PCT Section J - Sonora Pass to Echo Lake - August 24-29, 2020
Trip Logistics
- When - August 24-29, 2020
- PCT Section J - Sonora Pass to Echo Lake
- Total Mileage/Ascent - Approximately 72 miles and 16,000 feet of elevation gain
The next morning I headed west to Berkeley Camp to meet Steve where we’d be leaving his car. After picking up Steve I headed to Sonora Pass which would be the start of our trip. Our plan today was to walk about 9 miles to nowhere in particular just where we could find water and some campsites. We started out the trip in true Steve and Renee style and we took a wrong turn….a turn that took us pretty straight up a vertical climb. After Steve scouted a bit and determined there was way too much exposure towards the top he had the pleasure of shlepping my pack back down to more agreeable terrain…..Note to self check the map…all of them. We topped out at the pass below Sonora Peak early afternoon. At the top we met an older man who was just finishing his PCT hike and was really looking forward to a shower (can’t blame him). The descent down into the creek was pretty uneventful and it was quiet, forested and a little smoky. We ended up camping quite a bit short of our intended destination but in a very nice location by the water. Good news was there was quite a bit of water still flowing…I was worried about this since it was a low snow year. I should mention that we used Guthook for this trip….my first time using it and a trusted resource for PCT hikers. I’d give it a thumbs up and it had a lot of good data that we used especially we did not have a specific daily destination unlike most trips that I do.
On day 2 we aimed to get ourselves back on track with our intended route and get just north of the Carson Iceberg Wilderness boundary. Unfortunately today was a bit hazy so we didn’t get the great vistas this section has to offer. The day’s mileage was about 12 and I had covered probably about half of those miles on some other trips. There is a great loop hike between Highland Lakes and the cutoff for Paradise Valley. The real highlight of today though was the cows…or should I say lowlight…..even though I have hiked in this area 3 or 4 times I have never encountered cows…..well I made up for it on this trip. Our first flag should have been when we ran into a father and son hiking the same PCT section that we were and they said they were taking a break to put some distance between them and the cows. What are a few cows? Well it wasn’t a few cows as we soon came to find out. It was cowboys with a huge herd of cows on the trail….grrr. Given my familiarity with the area I suggested an off trail cut off over a small pass….well you can imagine how that went. Let’s just say Steve ended up shlepping my pack again but we had success we were now a head of the cows….or were we? The rest of the afternoon those cows and their bells were hot on our heels. We finally ended up at Asa Lake for the night and boy did I swear I heard cowbells all night. Asa Lake is pretty well trodden with lots of campsites…it’s a nice place but not somewhere I would normally make a destination.
Day 3 was a whole new area for me and I have to say the highlight of the trip for me. I honestly don’t recall a whole lot until we got to Ebbetts Pass. The hike north of Ebbetts is absolutely spectacular. You start by climbing a bit down into Sherrold Lake and there were unsurprisingly lots of people in this area given the short hike in. There were a lot of campsites in this area. A bit beyond you get to Kinney Lakes..both are dammed lakes and they were of course quite low. This is where the views start getting real good…especially looking to the south/southeast. Finally you cross into Mokelumne Wilderness and you get some really crazy rock formations in the Reynolds Peak area….very cool stuff. While we were really enjoying the views we also knew we really needed to find a camp soon since it had been a long day and water was definitely a concern in this area since we had already passed some dry creeks. We finally got to the creek that is just south of Raymond Peak and crossed the creek to look for camping….but there were no camp sights. Tired and hungry we recrossed the creek and thankfully found the campsites that had just been hidden away from us. Basically they were south of the creek…just to the west of the trail up on a bit of a bluff. There was actually a large camping area which is probably full during PCT peak time. Long day…pooped out…we ate in the dark and went to bed.
