June 30, 2016

The morning began with a climb up to the ridge line. We followed the ridge from ski slope to ski slope for most of the morning. To the east were valleys peppered with lakes and partially filled with clouds. To the west were stark ridges and crags.

We began dropping down from the ridge and working our way through forest. A little after noon we stopped for lunch next to a pond and took a look at the numbers. We had been moving quickly all day and it was flat for the foreseeable future until we climbed Dick's Pass and then dropped down into Exho Lake. We decided that today would be a push day.

Around 4:00pm we reached our first craggy alpine lakes that the Sierras are known for. Snow covered slopes dropped down to amazingly blue yet perfectly clear water. We followed along the edge of two of these lakes before stopping around 5:00pm at the base of Dick's Pass to evaluate how things were feeling before starting up the climb.

After a some food and a bit of stretching it was decided that going up and over the pass would be just fine. The first third of the climb was snow free. The next third began showing patches of snow. The final third was entirely snow and covered in so many different sets of foot prints and slide tracks that it was difficult to know where to go. We made it to the top without getting lost to be welcomed by some spectacular views.

After spending almost half an hour appreciating the views on both sides of the pass we began descending down towards Echo Lake. Dusk was settling and the mosquitos were beginning to make an appearance. We briefly considered pushing all the way to Echo Lake and starting our July 4th weekend a day early but had heard that Echo Lake itself was not very hiker friendly. We opted to camp by a lake and enjoy a lazy 10 miles down to the highway in the morning.