30 May Day 38 – I’m Back!

At mile 1104.1. Hiked 11.8 PCT miles today.

After 26 days off the trail, I’m back and restarting my hike at the Echo Lake Spillway at mile 1092.3. I’ve hopped forward about 440 miles, bypassing the Sierras for now. After reaching Canada, I’ll come back to Echo Lake and hike 440 miles south to Walker Pass. 

The morning started off with a long walk up Pioneer Road as I hitchhiked. Finally, I was piled up by Simon who happened to be on his way to Echo Lake. Simon is a very cool guy from New Zealand and a back country skier. His dog, Tickles is also very cool.

Even though I was up at 6 AM and out the Mellow Mountain Hostel door very quickly, with hitchhiking, I wasn’t on the trail until 9:15 AM. I didn’t see any PCT thru hikers all day. There were a number of hikers that had were doing an overnighted at Aloha Lake. 

There was a long hike through deep snow mostly through a wooded area just south of Aloha lake. The snow, rocky trail, and heavily food loaded backpack slowed me down. I was also worried about how snow conditions would be north off Dicks Pass so I decided to stop early and camp before reaching the pass. I hope to make more miles tomorrow, but it doesn’t hurt to ease back into this. One good thing… an abundance of water. When I wasn’t walking through snow, I was walking through water.

Here is the view looking back at Echo Lakes.

Here is an example of snow I had to walk through. I had to check my course frequently and make corrections. Otherwise, I followed footprints as long as I saw them.

Here is Aloha Lake and mountains.

Here are other lakes beyond Aloha Lake.

Here is my tent site.