We entered Carson-Iceberg Wilderness as soon as we left Sonora Pass. That was appropriate because temperatures dropped below freezing last night. Ice and frost were everywhere.

Soon after we crossed the Pacific Crest this morning we passed under 10,000' for the last time as we descended the East Fork of the Carson River.

As the morning warmed the trail became water, willows and wrocks.

The contrast of the granitic terrain and volcanic terrain is fun to hike but can be hard on our feet. Ridgelines, spires and windows make fantastic photos. The number and variety of wildflowers added to the number of photos taken. Water flowing through lava is milky with dissolved sediment and cuts deep, narrow channels with no boulders to rock hop across the streams.

Mosquitoes were a problem so we climbed in our tent quickly on one side of West Fork while Clara and Patrick crossed the stream for the night.

We tiptoed past Patrick and Clara's tent when we started out this morning. Shortly afterwards we met Mr Smiley and Retro as we climbed out of the drainage.

This day had everything for hikers: high traverses, surreal lava formations, streams from tiny to gushing, wonderful wildflowers, weathered granite boulders, too much up and down, and mosquitoes. At one point we hiked below a volcanic plug that fractured into millions of small pieces, all of which remained in place. Less than a tenth of a mile later we were in rounder granite formations that looked like those in Yosemite. I found fresh bear scat and tree scratchings at Ken's head level. Strong wind made hiking hard in the afternoon.

Ken said he remembered a volcanic "cornrow" formation nearby. I was sure that it was in northern CA so we struck a bet. Dang, I shouldn't do that.

I wanted to push on to the Lily Pad Pond to camp. It is one of the points that I remember from hiking before. It has lots of campsites and we chose a nice one just at dusk. The pond also has good water - a rarity in this stretch. We could see other campers through the trees across the pond.

We slept dry and warm at the Lily Pad Pond. When we got up we walked down to take a photo of the blooming lilies floating on the water... but they had closed up during the night.

We started hiking all bundled up because the cold wind was blowing. It got stronger as we went higher, some gusts actually blew us several steps off the trail. On the high traverses it was a little scary. We were so glad to drop down on the other side into the forest for shelter. We staggered along with Jen, Retro and Mr Smiles. Just below Elephant's Head, as Ken and I traversed a large steep snow patch, we heard rockfall. A small(?) rock rolled from high up the mountain down and crossed the trail fifteen feet in front of us. That made me think things that I usually avoid thinking.

Views were wonderful of the lakes below us in the Blue Lakes District. Boaters were driving in to enjoy weekend boating.

After lunch we reached Carson Pass. Lots of day hikers were out to view the wildflowers. The hikers had already seen them so we grouped at the visitor center. The docents gave each of us a couple inches of a thick poorboy sandwich...oh, yum. When they ran out of apples for the hikers, Pat drove to the bottom of the pass and bought more!

Heading up from Carson Pass we rockhopped the Upper Truckee River. All the hikers that were at the pass are headed for the Echo Lake Resort PO tomorrow. We spread ourselves out through the forest to camp.

We hiked for some of the distance with Clara and Patrick who are now the caretakers of Rozzie Raccoon, the companion that mysteriously appears in someone's backpack.

Echo Lake Resort beckons for tomorrow, so we

I knew that the Echo Lake PO would be busy during its mere 3 hours of service. But I underestimated the number of hikers that would be there. Tourists asked us what was going on with all the hikers...and we are still ahead of the bulk of hikers!

As we approached Echo Lake we could see the Angora burn through the trees. It looked like it went through so fast that the trees were not fully burned.

New trail has been constructed before Echo Pass so hikers do not have to walk down the ski runs. We were glad to stay in the trees. On the other side of the pass there was another trail reroute so we didn't walk past cabins which is nice for everyone.

The store had the most delicious produce! It also is supposed to have a great milkshake. It was too early in the morning for us to try it, but some hikers did. Some smart buyer figured out what sells to hikers.

A shower and clean clothes are too hard to pass up so we came down to South Lake Tahoe. The fire is not quite out and many tourists have cancelled reservations so town is quiet. After cleaning up we went out to shop. We ran into hiker Jen who said, "Wow, you don't even look the same!"

Back to the trail first thing tomorrow.