Day 77 - Lakes, lakes & lakes

Echo Summit to Mile 1113.3 - 22.5 miles

A good start today for the 5 day trip to Sierra City. Tiptoe & I picked up a hitch within 2 minutes after breakfast at McDonald's. This had us on trail by 8.40 am. Tiptoe was soon gone as she had the bit between her teeth & was going like a flying mammal from Hades. Today was about lakes (lots of them). Echo Lake was simply stunning - I would've been - happy blowning the budget to spend a week eating, drinking & reading in one of these chalets

A steady 900 foot climb brought us to the visually different Aloha Lake with its rocky isles

Our biggest climb for the day was a 1700 foot trudge up to Dicks Pass at 9377 feet

From the top you could see how the terrain is changing being not so daunting although I managed to take three tumbles on the icy descent.
I soldiered on in the late pm to eventually find a bug infested campsite at 7905 feet with my soles aching from the loose granite trail up from Echo.
My group from the last week has been reduced by 4 as the remaining 6 took an extra zero in Tahoe. XC, Lid & Tiptoe are all on a big mile mission so I'm back in solo territory. I did catch up with Roadrunner from Canada while Molson & Mountain Dew are thereabouts.
I also caught Justice (Trail Name - Hobbit) who was hiking with his Mum as far as Sierra City. There a few cases like this with Morning Glory about to join her 70 year old Dad.
Late in the pm I came across this tree having an identity crisis about whether it might be a hedge or shrub

Went past 1100 miles today.....Weta