Meiss Country Roadless Area

Echo Summit to Carson Gap

Showers Lake "Loop" (as shown on the USGS map)

Elevation: 8720, at Showers Lake post North of Showers Lake.

Elevation: 8680 at Showers Lake.

Mileage: 6.80 miles South from Echo Summit, 5.2 miles North of Carson Pass.

Map Anomaly

Although the 7.5 min USGS Topo Map shows two trail junctions off of the PCT heading to Showers Lake, one on the North side of Showers Lake, the other to the South, there is no longer a maintained trail bypassing around the West side of Showers Lake as the map indicates. The trail now loops through the North side of Showers Lake.

Though I found the signpost pictured above at the spot the Northern junction was marked on the map, there was no trail junction.

My notes on this trail junction say, "Signpost, but no Junction." (Yup, I keep a "trail notebook," one of those tiny 4.5x3.5 inch "penway composition books," in addition to my journal.)

Hiking Southbound past this sign post brings you down alongside a beautiful granite berm that gives you an idea of the great scrambling terrain surrounding Showers Lake.

It appears that as the main trail has been routed through Showers Lake the bypass trail around Showers Lake has been abandoned.

Therefore it also makes sense that there although there is a trail post at the map point North of Showers Lake depicting a junction, there is no second trail.

The second, Southern trail marker at Showers Lake, is now located at the campsites on the North side of Showers Lake, rather than South of Showers Lake, as marked on the 1992 USGS map.

Check out the Map, and Click the Colored Dots for related trail guide page.

MILES AND ELEVATIONS

Camp Notes: Showers Lake

Night 4 backpacking out of Meeks Bay, to Tuolumne Meadows

Location: 6.8 miles South of Echo Summit, 5.2 miles North of Carson Pass. Excellent campsites all around the lake, and next to the overlook. This is a popular spot for local backpackers from Carson City to the Sierra Foothills.

Total distance from Meeks Bay: 37.51

Sunset, Late September 7:08 PM or so

Temp before Sunset: Mid-50's

No weather, no mosquitoes: no tent

Sunrise: Late September 6:42 AM or so

Temp at Sunrise: 44°, light wind, no clouds. Period of morning clouds ended.

"or so" note: I record the Sunrise/Sunset times and their respective compass points, the time of the transit of the Sun, and the Moon Phases for the day my backpacking trip begins as the header of my journal. I also note their rate of daily change. For trips over two weeks in duration I include another set of readings for a date during the mid-point of the trip.

This allows accurate use of the Sun as both a compass and a clock for the duration of your trip. Unless it's cloudy.

Time and space are deeply related for backpackers, as well as physicists.

The times of Sunset and Sunrise given above reflect the time on the start day of a September 2009 Tahoe to Yosemite backpacking trip. In fact, each day the Sunset and Sunrise times precede slightly, so my accuracy diminishes.

The daily rate of change during September is a loss of up to two minutes a day for both Sunrise and for Sunset.

In other words, the day is shortening by up to four minutes a day in September.

Astronomical Information

Further inspection revealed, as I suspected, that only one set of tracks were coming in or out of this location. One set of tracks were coming out, and no tracks led in. As the snow was soft and wet, bear tracks were very easy to observe. The outgoing bear tracks were a day and a half  to two days old, judging by recent temperatures and other factors.

The tracks were pointed directly down the mountain towards the houses about 7 miles away along South Upper Truckee Road. Though the tracks indicated a lethargic and hesitant bear, there was no deviation from the straight line of the bear tracks towards "civilization."

At the South Upper Truckee Road a quick and tasty meal could easily be had out of these luxury house's unprotected garbage cans. If I was a bear, that's where I'd go too!

I found it sad that the bear tracks did not point towards any of the three nearby lakes that hold fish and attract all sorts of critters, nor towards Meiss Meadow, which was right then experiencing the snow collapsing on the Meadow. Bears find lots of good stuff when they root around in the expanses of moist meadow soils just exposed to strong sunlight. All sorts of life was just exploding into the exposed meadow, and the bears just shovel it into their mouths.

Though the Bear's natural larder of meadow, forest, and lake looked full, bear was headed down to the houses. This means that my sadness will be shared by the homeowners in Christmas Valley, where bears have been tearing up shit outside the homes and even entering them seeking easy pickings.

In early 2011 two dudes who live in Christmas Valley informed me that a bear had failed to hibernate, instead staying awake and feeing from the houses in Christmas Valley.

