tell you for certain where we were and where we went. We eventually located ourselves and changed headings to get back on track.

Miracle iPhone service and GPS? Only if you have Verizon. Thanks, Kevin.

A little longer and we found our exact location. We came too far southwest, ending up at Desolation Lake, headed towards Frata Lake. Most likely, we’d also hiked past Channel Lake and another unnamed water hole.We made our way to the northern shore of Frata and crossed the small gap over to Lake of the Woods, meeting up with the bottom of the trail around the lake’s eastern side. We were ready for cold water and lunch, to say the least.

Looking across Lake of the Woods at Pyramid Peak

After the break, we hiked one hell of an inclined trail up to the PCT, the lovely trail we should’ve never left. It was a tough climb, only made tougher by our extra four or five miles of “extra credit” hiking. We hopped back on the PCT right at Haypress Meadow and quickly started down the trail to Tamarack Lake. The views were amazing and lasted a little longer this time around with out extended breaks, letting overworked feet rest for a minute.

Greg leading the charge uphill. I’m wheezing behind the photo.

The boat dock at Upper Echo Lake was a sight for sore eyes and sore muscles. We hung around for the taxi and headed back across, cool wind blowing the entire way.

To say it was an interesting trip doesn’t do it justice. It was a true test of navigation and a reminder to never hike alone. We had three sets of eyes that missed the trail, twice. Groups keep you in check and need consensus on a heading before going anywhere.

All that aside, we had a blast. A great trip and a great way to kick off the last few weeks before marriage begins. Could we have lived through a metaphor for life? Just when you think you’ve got the trail figured out, it takes you for a wild ride. Just go with what you know and try to keep heading in the right direction, the rest will all unfold as you go.

Backpacking Bachelors Day 2: Mosquito bites and day hikes

Filter water and head out -it’s go time!

After a good night’s rest, we woke to hunger pangs and a cool morning breeze. Time to filter more water, eat breakfast and head out to Half Moon Lake for the day. The trip was slightly over six miles total, just enough to keep our legs moving on the day off from our heavy packs.

Trust me, we’re on trail this time.

We headed out along the PCT past some marshy mosquito territory, adding to the dozens of bites from the night before. Before we knew it, we were most of the way there. We knew the lake would have some killer view, but this was crazy. There was no disappointment for these guys.

From the far left (outside the photo frame) the lake is locked in by Jacks Peak, Dicks Peak and Dicks Pass on the far right. Each above the 9,000 foot mark, scraping the sky as you looked up in awe.

Jacks Peak, all 9,856 feet of it.

Taking a well deserved break.

We hung out for lunch and some kick back time before heading back. The hike out was easier with the elevation working in our favor this time. After two sweaty days, a certain group of smelly boys decided to wade into the snow melt and under the waterfall for a cool down.

Totally counts as bathing…

Not-so-smelly boys…

We made it back “home” in time to toss the frisbee and the sunset through stringy clouds, playing with colors in the sky.

Absolutely a trip to look at.

Crazy coloring. Like nothing I’d seen before.

Backpacking Bachelors Day 1: Snow drifts that eat trail markers for lunch

Lake LeConte in the foreground, Aloha in the back.

Take a second to enjoy the view. Catch your breath, look around. After all, we’re hovering around the 8,000 feet elevation mark and just found the trail again. Let the relief set in; we’re back on track and it’s lunch time. All is well.

Let me back up a little. It’s bachelors party time and I headed into Desolation Wilderness with Greg and Kevin for a three day weekend of hiking and good times. The wedding is a few weeks away, what better time to get away from the house and get outside?!

Look close and you can see Greg (left) and I (right).

Like the title implies, this will be a multi-part post. We took so many great photos and videos that it’ll take a while to get everything up here. Bare with me, it’ll be worth it.

We trekked from the the Echo Lakes Chalet into Desolation, heading past Lake Aloha and curving with the Pacific Crest Trail to eventually set up camp along Susie Lake. The trip started with the best two and a half miles ever: the Echo Lakes Water Taxi. Yes, water taxi. Two and a half miles in 15 minutes to cut off the largest section of the trail outside the Desolation boundary.

