Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) Section Hike — Big Meadow to Eagle Falls— Memorial Day Weekend 2020
This hike would be my first multi-day backpacking trip of the year, and more importantly, my first wilderness adventure in a post-Covid world. With most outdoor infrastructure closed down for the previous 2.5 months, I was incredibly excited to get this trip underway. I went about this walk with my trusted partner Madi from the Two Kings Loop hike last year, and with a great forecast staring back at us, we hit the trail at about Noon on Saturday, June 23rd.
Our original plan was to hike from Big Meadow to Barker Pass, implying about 10 miles per day with a 15 mile push on the last day. However, by the end of the first day, it would become clear that our plan would need adjusting due to significantly more snow than we anticipated.Long story short, our assumptions regarding the snow were significantly off, so we we ended up doing about 5 miles shorter than originally intended, exiting at Eagle Lake in Emerald Bay State Park.
Day One:
It became clear very early on that almost everywhere over 8100 feet would have snow, sometimes 2–4 feet deep. More on this later.
With mostly terra firma under us on the way to Round Lake, we made great time. This section was mostly uneventful, filled with day hikers and us getting used to having packs on our backs for the first time in 8 months. At Round Lake we decided that we wanted to cut off trail and work our way towards Meiss Lake (~8300'), which would be a great spot to have lunch with no people around and act as a possible short cut. Our route leading to Meiss Lake would be the last time we would see dirt trail for almost a full day, and Meiss Lake itself was almost completely frozen over. After a quick bite to eat, we pressed on, wading the first of only two rivers that we would have to soak our feet to wade, this one being the Upper Truckee River.
From that point on, we trudged uncomfortably in the snow for another few hours, getting used to our much slower pace given the constant post-holing and route finding. Towards the evening, we hit the part of the trail that is in the shadow of Little Round Top with an outstanding view down the drainage that we had walked up all day. Although we hadn’t gone that far, we were both tired of walking in the snow, and both felt we were in a remarkable spot so why not stop for the night and rest. We were only short about 2 miles from our original target, but we knew we could make it up tomorrow. There was a shoulder that juts out a bit east of the trail, marked with an “x” and “8750” on the USGS map, and we knew that this point would have the best views of Little Round Top and the drainage below so we headed straight for it. With snow pretty much everywhere, we were able to find a spot big enough to fit my larger tent, and we both enjoyed the spectacular purple light show reflect against the totally white environment.
Day Two:
We knew we needed to make up some snow filled miles so we got started at about 8:30am. Fortunately for us, it was a gorgeous morning and the sun was already baking us in the reflective heat of the snow. Although we were probably 7 miles or so from Echo Lake, that was going to be our goal for lunch. Although this section of the hike was visually beautiful — with the entire forest covered in a thick blanket of snow and the sun shining — both Madi and I were really starting to dread the constant sinking and post holing. I had already hurt myself pretty badly on the first day and thus was trying to be super careful, but for two people who are used to hiking a certain speed, it got quite annoying fast. To add insult to injury, we kept losing the “trail” and would end up either be forced to back track through the snow, or have to get creative and slide down a steep ravine to get back on track. Nonentheless, it took us FIVE hours to get to Echo Lake because of some routing mistakes and the slowed-down pace that is forced on you by the deep, mushy snow. At Echo Lake we feasted for lunch, swam, and washed some clothes.
This was my first time seeing Echo Lake and it’s really something else. It’s a gorgeous lake with houses along the shore that are only accessible by boat. Typically the forest service runs a little shuttle boat to the other side of the lake which would have been nice to take, but it was not functional due to Covid. We then tried to hitch hike a ride but had no luck. At least the hike along the lake was totally on trail, beautiful, and had no snow at all.
We were now officially in the Desolation Wilderness (woohoo, first time!), and we hit snow about 1.5 miles past the end of Echo Lake, and we would not leave it until we essentially got to the end of our hike a bit below Upper Velma Lake a full day and a half later. Regardless, this section of walking was beautiful as the light was perfect and the trail winds through a gorgeous forest. This hike gave me a much deeper appreciation for the difficulty and beauty involved with hiking in the snow. Sure it’s 10x more difficult, but the way the light reflects off the snow makes the rest of the environment so much more beautiful. It’s like your vision has the brightness toggle all the way turned up.
