PCT 2007 Day 93 – Echo Lake – Dick’s Lake

PCT 2007 Day 93

Day 93 / 6-26-07 Tarp Tent 8450′
Echo Lake – Dick’s Lake
15.2 miles; 1109.7 (48.4) total miles; 2964.2 trip miles
High 70’s, sunny, some wind

Deer count is 62
Marmot count is 50
Pika count is 2
Bear count is 1

!!The marmots made a show for the first time in days. They sent 3 contenders out at once!!

Today we slept in until after 6:30 AM since the store didn’t open until 9 AM. The smoke got pretty bad for me last night. I finally fell asleep though.

We hung out in front of the store from 7 till 9 and when they opened, did all kinds of logistics. We had gear everywhere. At 9 we went in the store and bought more food. Silver, Backtrack, and I shared a half gallon of ice cream and Backtrack bought Reeses pieces and some Oreo cookies to put in it. It was quite the breakfast.

By around 10 or so the owners came out and started getting our packages. By this point Tattoo Joe and Crow had joined us. When the guy came out with only one package, I asked if he had another and he said no. Then said he had one for James Fowler but unless I had photo ID for James Fowler he couldn’t give it to me. I knew it was mine and he probably put the return address name on his list instead of mine. Everyone there looked at me as my face said “you must be _____ing kidding me!”. I was pissed. Luckily he double checked and I was correct. I got my boxes with my food, new shoes, and finally made an inventory of my bounce box. I shipped my bear canister home and bounce box ahead. I just had enough time for a Coke and a Klondike Bar.

Silver, Backtrack, and I left around 1:15 and we caught Tattoo Joe and the four of us hiked the rest of the day together. We had a bunch of us but got some great views starting with Echo Lake.

At Margery Lake we got some great views of the smoke from the fire. It was close, maybe 3 miles away. Next we hiked along the edge of Aloha Lake, which is man-made. They dammed a low land wet area and now theres a lake with tons of rock islands in it. It was a beautiful lake with snow covered mountains on the other side. We descended a bit, passing a few junctions, and then started our ascent up Dick’s Pass. It was a long climb compared to anything we saw the last few days. It also had a false pass, which totally fooled me and pissed me off at the same time. I was super hungry and just wanted to eat. We got to the top and sat for a bit before descending to Dick’s Lake. We saw three marmots in a rock garden while coming down. One marmot was whistling to warn the others.
Once to camp, the mosquitoes were brutal. We cooked dinner and then I cleaned up for the first time in a few days. My legs were so dirty I looked like I had the best tan of my life but alas it was just 3 days of dirt and dust.