Glacier Lake

We just got back from our overnight trip to the Tahoe National Forest. It was my first backpacking trip in the Sierras. We parked the car at Carr Lake. On the first day, we hiked to Penner Lake and then continued on to Glacier Lake, where we spent the night. On the second day, we hiked back to our car via a more direct route. Total hiking: about 15 miles. We’re so sore we can hardly walk.

Glacier Lake was beautiful. It was crystal clear and there was a ridge with patches of snow behind it (but the air was very warm, even during the night). We climbed the ridge this morning and were able to see panoramic views of the surrounding lakes and forest. It was quite spectacular.

Here are the highlights of the trip:

We decided to do some wilderness freestyling (i.e. “If we head through the woods in that direction, we’ll get to the other trail we want to be on. It’s a shortcut!”) We were lost in the woods for an hour and a half. But not scary lost – we knew we would eventually find the trail.

“I think that lake we passed half a mile ago was the lake we are looking for. Turn around.”

I spent half the night lying awake with my heart pounding because I could hear animals outside our tent. I kept telling myself that I haven’t ever heard about anyone getting eaten in their tent. At one point, I saw deer sniffing the bear canister. When I heard something chewing on my pack a couple of times, I got up and made a noise to shoo it away. Ed claims I kept waking him by making “rat noises.” I also had to wake him once to look out the tent window because I was too scared.

We seriously over-packed our food. We brought 3 sandwiches, 3 brownies, a can of Pringles, a bag of Chex party mix, a half pound of beef jerky, 12 granola bars, 8 pop tarts, 2 packs of ramen-like noodles, and a freeze dried dessert for four. We brought home 1 brownie, half a bag of Chex party mix, ¼ pound of beef jerky, 11 granola bars, 6 pop tarts and a freeze-dried dessert for four.

We got to put our new high-tech Steripen water purifiier to serious use on stream and lake water.

We went for about 18 hours without seeing any other people. It was awesome.


Here are some pictures:

Our first food break in front of one of the many little lakes along the trail:



Gathering drinking water:

One of many mountain meadows we encountered. Why doesn't our lawn look like this?

Our little campsite at Glacier Lake:

Ed at our campsite:
Me climbing up the ridge next to Glacier Lake to take in the views:

One of the views from the top of the ridge: