​Today was the day of the longest elevation gain. K&T stirred around 8am but I had been up since 5:30 so I’d already gotten through my pages, yoga, meditation and an alpine glow photoshoot. The thing I hadn’t factored in was that they have their morning routine and packing up dialed so I was the straggler even through I was awake more than 2 hours before. We didn’t get very far along the trail before we were overtaken by Oceanspray, Umble, Ambassador and Surf n’ Turf. It was fun to meet some of the characters in their blog stories. It was also fun to be in their world even if it was only going to be for a few days. 
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We ran into all these characters right at the 1100 mile mark. K&T had developed a tradition of making a mileage in the dirt/grass/snow/rocks then taking a picture with their feet in a photo. So fun. I found out about trail names too. Kelsey had become Kraken and Travis’ was Two Pass. I tried on a couple and settled with Short Stuff because I was only on the trail for a short section. 3 days versus 6 months. Maybe Very, Very Short would have been better or Very, Very as a trail name would have been cooler. Only had a couple days to think of one though so I guess I will just go with it.

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We traveled through meadows and across streams. After we crested at Dick’s Pass, we started down a fairly steep snow slope. I fell at one point and ended up on my back with my head going down the slope. It was unsettling. I didn’t want it to affect my speed going across future slopes but I think it may have. K&T had been traveling in these conditions for over a month. I felt like the nube. I had only been on snow once in the past 3 years. 

​Once we got down to level ground again, I began to understand why so much of their planning depended on snow conditions. We would get to one, it would be 10 feet high so we would have to scale that then they were so massive in scale at times that we would have to use GPS to refind the trail. There were a couple sketchy snow bridges and one ‘creek’ where the bridge had been completely tossed to the side. It was crazy to think that such a calm small stream of water was capable of such destruction. Other parts of the trail reflected this same history. 

We came to a stream that was uncrossable by jumping, logs, stones or bridges. Off with the shoes. I went happily across partly because I was getting to experience K&T’s struggle with getting through all these streams along the way. It was also only knee deep so no wet clothes. We grubbed on our sour worms then pushed on. I felt like I was holding our progress to a slow pace so I decided I was going to push myself to go faster in a mind over matter kind of way. I managed to speed up and felt I was managing to keep a relatively reasonable pace. 

As we approached Lake Richardson, our camping spot for the night, the mosquito population increased exponentially. Thankfully K&T had a bottle of somewhat natural bug repellent. Travis kindled a fire, we made a bunch of KD (Kraft dinner), Kelsey did a bit of blogging then passed out. I have to say I was impressed. She is writing all her blog posts on her phone. Incredible. 

This day could not have been more intense. Between the leaving my house hoping I got everything to being on time for my SnapCab meeting to finishing my final emails, to getting Travis his plastic bottle of Evan Williams, to meeting Rob with my car, to getting to K&T at Echo Lake, to hiking the 7 miles to Lake Aloha that evening, the day was packed with activity. I was wiped and ecstatic when we got to camp. 

I had communicated with them on Sunday night and they told me they had 11.9 (Mr. and Mrs. Precise) miles to go to get to Echo Lake. I made the assumption they would get there mid afternoon based on what I knew of their hiking style here in the bay. I got a text that I didn’t see until noon that they were going to make it by 2 to the parking lot. Damn! I left immediately. Along the drive, I realized I had to find grub because I hadn’t munched since lunch with Mike the day before. Oops! I also had to find the requested Evan Williams. No plastic bottle so I got plastic flasks which ended up being unnecessary due to an empty Gatorade bottle.

Met Rob finally at 3 in Folsom and we raced up to Echo Lake in my car. I am so unbelievably grateful to him for the part he played in this adventure. It was so kind of him. We got there and I didn’t recognize them until I saw Kelsey walk. They were so brown and looked about half their original size. Travis was also rather bushy. We unloaded all the food I brought and redistributed it into lots of ziplocks then into our backpacks. I’m sooooo glad I got my pack down to 18 pounds. That was heavy.

We took off for Aloha and the “impassable” snow. Arrived as the last light was in the sky, whipped up a bit of dinner and threw down our sleeping bags under a flood of moonlight and sparkling stars. 

