Nee's Journeys

  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 Photos Map of Route Time for another Renee and Steve adventure.  This one was quite up in the air due to wildfires….the 2020 season was apocalyptic between fires and covid.  Our plan was to d0 a section of the PCT and finish off the last leg between Mt. Whitney and Lake Tahoe.  Our original plan was to do this hike and end up at Berkeley Camp at Echo Lake and enjoying some wine and good food but covid-19 put an end to that dream.  Simply for my own lazy purposes we went from south to north since it had 2000 feet less to climb…hey every foot counts.  I started the trip by staying overnight in South Lake Tahoe and there were lots of tourists up enjoying the smoked in lake and casinos….I didn’t quite get it myself but to each his own.  I will make a plug for the place I stayed though - The 7 Se...

This was my third time doing this wonderful loop trip.  The trail starts at Upper Highland Lakes and makes it way to the PCT, then breaks off to go over a saddle and into Paradise Valley before climbing up Disaster Creek and back to the trailhead.  The entire loop is about 16 miles.  I organized a meetup with Bay Area Backpacker Women's group & 3 others joined me on this trip.  This trail is great with lots of nice views but the real star of this trip are the wildflowers.  On Friday night we stayed at the Bloomfield campground which was extremely empty...us, the host and one other group.  I was really surprised given it was the 3rd week of July and the others campgrounds we stopped at were packed...oh well at least there was more peace and quiet.   We got to the trailhead around 9 AM and with beautiful blue skies we headed out.  Given what a light snow year it was I was really worried that we wouldn't see many flowers.  However, we were...

Carson Iceberg Wilderness – Paradise Valley Loop – July 17 - 18, 2010 & July 24 – 25, 2010 See the photos I actually did this trip twice in back to back weekends but figure there is no need to write about it two separate times. I have only done one other trip in Carson Iceberg and that was many moons ago. All I can recall from that trip was that it was freezing…it was already October and we came across a small bear crossing the trail. I had decided that I wanted at least one of the trips that I was leading with Sierra Club to be a wildflower trip. I searched and searched for some options and finally came across what seemed to be a nice loop trip in Carson Iceberg off of H4. Since I didn’t have much experience in the area and the fact that I like to actually do the route before taking a group out on it I decided to give it a dry run with Curtis and Andrew the weekend before my trip. I was also uncertain whether or not I would run into much snow since the high point go to about 1...