(
click on any photo to enlarge) Another epic day! Our campsite last night was very scenic but we were very close to the lake level and consequently our tents were soaked with dew this morning. We packed them up wet hoping to dry them out at our breakfast stop. As we made it further than expected yesterday we had only about 18 miles to Echo Lakes, where Funk's parents were kind enough to meet us for our last food drop. The photo above is looking back at our site on the Forestdale Divide. Our little lake sits directly below the high point to right of center, hidden by the grove of trees. Our first stop today was Carson Pass. We popped out on the road after about an hour of hiking. We were the first visitors of the day. As soon as we arrived, Ranger Craig came out of the Cabin to greet us.
The Carson Pass Ranger cabin is very kind to thru hikers and offers fresh water to any hikers coming through. We signed the hikers journal and read through the previous postings to see if there were any section hikers ahead of us. We discovered there was another party of three that were hiking from Yosemite, North, to their home in Weaverville! They are a full day ahead of us so there is no chance of catching them. We loaded up with water and crossed the road to head toward the Meiss Cabin. The Meiss Family owned a big portion of the surrounding area in the late 1800's and the early 1900's and their summer residence is semi-preserved for hikers to view. Its astonishing to think that a family of 6 lived in such a small place!
This area is the Funk's hiking backyard, like Christi and I claim Desolation Wilderness is 'our' hiking area. The Bearded One's very first backpacking trip was to Showers Lake which is four miles North of the Meiss Cabin. Both of them were giddy about the hike today. Funk did this section on his solo Tahoe Rim Trail trip. He went from Heavenly Ski Area to Echo Lakes in one day! Thats like 30+ miles! No wonder his knees were wrecked after the trip. We stopped for breakfast at Showers Lake where we dried our TarpTents out and lounged in the sun.
We stopped prior to our usual '1/2 before breakfast' mark, so we still had 10 miles to go. Funk seemed to remember that the section from Showers Lake to Echo Lakes was mostly downhill. Out of our last 4 1/2 hours of hiking, 4 hours of it was uphill! Christi and I coined the term 'Funk Downhill' which obviously means hiking uphill. Late in the day Christi turned a corner and saw yet another set of switchbacks leading up, and yelled "Not another effing Funk Downhill!" I fell over laughing. We finally reached the parking lot of the ski area on Echo Summit just before you walk across Highway 50. Funks parents were waiting for us with cold drinks, burritos, cookies, and our food drop. Heaven!! We all piled into their truck and drove the 1 mile to Echo Lakes Resort. We smelled so bad! I felt like we were torturing Funks parents by forcing them to ride in the truck with us. We unloaded all of our gear at the picnic area and pigged out on lunch. Unfortunately we still had hiking to do as there is no camping at Echo Lakes. You must get to Tamarack Lake which is 1 1/2 miles from the water taxi landing. So we traded our full garbage bags for fresh food bags for the last two days of our journey. We said THANK YOU and goodbye to Dave Sr. and Jeannie Funk, jumped on the boat and away we went toward Desolation Wilderness. The water taxi was very cool as there are old (30's-40's) summer residences along the lake shore. They all lease land from the Forest Service and own the building. The cabins are very difficult to acquire and many of them have been handed down for generations. The driver of our boat told us that his great grandfather built his cabin in the late 20's. The four of us were his only passengers as it was late in the day, so we went directly to the far North of the second, smaller lake. We jumped off the boat on to the dock and away he went.
Once again we were on trail. Almost immediately we were in Desolation Wilderness, our last Wilderness area of the trip. We walked for a little less than an hour and came to Tamarack Lake, our destination for the evening. We found a great site close to the water and settled in. Believe it or not we had a snack before bed. It really is amazing how many calories you burn over the course of a trip. Our appetites are ravenous. Before bed I managed to coax one photo out of my ailing camera (low batt) of our lake before sundown. Another fantastic day.
(click on any photo to enlarge) Another epic day! Our campsite last night was very scenic but we were very close to the lake level and consequently our tents were soaked with dew this morning. We packed them up wet hoping to dry them out at our breakfast stop. As we made it further than expected yesterday we had only about 18 miles to Echo Lakes, where Funk's parents were kind enough to meet us for our last food drop. The photo above is looking back at our site on the Forestdale Divide. Our little lake sits directly below the high point to right of center, hidden by the grove of trees. Our first stop today was Carson Pass. We popped out on the road after about an hour of hiking. We were the first visitors of the day. As soon as we arrived, Ranger Craig came out of the Cabin to greet us.
The Carson Pass Ranger cabin is very kind to thru hikers and offers fresh water to any hikers coming through. We signed the hikers journal and read through the previous postings to see if there were any section hikers ahead of us. We discovered there was another party of three that were hiking from Yosemite, North, to their home in Weaverville! They are a full day ahead of us so there is no chance of catching them. We loaded up with water and crossed the road to head toward the Meiss Cabin. The Meiss Family owned a big portion of the surrounding area in the late 1800's and the early 1900's and their summer residence is semi-preserved for hikers to view. Its astonishing to think that a family of 6 lived in such a small place!
This area is the Funk's hiking backyard, like Christi and I claim Desolation Wilderness is 'our' hiking area. The Bearded One's very first backpacking trip was to Showers Lake which is four miles North of the Meiss Cabin. Both of them were giddy about the hike today. Funk did this section on his solo Tahoe Rim Trail trip. He went from Heavenly Ski Area to Echo Lakes in one day! Thats like 30+ miles! No wonder his knees were wrecked after the trip. We stopped for breakfast at Showers Lake where we dried our TarpTents out and lounged in the sun.
We stopped prior to our usual '1/2 before breakfast' mark, so we still had 10 miles to go. Funk seemed to remember that the section from Showers Lake to Echo Lakes was mostly downhill. Out of our last 4 1/2 hours of hiking, 4 hours of it was uphill! Christi and I coined the term 'Funk Downhill' which obviously means hiking uphill. Late in the day Christi turned a corner and saw yet another set of switchbacks leading up, and yelled "Not another effing Funk Downhill!" I fell over laughing. We finally reached the parking lot of the ski area on Echo Summit just before you walk across Highway 50. Funks parents were waiting for us with cold drinks, burritos, cookies, and our food drop. Heaven!! We all piled into their truck and drove the 1 mile to Echo Lakes Resort. We smelled so bad! I felt like we were torturing Funks parents by forcing them to ride in the truck with us. We unloaded all of our gear at the picnic area and pigged out on lunch. Unfortunately we still had hiking to do as there is no camping at Echo Lakes. You must get to Tamarack Lake which is 1 1/2 miles from the water taxi landing. So we traded our full garbage bags for fresh food bags for the last two days of our journey. We said THANK YOU and goodbye to Dave Sr. and Jeannie Funk, jumped on the boat and away we went toward Desolation Wilderness. The water taxi was very cool as there are old (30's-40's) summer residences along the lake shore. They all lease land from the Forest Service and own the building. The cabins are very difficult to acquire and many of them have been handed down for generations. The driver of our boat told us that his great grandfather built his cabin in the late 20's. The four of us were his only passengers as it was late in the day, so we went directly to the far North of the second, smaller lake. We jumped off the boat on to the dock and away he went.
Once again we were on trail. Almost immediately we were in Desolation Wilderness, our last Wilderness area of the trip. We walked for a little less than an hour and came to Tamarack Lake, our destination for the evening. We found a great site close to the water and settled in. Believe it or not we had a snack before bed. It really is amazing how many calories you burn over the course of a trip. Our appetites are ravenous. Before bed I managed to coax one photo out of my ailing camera (low batt) of our lake before sundown. Another fantastic day.
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