We got to Lake Aloha at around 630pm and WOW what a beautiful looking place. Madi had been saying all day that Lake Aloha is one of her favorites in the area and it did not disappoint. The lake itself is totally massive and is generally the shape of an oval but the shoreline is extremely wonky. In the background, you’ve got incredible views of Mt. Price and Pyramid Peak. Although it and the surrounding areas were totally frozen over, we were able to find a small island of exposed granite to make camp on. Later this evening would become extremely special. We thought that the previous night had a great sunset, but the sunset that we were treated to this night— right on the shore with a huge sky above us, feet kicked up on a rock, and dinner already made — was probably top 2 or 3 of my entire life. I’ll let the video do the talking, but it was absolutely sensational. This sunset would have been special anywhere in the Tahoe region, but I felt so incredibly fortunate to be exactly where i was, in the wilderness with a totally huge sky above me watching the purples and oranges reflect on the environment. What a night.
Day Three:
Day three — from start to finish — may be one of the best days of hiking I’ve ever had in my entire life. This day had a little bit of everything: 1) the walking had the perfect amount of difficulty to it (we were finally starting to find our legs) 2) we got to take a very long lunch at Gilmore Lake that involved setting up the hammock and 3) every mile was jaw dropping with A++ scenery.
After about an hour or so we made it to Susie Lake which was an total gem of a backcountry lake. It’s crystal clear with beautiful little ponds and lagoons around the shore and in the background has a perfect view of Jacks Peak. It would be perfect for a little base camp and we were a bit bummed that we could not stop for longer. We pushed on to Gilmore Lake which took us another hour and a half, and there we made a small camp to relax and enjoy the incredible view. There is simply nothing better than putting the hammock up and rocking back and forth to rest your tired legs and take in the scene — especially . The sights and sounds and feeling of total relaxation are moments to really cherish and remember. Both Madi and I jumped in the lake a few times and spent ample time off of our feet. Finally, after about 2 hours, we were off to start our ascent up Dicks Pass, which we almost had a view of from our lunch hammock.
Today had already been an magnificent day, but the stretch from Gilmore Lake to Dicks Pass was absolutely incredible. The view of the basin that we had just walked through blew my mind immediately upon coming into view and it seriously only got better as we approached the summit. Fortunately, it is not too difficult until the very end and has a very gradual grade. This is another one of those places that I’ll let the photos do the talking.
The pass increased in difficulty significantly when the depth of snow started to push over 1–1.5 feet. Once at the top, we found ourselves trudging through the snow, but found the energy to celebrate once at the top. We were exhausted, the air was thin, and we drunkenly took in the view for about 15 minutes. After getting a quick scare due to realizing i was almost standing directly over a cornice, we decided it was time to start our decent which is another section of trail where we had some good mountain fun. This side of Dick’s Pass (the north side) was covered in 2–5 feet of snow for the rest of the day, but since we were going downhill, it wasn’t as bad. We trudged, post-holed, and glizzaded down on our asses down to Dick’s Lake which was totally frozen. It was a bit sketchy in some places as we would sometimes lose the steps we were following, or sometimes those steps would just start plunging down the steep mountainside. We proceeded through the beautiful snowed over area between Dick’s Lake and Upper Velma for another two hours or so, enjoying the perfect lighting reflecting on the snow. Again, I couldnt get enough of the white, greys, greens, and browns all totally lit up. We finally got to Upper Velma with plenty of daylight remaining, so Madi and I set up camp, made dinner, and lounged in the hammock while getting drunk and discussing the current housing crisis in California.
Day Four:
We had made the decision the day before that we were going to go from Upper Velma and exit via Eagle Lake since I needed to get back on the road and the 15 miles to Barker Pass + a hitch hike was going to take too much time.
The hike out was beautiful yet slow and painful given that we were both sore from the day before. It was mostly forrested and and it wasnt long until we started seeing dayhikers again. Madi sprained her ankle badly on the way down but we were luckily next to a running stream so we plunged it immediately into a freezing cold pond which helped get us down.
We were back to the parking lot by lunch and we had come to the end of another adventure. We gorged on some burgers and reflected about the hike. Another incredible adventure in the mountains officially in the books!
