Sat. Sept. 3         Miles today: 26.5         Total so far: 1,973.9       Sierras Section J

It was windy all night, but the gusts stayed up high in the treetops, with us safely snuggled down below.  For some time after we started hiking, we could still see Peak 9500 behind us–it’s a distinct feature in this landscape.  We got breakfast water at a pretty little creek edged with wildflowers, which is typical of the many creeks around here. In such an otherwise dry, brown, volcanic countryside, it’s almost surprising to find these creeks, but we end up stepping over many of them every day. 

We went down into and up out of Wolf Creek canyon and loved the mountain views from up on top.  By late morning, we were headed in the direction of Noble Canyon, which was important to us, because last May we were camped at Grover Hot Springs and got maps of all the local trails that led to the PCT.  Noble Canyon Trail was one of them!  Soon we reached Noble Lakes, which were sort of weird–each was a different color, including one really weird whitish-green.  After lunch, we headed down into Noble Canyon.  At this point we began meeting lots of weekend backpackers and dayhikers out from Ebbett’s Pass, and it didn’t take too long to reach the highway there.  We talked to a couple of older backpackers who were waiting for their even older buddy who was a bit slow.  They were also heading for Echo Lake, same as we were.  Even though the “old guys” were fun to talk to, we tried to keep it brief.  So many of the hikers we met today wanted to talk to us that it was really slowing us down.

Right after Ebbett’s Pass, you begin to see fascinating rock formations as well as “regular mountains”.  And then the PCT starts to travel right along the base of a ridge of amazing rocks.  I took several pictures of them, and we passed several backpackers loaded with climbing ropes and equipment–looked like they were planning to CLIMB some of those rocks!  We also MET our first “100% pure SOBO’s”–Stick Girl and Little Bump, who were headed for the Mexican border.  We originally met them on the PCT up in Oregon!  I was again impressed with how clean and neat they both looked.  I don’t know how they do it–most thruhikers look pretty “trailworn” at this point.

One thing I have noticed since about a day before we reached Sonora Pass, is the WIND around here.  It blows all day and all night, often very forcefully.  In this area, north of Ebbett’s Pass, I was very impressed by the trees that manage to live in this very windy, very “vulcan-looking” world.  The wind this afternoon was so strong that it nearly knocked me down a couple of times, and the trees seem to cope with this by developing in the most gnarly, twisted, amazing way.  They are like living driftwood! 

Finally, after much climbing, we reached a ridge with a view of the Carson Valley, far below.  We’ve had several happy trips to Carson City, Virginia City, etc., so it made me very glad to see some familiar sights!  We hurried down from the ridge to get out of the worst of the wind, “leapfrogging’ with the older backpackers we met at the Pass. (They walked by us when we stopped for supper).  When the sun went down, we stopped to camp in a pretty grove of trees.  It was a good feeling to know that we were getting close to “familiar territory.”