July 3rd
Total mileage: 1584
Today’s mileage: 9
Two locals kindly housed us in a cabin just outside of South Lake Tahoe. In the morning, Darko & Taters dropped me off again at Echo Lake. My footprints now connected with Mexico from the season before, and I had to walk north to Sierra City to finish this section I’d missed. Echo Lake had a dozen or so hikers loitering about. There were a lot of holiday hikers. I felt strong heading out, despite getting an afternoon start.
That evening, I camped near a group of 7 or so women in their 50s-60s. They were quite concerned about bears, each diligently piling their bear canisters in a grove. I made a point of storing my entire pack a good distance away and it survived the night unmolested. In the morning, in recognition of the 4th of July, they fastened a small American flag on back of my pack.
