The rest of my hiking crew got out earlier today and I knew I wasn’t going to catch them. Because I am up on the north shore, I have an extra 45 min to travel to get to the trail. My cousin Raul, his mom, and my cousin Elizabeth helped me pack up my stuff. We said goodbye to my parents and Jessica, who jumped in their car and headed back to the airport in Reno. Saying goodbye to them sucked, as always.
Echo Lake
We jumped in Raul’s truck and drove back to the trail head. I didn’t arrive there until almost 3pm in the afternoon. I had no idea how far ahead the rest of my crew was so I started inquiring with day hikers if they had seen some nasty looking PCT hikers - I got enough intel to figure out that they had summited Dick’s pass. I hauled ass to get there. The hiking for the most part was pretty chill, with plenty of exposed trail.
I got up to the top of Dick’s pass, which gave way to amazing panoramic views of the area, it was already 8:30pm and the sun was basically down. On the north side of the pass was a ton of snow and ice, and fairly steep. I was loosing light quick so I rushed down.
Every campsite I found, I was expecting to run into the crew but I would either find the sites empty or would find them occupied by huckleberries. Eventually, around 9pm, I found one more site and a headlamp in the woods. It was shakedown trying to poop. I yelled, “MARCO!” and then I heard “BEASTIE!!! OVER HERE!”. I found the scoundrels. As soon as I pulled up they all hit the sack. Righteous and I smoked a cigarette and called it a night.