This was a hit-the-ground-running kind of a day. I had the morning to sort out all the delegation I needed to do for all the responsibilities I have going with my various organizations. It’s great to be fun-employed but not having a boss when you have several projects going at the same time can be a bit chaotic. I took a break part way through the day. I did some work in the morning then took my yoga mat out to One Maritime Plaza for a bit of Vinyasa flow  - a totally necessary break in an over scheduled day. It was so beautiful and refreshing and peaceful. It's such a luxury to be in SF on my own schedule. Me = grateful.

I meandered back to the office, did a Superman change and walked off to One Sansome for a Toastmasters officer's training. Once it was over, I went to the Ferry Building for lunch with my TM buddy. Absolutely gorgeous day on the water. I strolled back through the Embarcadero walkways, grabbed my stuff and jumped on the road, southbound. I got a call from my friend Andres wanting to give me something for my trip. I asked what and said it was a journal. I almost fell out of my seat. That’s waaaaay to heavy for my 15 pound pack! I am so appreciative of the thought but it will have to be something I write in once I’m back.

At REI, I told the guy helping me find hiking poles that I wanted to know which ones were the lightest, cheapest and most popular. He pulled out a couple but as soon as he pulled the purple ones, I was done. Purple poles, purple pack, purple jacket. Perfect fit. In order to escape the crazy briefly, I had a hike with my friend Marie. We had a great talk and a great hike. Picking up a bear canister was my next order of business so I scooted over to my friend Ewa’s. She backpacks a ton too so I asked for tips. Once she said to bring tomatoes and avocados for dinner, I knew I would have to look elsewhere for advice. 

After the 12 mile trek on Saturday, Sunday was slated to be a mellow day: pretty much drive home and pack. I woke up ‘late’ (6:30). I took my morning pages out to the back deck of the lodge and wrote while I watched the sunrise. I didn’t have a sunburn from Saturday but I sure felt like I was getting one sitting out there. Once I finished my pages, the whole house was still asleep so I took my yoga mat outside to play yogi and meditate. Super peaceful place out there. So glad I was invited. 

It ended up being a pretty mellow day. We had a fun trip back with music and laughter. I might have been a little distracted on my phone because I was trying to coordinate everything I needed to before having to be ready to leave the next day. There was so much logistically and also making sure everything I had taken responsibility for in my different volunteer organizations would be okay while I was off the grid.

As soon as Kirby and I got back to Oakland, I put the rubber to the road. Thankfully that night, K&T had cell service so I could get the DL on what needed to be gathered and accounted for. They told me I had to get my weight down to 15 pounds (without food and water). Really? We will have to see about that. 

​Woke up to a killer day. I sprang out of bed, motored through my morning pages and had a yoga mat stretch. Kirby woke up, had a swig of coffee and we hit the trail. The goal for the day was to hike up to Lake Aloha and scout the trail. I mean, it was also to have a crazy gorgeous hike but the inspiration was to check conditions. We retraced our footsteps from the day before back to the Echo Lake Chalet, crossed the dam and began our march on the north side of the lake.

The day was toasty but not so toasty that I felt like diving into a snowmelt lake. Cold water and I aren’t good friends, so it’s a good thing it wasn’t hotter or I would have to confront my fear. The trail up to Aloha was super mellow. You climb up close to 600 feet without really noticing. There are really only about 2 switchbacks. As we rose in altitude, snow patches started to appear. As we hiked on, the snow converged across the trail. ​

We saw what the Tahoe Rim Trail hikers (TRTers) were saying about all the footprints but we kind of followed our instincts and found a posted sign with an arrow that let us know we were on the right track. We found slopes with snow but none of them felt like 45˚ angles. Besides, even if you slipped, the landings were soft. I determined that these particular TRTers seemed to not be extremely experienced snow travelers. Since I’ve had days (and nights) of traveling on glaciers, this didn’t seem to warrant the insistent advice about not joining Kelsey and Travis on their PCT adventure. 

​Kirby and I got to the edge of the lake which was pretty much frozen over and plunked down for midday grub. After looking at the scene and listening to the water a bit, we unparked and began our descent. We used our sense of direction to guide us back to Echo Lake. We had decided to take the water taxi depending on timing and brokenness. When we got to the turn off, we opted for the taxi - strained knee, distance/time back to the lodge, and it’s just fun to take a boat across the water.