Echo Lakes to Tamarack Lake August 2010

Above: a view of the snow-melt river at the side of Hwy 50 on the way to Tahoe. I had been meaning to take a picture of this river for many months, and I finally managed to do so. Since it was a clear day, I managed to capture the reflections, which is kind of cool.

On the trail: My Mum was in town for another visit, and since she's a big hiker, I took her to one of our classic Sierra Nevada hikes--Echo Lakes to Tamarack It was yet another stunning Tahoe day as we close out our summer here in Norcal: mid-70s, cloudless sky, pretty windy, however, so we held onto our hats. The wind also created significant movement on the lake surface, so no mirror lake pics this time around.

We arrived at Echo Lakes at about 10, and although it was a Friday, the parking lot was already packed. I think we found one of the last spots. The trails were steadily busy, but there was still plenty of room for everyone, with a good mix of backpackers, day-hikers, and tourists.

Before our hike, I finally had the chance to visit the Echo Lakes store, and inside, I found a good selection of groceries plus the largest selection of Echo Lakes shirts and paraphernalia I've ever seen. Pretty impressive marketing there, Echo Lakes!

We set off on our hike along Lower Echo to Upper Echo, and we both hiked steadily, enjoying the view and the sound of the wind in the trees (which preceded the cooling effects of said wind on some hot hikers).

Below: We had lunch on picnic benches, which I didn't know were there, at the top of Upper Echo Lake, to the right of the water-taxi pier (which was making a killing the day we were there). :)

Below: We finally found Tamarack, which actually isn't that hard to find if you can find the boot-beaten trail. The trail is a little elusive because it blends in with the surrounding granite boulders and flats, but the cairns are pretty accurately placed, and the lake is worth looking for.

Tamarack is really only about 400 yards from the main PCT trail, and it's a sweet quiet little alpine lake--a nice break from the 'hub-bub' of the main trail. :) It seems like a great place to swim if you're so inclined.

Stats:

• Temp: mid-70s, cloudless
• Distance: Echo Lakes (Upper to Lower to Tamarack)
• Drive-Time: About 90 mins from home, off 50.
• Trail: a good mix of dirt, jagged granite rock gardens, and loose shale, much in the shadow of granite walls on one side and stunning lake views on the other.

This hike was my third hike to Echo; look here for my first (to Aloha) and second.

I typically try to explore new places with each hike, but Echo keeps drawing me back. I think next time, I'll take the water-taxi, and then use the additional miles savings to explore further in the back country--Jabu, for example, comes to mind along with more of Aloha.

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

Echo Lakes to Lake Aloha Hike, August 09

August 09: 12 miles; 6.5 hours.

Starting Point: Echo Lakes. (1 hr 20 about from Folsom). Very popular trail, so often met hikers and backpackers. Not exactly crowded but don't look for a solitary experience.

As we hiked along the trail along the eastern shore of the lake, we saw several ospreys diving into the lake to catch fish.

I went on my first group hike with this excursion. I wanted to walk with like-minded folks, and I wanted to visit hikes I wouldn't otherwise likely visit alone.

The folks in the group were welcoming and generous, and I felt very comfortable with them. One thing about walking with a group, however, is that the group sets the pace. That means that, with this particular group at least, we tended to walk at a quicker pace than I would normally have chosen. I'm fit, but I like to look around and enjoy the scenery and not just blow past it on a walk. On this hike, however, I noticed that I didn't have that much time to just look around on the hike; the trail was pretty technical, so I spent much of the time looking down, and when I did look up and around, I found myself falling behind the group. Additionally, I've realized that, with my bum knee, I'm just not a fast hiker.

The disconnect was the disparity between the purposes for the hike. I think much of the group was out for a workout with a side-dish of views whereas I was looking for views with a side-dish of workout. I went out to hike, yes, but not at the expense of looking around and enjoying the views. Why go all that way and not look up, I wonder? Perhaps they did look up, but I found it hard to do so at that speed. No-one's fault; just an observation. I think, though, that this dichotomy is inherent to any group activity: the question is how best to accomodate different goals.

'T'any rate, this hike is a fine one person or two person hike--plenty of people already on the trail to witness any disaster and help if you need it, and then you can pause to see the views.

Weather: starting out around 10, the weather was mild--low 70s, so no fleece or jacket--and dry. An isolated storm was forecast, but while the sky became a little threatening, with a rumble or so of thunder, only a few raindrops fell. Most people added long sleeves at Lake Aloha but quickly removed them on the way back down again. A very pleasant weather day.

Below: Starting Point: Echo Lakes




Below: Early on the trail: people had a despairingly fast pace at first, but eventually, people settled down into groups of similar paced folks.

Below: View of the north end of Echo Lake from the trail. You can rent chalets here apparently.


Below: Another view from the trail. Trail conditions varied from flattish hard packed dirt to granite marbles to clamboring over large rocks (but not boulders). Always interesting.

Below: Looking back to the Upper Echo Lake.

Below: An example of the large granite rocks we clambored over on the way to Aloha.

Below: Resting and regrouping along the trail:

Below: Views along the trail:

Below: A pretty good example of why Desolation Wilderness is called thusly. Granite crags and boulders all around. Beautiful but, yes, desolate. An amazing place to be.


Below: Lake Aloha, finally, after some trail sign confusion, after this year's drought. This arid desert is actually the lake bed.

Below: Finally, the water part of Lake Aloha. Well worth the hike (6.0 miles to Aloha from Echo Lakes).




Below: The early part of the return trail was on a different trail to the one we took to the get to the lake. (The trail signs petered out once you got close to Lake Aloha, and with the arid lake bed, it was hard to see where the lake was. As a result, we ended up on a different trail--which was fine.) Here's a huge boulder pile we passed. It looks like a giant lost his marbles. :)

Below: I don't know how the bark of this fallen tree ended up in a spiral, but it looked interesting.

Below: Image from the return trail:


Below: View from just above trailhead on return trip: you can see Lake Tahoe in the background.

More info:

http://books.google.com/books?id=j5JK8pTwDKgC&pg=PA148&lpg=PA148&dq=echo+lakes+to+lake+aloha+hike&source=bl&ots=84WOpmhwWZ&sig=kiOQ57EdZrlX87NCMBphIp_BYAw&hl=en&ei=ykatStGbKZGIswPGjpyaBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#