Day 12: Back to South Lake Tahoe

PCT Mikes 1092.3 to 1098.4

Miles Hiked = 6.1

This morning I caught a plane to Reno, then a shuttle to South Lake Tahoe, then an Uber to Echo Lake Chalet where the PCT passes near by. This is close to where I exited the trail 2+ weeks ago.

Regarding Donna’s knee, she had the GAE procedure done at UCLA a couple days after we returned home. All went well with the procedure. Her knee has been swollen and tender ever since but we have been told that that is normal. It’s too early in the recovery to know if her knee function will be improved. Assuming it will be, there is still a meniscus tear that needs to be addressed. Donna would like to be able to hike again on the PCT next summer but I’m not so optimistic. We will see.

The Uber driver dropped me off at Echo Lake Chalet about 4:30pm.

There is a small store and deli so I ordered a sandwich to go that I would eat in a few hours. I organized my pack and started hiking at 5:00pm. I was back on the PCT!

The trail follows along the northern side of Echo Lake for the first few miles. I was hiking directly into the setting sun. The views were nice.

The trail paralleled the lake but was maybe 100 yards or so away and slightly above the shoreline. As I hiked I noticed a lot of cabins along the lake. It didn’t look like there was a road so I assumed that all of these cabins were generally accessed by boat. I wondered if these were private cabins or rentals??? They looked liked private cabins to me. What a great place to have a private lakeside mountain retreat.

It didn’t take long before I had a nice view looking back at Echo Lake.

I continued hiking until I got to Lake Aloha around 7:30. It was beautiful but didn’t quite feel like Hawaii. Hahaha. As the sun was setting….I set up my tent.

Today was an easy hiking day. Tomorrow gets more serious – I have to knock off 20+ mile days for the next four days in order to reach Sierra City by Friday.

Thanks for reading.