MountAbbey - Tahoe Rim Trail Journal - 2014

Day 2 - Big Meadow to Echo Summit

Day 2
20+ miles.
6:30am to 5:30pm

Freel Meadow to Echo Summit (Hwy 50)

I was up early as the full moon made it hard to sleep. In addition, the mattress was hard and I was worried that bears would get my bear bag. It was hung a little too low.

Up at 6am. Hiking by 6:30. At Big Meadow by 8:00am, where I met the TRT association thru hikers. They were being shuttled from the CG to the TH.

I was happy to see an outhouse and garbage. (No water). I had enough water to make Round Lake so I didn?t detour to the campground. And I?d passed a few other running streams so water was low on my priorities.

There was frost in the meadow. And a nice trail to Round Lake. I meant to swim but the water seemed low and it was still early in the day. I figured I?d swim later at Shower Lake.

The path to the PCT junction was up, then flat. Fine except? I ran out of water. I passed a couple of clear streams thinking I?d fill at Upper Truckee. That ended up being a stagnant pond. So I kept going. Lesson - fill up at clear water sources.

I met a woman who was hiking the rim trail as her first backpacking trip. Congrats to her and everyone else in the 165 mile club.

I met some PCT thru hikers. Two said they were going to Canada, while heading south on the trail. They meant: had been going north and were now heading to Mexico. Confusing. But the bulk of the people on this section were day hiking the TRT. 3 PCT. 6 TRT. And the party of 12 at the TH.

I swam at Shower Lake. And forgot my mattress pad when repacking. 1/4 mile up the trail I realized my pack had the wrong shape. I cut over the rocks to where I swam and found it. The trail out of shower lake was odd, dropping down into a canyon and then back up instead of going around the lake. So backtracking was only a short distance off the trail.

I got a little sun burnt, both from swimming, drying out, and the open meadows. This stretch felt like the PCT, because it cut through a meadow as it climbed the ridge. And it was the PCT.

The trail took a weird climb after Bryan Meadow and the map had logos over a 1000ft descent so I didn?t anticipate it. The down section was steep and on granite so my already tired feet weren?t all that impressed. I was happy I was going clockwise today. I got to the bottom ahead of schedule for meeting my wife and my first food drop at the trailhead, but definitely tired. 40+ miles in two days is a much faster start than my normal trip.

I was supposed to look for a spot to camp in the last mile, but decided to camp on the ridge beyond Echo Summit. I had a good view of Lake Audrian and was far enough away from the road so I couldn?t hear traffic. A good bear bag tree made sleep that much easier.

At Echo Summit, I switched to long pants for sun protection. I picked up 3.5 days of food and water. But mostly kept the same gear. My camera had started to act weird, not focusing sometimes, but there wasn?t much to do about that.

Note: no camping north of Hwy 50 until the Desolation Wilderness.

Entry 7 of 7
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