My friend’s sister Laurie and her family were kind enough to drive me all the way from Reno airport  out to the trailhead at Echo Lake. I flew in that morning and was on trail by  mid-afternoon. The first day was an easy slow nine miles.

7/23  Richardson Lake

My second day was seventeen miles - a  bit aggressive. I was feeling kind of achy in my hips and heel.

"Nothing made me happier than the sight of my camp all set up for me here at Richardson Lake. I did a little swim before dinner. The water was a warm and wonderful."

7/24  Near Barker Pass

Last time I hiked the trail, Pink Floyd’s The Wall kept ringing in my brain. This time, another upbeat album took over: Danger Mouse’s  Dark Night of the Soul, with songs like “Revenge” and “Pain.” God knows why I chose to start listening to that album just before a hike like this. Great music, but a little depressing.  Anyway, the vacuum of outer silence really brought that music back into my head.

7/25  Near Highway 80 / Truckee

"No real pain in my right hip today! And I haven’t had pain in my shoulders or waist for several days. That’s excellent. Just have a blister on my right ankle.

The quiet is starting to sink in for me. It takes some time for this to happen. You start to realize the default setting for creation is NOT noise. There are millions of acres of forests where at 2 in the afternoon hardly a sound is heard -only an occasional chirp. Such peace would scare a city dweller. Where are the, horns, music, shouting, trains? Tonight in the distance I hear the highway. That is man’s new default setting – motors; always motors moving or manufacturing or cooling or blowing air. This type of living is newer than we realize."

7/26  On a peak 10 miles short of Jackson Meadow Reservoir

My day usually started at 6:00 or a little earlier. By 6:30 I was on trail. Lunch was a good 3 hour break from 12-3, with more hiking until late in the afternoon. Lunch was my favorite time.

"My rest today was at White Rock Creek – one of those amazing streams with soft grass, shade, and cool water to wash laundry, bathe, and cook. It was wonderful."

7/27  Sierra City

One would think that descending a mountain is easy and fun, but it’s hard on the knees, and you often have to switchback – descend in side to side terraced pathways that can easily turn a ½ mile descent into a 5 mile trek. You can see your goal below, but it doesn’t seem to get any closer.

·         "Today was a challenge.  My emotional states are way up and down. After a long  8 hrs of walking culminating in a 2 hr descent down to the creek,  I was so mad at the world and all the switchbacks that I shattered  my walking  stick against a wall in anger. In lieu of shouting, this was the best I could do. Today’s lunch at Milton Creek was, conversely, heavenly."

Breathe and move on.

Basic Camp

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