Echo Lakes to Tamarack Lake

I couldn't resist another trip to Echo Lakes on my day off from work today. The Desolation Wilderness experience has been calling me for a few weeks, and the planets aligned enough for me to take off and go outside for the day.

Weather: perfect--sunny, little wind, low-60s warming up to mid-60's--t-shirt weather and wonderful. As you can see above, the lake was mirror-lake when I arrived. Beautiful sight.

Stats:

• Two hours drive up the hill along 50 to Echo Lakes.
  
• Echo Lakes to Tamarak Lake is about 3.8 miles each way out and back. Total mileage today 7.6 miles.
  
• Time (including taking pictures and enjoying the view): 3.5 hours. I hiked from 10:55-2:30. Remember that time includes pix and scenery admiration.

It was a weekday hike, and I had wondered how the trails would be in terms of company. There was a steady stream of people on the trail, and I felt completely safe--I passed a hiker/backpacker pair or so about every 30 mins, which was perfect. I felt 'away' but not isolated--the perfect type of feeling and great for escaping the rigors of work for a while.

Below: Here are some pics of the trail; as you can see, the trail varies from hard-packed dirt/rock to clamboring over moderate rocks to uneven large scree. It's always interesting, but it's also a good place to wear some ankle-supporting boots. You can hike at normal speed for half the hike; you're at slower speeds for the uneven sections, of which there are plenty, which makes for an interesting hike.

The trail and rocks were mostly dry, despite the recent storm, but there were tiny streams of water crossing the trail here and there, which made the trail satisfyingly crunchy in a new way.

Gear Comments: Plus, not so fun as the crunchy trail, I discovered that my boots are not that sticky on wet slick granite. Perhaps no boots are that sticky on that type of rock, but I slipped twice, saved from a painful tailbone incident only by my hiking poles. I'll have to remember to tread carefully when it gets to slippery hiking season. Thank goodness for poles!

Also, I've discovered that I'm not yet that used to my larger sized feet (in boots a size larger than normal because that's how hiking boots are). With the additional 1/2 inch in length, I haven't yet learned to pick my feet up in ways to accomodate the extra length, so there was an inordinate amount of tripping here and there. Again, I was grateful for the additional stability of hiking poles. Other than that, the boots are great. The additional length is just something I have to learn, I think.

Final Gear Comment: I'm probably the last person in the hiking world to have discovered Luna Bars, but so be it. Suffice to say that the banana nut bar can carry me through an entire 7 mile hike. Not bad and definitely tasty.

Below: The trail offers you some marvelous views of Upper and Lower Echo Lake on your way to Tamarack Lake.

Below: not a bad view for lunch! I sat on the bench on the boat taxi pier and watched the lake for a while. Pretty amazing that it's real, that it's not a screen-saver, that I live near enough to come places like this fairly regularly:




Disclaimer: I didn't actually find Tamarack Lake; there's a sign but no trail among some rock-scrambling. Since I was solo, although navigation was simple, I didn't want to venture too far off trail to find Tamarack because I wasn't too sure exactly where it was and whenever I looked back to find the trail, it turns out that all the rocks and trees look essentially the same off trail. I'll have to explore that part next time I'm up. No worries.

Below: Google Earth view of Lower Echo Lake; the trail goes around the top of the lake and then continues Northwest from here.



Mileage Stats from Echo Lakes Trailhead: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/recreation/wilderness/desowild/trails/east/echo-lake-trail.shtml