“Only one who wanders finds a new path”. Norwegian Proverb
At the end of June, I took a hike from Echo Lakes out to Lake Aloha. It is pretty cool to hike out from here, because you can take a water taxi across the lakes to the trailhead to save some time and energy. Plus riding the water taxi gives great views while sitting on the water. Should you choose to hike along Echo Lakes to Lake Aloha, the distance is 12.6 miles out and back, and is considered moderate. The water taxi cuts the hike to 7.6 miles round trip. Keep in mind that the water taxi is expensive ($13 one way) and only takes cash. So if you want to go that route, make sure to bring cash with you.
This day for me was about magnetic fields and spiritual energy. I am not an expert in either of these areas, but I do believe something unseen was at play. Let’s start with Spirit. I believe in spirit guides and that they can take different forms. I also believe in synchronicity and am always amazed when I am a part of this type of experience. I never see any wildlife when I am out on these hikes in the Sierra. I am guessing it is because of the time of day that I go, and also the trails tend to have a good number of hikers and backpackers, so the animals stay away. On an early July morning this past summer, as I headed down to the Echo Lakes resort store, low and behold, was a young bear walking down the road, checking things out. I stopped to wonder if it was the same bear that I thought I heard when I snowshoe’d out of this area up to Becker Peak (see my previous blog called “A Room With a View”). I snapped a quick pic and went into the store where the gal working there said that the bear had been seen a lot in the area lately. I had the feeling that this was going to be an interesting day…oh, and it was.
Once at the trailhead, it is a pretty steady climb to get up into the Desolation Wilderness. With that are some great views of Echo Lakes, and Tamarack Lake. As I continued along, I could see that the wildflowers were starting to open. I do love wildflowers so I stopped to take a few pictures. Phlox, larkspur, lupine and arrowleaf senecio were opening up to greet the summer sun.
I arrived at the junction for Lake Margery and Lake Lucille and decided that I would take that short loop on my way back. I continued to climb and arrived at the other end of that junction, where there was a nice little pond. Continuing along, I saw another nice pond. There is something about water that always draws me to it. Maybe it is because I have a lot of water in my astrological chart, even though I am an earth sign (Virgo). I do enjoy seeing ponds on my journeys.
As I neared Lake Aloha, there was a junction to go straight or to the left. Both would get you to the lake, just at different areas as Lake Aloha is very large. I decided to go straight and shortly arrived at the Lake. There was as slight breeze and the water was clear and beautiful. I found a nice little private spot on a rock to take it all in and enjoy some lunch. It was so breathtaking that I could have stayed there all day! I was disappointed that my camera wouldn’t work. I knew that the battery was low but thought I could make it through this hike with it. That was not the case, as it just died instantly and I was happy to have my phone to takes pics.
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After relaxing and enjoying my lunch, it was time to head back. I vowed that I would take that short loop as a side trip and when I reached the junction, I stayed to the left and headed down to the two lakes. At first the trail was easy to follow, and it didn’t take too long to get to Lake Margery. These lakes are not as pretty as Aloha, but quiet and serene nonetheless. I took a few pics at Lake Margery and then continued on to Lake Lucille. This is where things got weird….
Once at the end of lake Lucille the trail just stopped. I turned on my GPS to check and it was telling me to go the opposite direction of the way I was thinking I was supposed to go. Then, with plenty of battery power, my GPS shut down. I couldn’t get it to turn on again. Like with my camera, this was strange and a bit frustrating to me. So I pulled out my trusty map and calculated which direction I should go to meet up with the main trail. The map matched my intuition and pointed the direction opposite that my GPS showed. At this point there was no trail which I found odd, because I saw a clear trail at the junction when I was hiking up to Lake Aloha. Nevertheless, I crossed a small creek, cut through some bushes and scrambled up a forested hillside hoping to see the main trail. As I continued to climb off trail, I saw some hikers heading up to Lake Aloha in the distance. I was relieved that I was heading the right direction to the main trail. I continued up, crossed a large log, and there it was…the trail! About 100 yards further was the junction at the main trail. Looking back at it, the trail at the junction had stopped at the big log I had to cross. I didn’t know that because I had started the side loop on the upper side of the main trail. I was glad I followed my intuition and my map!!
Haven taken so much time to find my way back to the main trail, I picked up the pace to get back to Echo lakes so that I could catch the water taxi. Along the way, I met a pair of hikers, Bill and Diane, who I chatted with all the way back. Bill was a teacher who had just retired, and he was a wealth of information on hiking. He had hiked all over the country and even hiked the Swiss Alps! I enjoyed our conversation as he gave me some great ideas of places to hike in the south and east Sierra, as well as other destinations that I have on my bucket list, like Banff, Canada and Glacier National Park.
As I look back on this journey, I can’t help but believe that spirit, as well as electric magnetic fields were in play that caused chaos to my devices, and challenged my intuition as well as my map skills. It gives me great comfort to know that I am being led by something greater than myself. I was given another gift of being out in the wild and meeting people who have the same appreciation for it that I do. It is these connections, seen and unseen, that I continue to go and find new paths.