Day 4 was another spectacular day. The whole section from camp over the pass to the northern border of Mokelumne Wilderness is quite beautiful. It was also a day where we tried to solve a mystery. Many years before…I think 15 or so years before Curtis, Steve and I had done an overnight trip in this area and we were suppose to camp at a lake but aren’t sure which one. We believe after talking it over on this trip that we were either trying to get to Raymond Lake or to Asa Lake. My guess is Asa Lake since we were coming in off of CA-4 and hiked south….let’s just say we got lost ended up at a pond and froze our tushies off because it was mid-October…we did see a bear on that trip though which was nice. Anyways mystery semi-solved as we pass through amazing terrain with views everywhere. Unfortunately it was kind of a steep and slippery trail so you had to keep your “eyes on the road”…I actually slipped and fell at one point…adding some bruises in all the wrong the places. We cross H4 and headed to Tamarack our destination for the evening. This was a bit of a disappointing campsite but we decided we didn’t want to go hard today and decided to setup. It’s a dammed lake like everything in this area and it was very very empty and what was left was lots of icky algae…I think we killed at least one of our filters on the stuff. It was nice and quite until some trucks showed up on the west end of the lake playing their music…thankfully they went to bed early and all was quite that night.
Day 5 was a day with no specific destination…we decided to figure out while we walked. At this point we knew we could finish the trip in six days but had planned for seven and still had lots of food to eat (as is usual). I was just kind of glad to get away from algae water and have a better source of water. Today’s route would also have some areas that Steve and I had been in before. We had done a trip probably 10+ years ago out of the Blue Lakes area. My guess that was to Grouse Lake from Upper Blue Lake but we weren’t certain. This was also a very nice day of hiking…a little hazy but still some good views as you stay pretty high for quite awhile on this section and it was interesting to see how the terrain just continued to change…lots of volcanic rock in this area. This day also included the land feature called - The Nipple….nuff said…giggle. There was some griping (my griping) about the climbing especially out of the Forestdale Creek drainage…it was just hot and very sunny and I knew we wouldn’t stay south of highway 88 so there was still a good bit of hiking to be done that day. We crossed an area right below the Elephant’s back…that was prime pika terrain…and sure enough you could hear there little yips and after I stood still for awhile I finally got a glimpse of one…I love those pikas. There is a loop out of Carson Pass that is quite popular and it was a pretty busy day on the trail and at Frog Lake where we had a lovely lunch break. After lunch we crossed the highway and into the Lake Tahoe Basin area and decided we would head to Showers Lake. This a great stretch of terrain and lovely meadows….it was quite dry when we were walking through but it would make an excellent day hike or overnight trip earlier in the season. There were lots of folks camped at Showers Lake not a surprise since we were in the Tahoe area. It was a very nice spot with lots of campsites.
Day 6 would be the final day and I think we had reached that point where we ready to haul and get out….it’s always a mix of feelings on that last day. I’d say this last stretch to Echo Lake is very "Tahoe-ish” which won’t mean a whole lot to some but if you have spent a lot of time in this area you know what I’m talking about. Lots of lovely forest and rocks. Some of the descent was a bit steep and I was sure glad we didn’t hike north to south…there was a lot of uphill in this section especially for the beginning of a trip. Interestingly when we got close to US-50 we came out at some snow play area….that was a bit crowded with day use folks. We then decided to take the Pony Express trail…yes the wrong trail….and eventually veered back to the PCT. Now we had come to the one place we were most worried about on this trip…you might ask was it a trail pass or creek crossing? No but it was a big ol highway….needless to say I made Steve be the highway crossing guinea pig before taking my chances crossing. The hike north of the highway was hot…very hot…but uneventful and we got back to our cars right around noontime. We packed up and drove back to Sonora Pass at which point we said adieu to each other and Steve headed west back to the Bay Area and I headed Southeast to Mammoth and to the next adventure in Pioneer Basin. While we were packing up to drive our separate ways some rain had started and it looked like some thunder and lightning would soon be on the way….a day later a fire had started east of the pass closing highway 395 for a short time.
While this trip was not on my list of trails to hike it was quite nice and something different to offer from my Eastern Sierra terrain much of it quite nice. I was surprised even in a low snow year that we had quite a bit of accessible water but I suspect this would have been a lot harder mid-Sept in a low snow year. Another Steve and Renee adventure successfully completed.
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