The next day I hiked from Woods Lake into the Mokelumne Wilderness for an easy and delightful couple of miles past Winnemucca Lake to Round Top Lake, then a modest scramble up Round Top Peak (6.8RT/2100’/10,381’). At 10,381’, this was my first 10,000’ peak of the trip, and just my second ever.
The flowers were spectacular along the way, though I heard people saying how this year they weren’t as good as they were last year and how they were way better on a nearby hike than on this one. You hear stuff like this all the time. I was in heaven though. Sagebrush and Indian Paintbrush - together! California Corn Lilly, they say. The Sisters, also over 10,000’. Fourth of July Peak in the high 9000s. No single spectacular thing, but the qualities compound: flowers, trees, rocks, views, lakes. Relatively easy stuff, too. I sat at the top and gazed over the smoky horizon.
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| Winnemucca Lake |
A gang of rambunctious young teenagers came sprawling across the meadow below, ending my reverie. I headed down the mountain and came upon two girls leading the way, singing, practically running up the hill, wearing shorts, t-shirts, sneakers, and looking entirely unprepared to me. I give them a paternalistic warning about exposure and four-point scrambling and they answered “we’re good”. I watched from below as they double-timed up the side of the peak, singing the whole way, and could readily acknowledge they were indeed good.
After my hike I went swimming again, this time in Woods Lake, my fourth. At 8220’, the water was a lot cooler than what I’d been in so far, but was still quite acceptable. The problem was a slimy bottom and a chilly breeze. Still, swimming after hiking makes my legs feel great. Woods Lake CG charged an outrageous $22 despite having no potable water, so I drove back to Big Meadows, hip now to the hazards of an open Bear Box.
The next day I hiked the PCT north from Carson Pass another easy and beautiful 5 miles into the headwaters of the Upper Truckee River, water destined for Lake Tahoe and maybe even Pyramid Lake. The trail had some fine qualities but was a bit too straight and a bit too flat for my tastes. Showers Lake, my final destination, might have been great but for the hazy pall from the fires. I retreated and took a side trail toward another lake with interesting looking rock formations but the trail led me straight into an enormous wet meadow. It was fun and filled with flowers but any one wrong step and I sunk to my calf.
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| PCT near Carson Pass |
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