Tamarack Lake from the PCT

The actual first 2 miles were fairly tough. The trail is steadily uphill on loose rock, baseball size, ready to ruin an ankle with a poorly placed foot. The views were great, but we hardly got a chance to look in fear of turning over an ankle.

Kevin only wheezes to make me feel better. Thanks man.

Once you get into Haypress Meadow things mellow out. The trail was muddy from this year’s melt with patchy snow here and there, sometimes on the trail. We learned to go slow over the snow patches; the soft melt top layer gave away quick and skiing in boots with a pack isn’t easy.

The beautiful meadows kept us cool and shaded until after Lake Margery, but also brought us our first batches of mosquitos. The trail was gradual and gorgeous leading up to Lake Aloha. Once we laid eyes on Aloha, we knew we’d arrived at something special.

The trail winds up and down over the shore and offers killer views of one of the most spectacular lakes in the Sierra’s. We made quick time to the middle of the lake and took in the views of Pyramid Peak, Mt. Agasiz and Mt. Prince across the way, with Cracked Crag at our backs. You really feel small standing among these giants.

This is where we took our first wrong turn. Just after a snow drift that hadn’t melted out, we missed a turn and stayed too far east, heading up the far side of Lake LeConte to the northern side of Cracked Crag. We didn’t make it far off course before figuring it out, thankfully. The stream from the north side of LeConte was still frozen, so we crossed and headed west back to the trail. Time for lunch after our “oops” mini adventure.

Little did we know we were headed off trail right here. Good thing we have this photo to prove it.

Good eats were followed by more trail pounding. We followed the PCT to the top of Aloha where it turned east heading to the northern edge of Heather Lake (our visual to correct the earlier oops).

Heather Lake en route to Susie. The Gregor himself.

We kept covering ground on the way to Susie Lake, passing small falls and chilly run off spots along the way. More great views but loose rock and careful hiking.

The trail wraps around the southern edge of Susie and up the eastern side. Just as it comes up the bottom section of the lake we noticed some great camp spots.

Yours truly rock-hpping just above the falls.

Kevin got curious and hiked down the mountain side on the southern side of the falls and found us a killer spot for the weekend. We set up camp, relaxed and cooled our feet in the swimming hole between sections of the falls.

Grass Lake at the valley bottom. What a view.

In total, we covered over eight miles on foot plus two and a half on boat. Great first day.

Home for the weekend.

Health runs fast. Me, not so much.

I looked fear straight in the eyes, took and deep breath and said, “I’ll take them.” With that, I got my first pair of running shoes in a long, long time. I decided to give running a fresh start with much nicer, lighter, shoes to make the experience more enjoyable. My motivation is two fold: continued conditioning for high Sierra hikes and our honeymoon in the Rockies, plus some standard weight loss and health improvement.

Route planning for next weekend’s adventures.

To running’s credit, the only cost is shoes. Running down the street is free, so count me in. After trying on many pairs and jogging the length of REI (harder than it should’ve been) I landed on a winner. The Brooks PureFlow road runners. They’re minimalist shoes (one step away from barefoot style), meaning limited sole cushion, loads of flexibility  and a shape that forces you to run on the balls of the feet, not heel striking. Something I have been struggling with.

The stretch band around the arch feels great and gives my high arches tons of support. But the key has been the running form. I was a heal striker, bad. It was giving me ankle and knee pains like there was no tomorrow. Learning to run all over again has also helped me learn to walk all 0ver again. My knees and ankles feel monumentally better. It’s my lungs that still need the work.

My new best friend. Word, meet Foam Roller.

Kari and I are jogging East Sac three times a week, about 2.6 miles each run. I still need walking breaks depending on the red lights we hit, but the small improvements have been great. My calves and feet are gaining strength each run and my cardio is getting better. I’m still a long way away from where I want to be, but it’s been fun so far. I love the feeling of running until exhaustion after a long day. It’s something that riding my bike to and from the office hasn’t given me just yet.

I’ve also picked up a pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes. These are taking some time to get used to. I haven’t run in them yet, but walking around town is a brand new experience. Here’s to more running, more lung-power and loosing a few pounds. I’ll do some regular updates on how the running is going.