CA Section J: Wild Flowers, Lake Swims, a Great Sunrise Timelapse, and Trail Magic Alley

Section J is 76 miles long and runs from Sonora Pass to Echo Lake. July 9th - 14th.

Day 65, 25.7 miles to camp near Highway 4.

After a short hike down and a climb up out of the valley, the trail stayed relatively flat so we could get some miles in. There was a huge mound of crumbly rocks that looked like it was dumped there in the middle of the wilderness. Around 1 o'clock a sobo told us there is a trail magic at highway 4 which was about 13 miles ahead and burgers and beer are always a great incentive so we took off on a long death march hoping to arrive by dinner time. We went seven miles, mostly through forest, then up to a saddle with a nice view looking back south and took a quick break. It was 430 and we still had five and a half miles to go so we kicked it into high gear to fly down the trail. There was a dirty lake, some swirly switch backs, and then some flat stretches on the way down. When I got to the road I saw three hikers sitting on the shoulder and my heart sank, I thought we missed it. Then I saw the lawn chairs off to the right! Tom, AKA Uber Frog, hiked last year and drove out from St. Louis to put on trail magic for the whole week. He cooked up a cheeseburger and hot dog for each of us and had tons of sodas and snacks to share. He said there are campsites up the hill and we are welcome to come back for breakfast so that is exactly what we did.

Thanks Uber Frog for the amazing dinner AND brekkie!

Day 66, 21.4 miles to Lost Lakes.

We returned to the trail magic and hung out with Uber Frog as he cooked up breakfast burritos for us. He got his trail name when a frog hopped in his pack during a break and he carried it a few miles before realizing it was there. We took off as some other hikers arrived and soon passed Kinney Lake where I fancied a swim but Sea Lion pointed out that we've only hiked 1.7 miles on the day. That is much too soon for a break so we pushed on towards some awesome craggy peaks that I took lots of photos of. She waited for me under a shady tree where we had snack #1. We continued on for a few more miles and took a break at a stream to fill water, air our feet, and make a plan to hike to Lily Pad Lake for our next snack. As the name suggest there were a lot of lily pads and I waded out to get some photos of the flowers and dragonflies. After eating, Sea Lion pulled ahead again when I climbed a few routes and then got further ahead when I stopped on a ridge with cell service to order new shoes. The scenic Upper Blue Lake was below the ridge and when the trail crossed to the other side I could see the Lost Lakes. Sea Lion had already began setting camp and it was an amazing site right on the water. There was a big fire pit and an east-facing view that was absolutely perfect for sunrise.

I waded and waited for 20 minutes for this dragonfly to finally land on the Lily Flower.

Day 67, 17.3 miles to camp near Highway 50.

Just as I suspected the sunrise was absolutely stunning. Watch the video above if you don't believe me. I went for another swim in Lost Lakes and then we packed up our amazing campsite. We had to pass down through a large valley which continued to be vibrantly decorated with wildflowers and then across a small snow patch on the other side. Carson Pass is popular among day walkers and we started passing them folks right after the snow. We took our first break at Frog Lake where I went for my second swim of the day. From there down to the visitor center was an obviously wide and well-trodden trail so we made great time getting there. Upon arrival, Bonnie took too serving us all sorts of snacks, one after the other. Then she saw my camera and retrieved her wildflower book to help me identify all of the flowers I have been shooting. She reminded me of my Grandma Love, who spent decades volunteering at the Cincinnati Wildflower Preservation Society. About half of a mile later, at the trailhead parking lot, we met Sweetness who was also hosting a trail magic. We were his first hikers/customers at his first ever trail magic! We hung out there for a bit and were joined by Colin, an old Englishman from Liverpool. We all took off to climb up to a bald which was completely covered in iris's. They were beautiful, and a local told us that it is extremely rare for them to be at this elevation. He added that the entire of coming stretch is as beautiful as he has ever seen it with tons of blooming wildflowers. Also, on this 5 mile stretch, a sectioners named Ducky was handing out a Snickers and a Coke to through hikers. The next stop was Showers Lake where I went for my third swim of the day, hat trick complete. While drying off we met Fluffy, who also was handing out some trail magic in the form of bags of chips hanging from his pack. We chatted with him for a bit and learned he has a few first kayak floats down crazy South American rivers. That is bad ass. I thought four trail magics in a day must be a record but then Colin arrived and said he also had two separate day walkers give him fresh fruit, bringing his total to six! From Showers Lake we had another short and mostly down hill walk to camp which was flanked by massive rock walls and had a trickling stream through the middle.

Thanks Bonnie, Gaylin, and Scott for operating the best visitor center I've ever been to!

Thanks to Sweetness for the bacon-wrapped hot dogs! And the tour of his cool camper.

Thanks Fluffy for the chips! Creative carrying method too

Day 68, 3.5 miles to Highway 50 and a hitch to South Lake Tahoe.

The trail continued downward and then got pretty discombobulated at the bottom. I think I went off trail numerous times and there were tons of piles of cut up tree trunks and limbs areanged into teepees. We scored a hitch almost immediately on highway 50 along with Slug Bug, a new friend from Belgium. We got dropped off at the Y, a big crossroads of higways with tons of stores, which was a great place to get started on town chores. We ate second brekkie at Starbucks, shipped my bear canister home, scored some awesome new clothes at Goodwill, ate at a Chinese buffet, and bought our food resupply before continuing on to town. We got to Mellow Mountain Hostel and sorted our food while waiting for the rooms to be made up. We sipped on beers with fellow hikers throughout the day and assembled a crew to go get pizza at Base camp for dinner. They give hikers a free pizza! Then Sea Lion recruited more friends to cross the state line to Nevada and go to a casino club called Tahoe Wabo which had a live band. So we squeezed up in the front row, and raged all night long.

Day 69, 0-Day in South Lake Tahoe.

Sea Lion and I were up way before everyone and cooked a delicious brekkie; hash browns, eggs, avocado, and a banana. We did laundry and I worked in the blog while everyone slowly rose from their slumbers. I planned to find the extremely slow leak in my sleeping pad but then we wound up going to get bottomless mimosas with the traimily. Afterwards we all decided to go check out the lake and hung out there for a couple hours until ominous clouds rolled in. Sea Lion and I joined a dance party in the parking lot on the way out and we got back to the hostel just before the rain hit. We made burgers, hand cut fries, and pizza throughout the night and had a grand old time.