To me this just means tow things: They are going to eventually kill that bear, and that homeowner garbage in the Lake Tahoe Basin must be bear proof by law.

A bear in your kitchen can ruin your day. And your kitchen. Then then they shoot the bear.

Despite all of these instant and grim thoughts this bear track inspired, seeing these bear tracks still gave me a good feeling of satisfaction to locate a bear's Winter den right after Bear had departed.

The good feeling was that there is some natural security, even in this crazy world dominated by the Urban Jungles we have created, a Natural Security that can independently preserver through the roughest of climates. 

Until the poor bear stumbles into the Urban Jungle and we kill it.

Go Bears!

Videos from this 2010 Trip

Showers Lake, Meiss Country Roadless Area

Thoughts on Seclusion, Sneering Yuppies, and "The Scraper"

Showers Lake was too great of a reward for my slacker 7.8 mile day. Showers Lake offers the best campsites between Echo Summit and Carson Pass.

Actually, Showers Lake offers the best campsites on the Pacific Crest Trail between Lake Aloha, about eight miles North of Echo Summit, to Tamarack Lake, a couple of miles South of Blue Lakes, a span of about 28 miles.

Local Campsites: Showers is the Best

There are good campsites up in the upper Meiss Meadow, just North of the climb up to the Carson Gap, there are campsites South of Meiss Cabin, and there are sites near the little unnamed lake just a bit North of the Meiss Cabin. There are campsites near the little lakes on the South side of the Forestdale Divide. There are campsites at Lost Lakes, above the Northern Blue Lake and just North of the Nipple. And there are campsites South of Blue Lakes at Tamarack Lake.

But Showers Lake is the prettiest place to camp between Lake Aloha and Tamarack Lake. Despite my slacker day and lack of miles, I had a really good day getting to Showers Lake, and no pressing reasons to go any further.

In the 6.8 miles between Echo Summit and Showers Lake I met 7 really cool people. In addition, I picked up over 2000 calories from Randy at Echo Summit, which virtually assured that my food supply would make it from Meeks Bay to Tuolumne Meadows with no worries at all. That amount of food nearly equals a day off, if managed properly. Peter and Jason turned me on to a fat pouch of tobacco. Mike, the Tahoe Rim badass, cheered me up with his attitude, and just by talking.

All these people were charged up, and were having their best qualities drawn out of them crossing through the deep terrain and dense forests in the Southwest Lake Tahoe Basin. Their pleasure added to the charge I got from the terrain itself.

I arrived at Showers Lake with a few hours left in the day and was well rewarded for my laziness with relaxing views of the afternoon mellowing into twilight over Lake Tahoe with hot chocolate and smokes.

I could have easily watched the same sunset from Round Top, about 9 miles further South, but my social day was well worth the short mileage.

Peter, of Peter and Jason above, caught some fine images of Showers Lake, including the sunset over Lake Tahoe pictured above, that well captures one of the many faces of sunset from Showers Lake. I featured his fine photographs on this page.

I also enjoyed the company of Steve, pictured above, a Texan who's love of the High Sierras is as big as the state of Texas. Steve was working out sock issues as he put another section of the Tahoe Rim Trail under his belt. Steve was trying to curb some blistering problems with the correct socks for his footwear, and I'll be damned if he was not carrying 8 pairs of socks.

There is a great boulder that sits on the Northern side of Showers Lake that overlooks the extent of the Southern Tahoe Basin. Here I met a nice set of couples. I think they were around my age, 50, and they impressed me. Their social circle included wine, the mountains, and athletic recreations with a sophisticated flair. Nice people, and I was enjoying the company now, while I could. Once we get past the Carson Pass there will be few people on the Pacific Crest Trail to Sonora Pass this late in the season, and even fewer between Sonora Pass and Tuolumne Meadows.

If you are following the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route, you will not run into many backpackers during mid Summer, once you get past the Carson Pass Management Area. During this late season, there will be few if any hikers in Summit City Creek.

Seclusion in the High Sierras

Seclusion in the High Sierras is an expectation. Seclusion on the main High Sierra Nevada Crest Trails is no longer possible during the mid Summer backpacking season.

To save yourself some disappointment, you should not expect to find seclusion on the main High Sierra Trails in mid Summer.

There are just too many people in California, and within our country, for Summer seclusion in the High Sierras. But the side trails and alternative routes are still relatively quiet, for now.

The Long Distance Hiker

Seclusion was not possible when I backpacked between Lake Tahoe (South Upper Truckee Trailhead) and Mount Whitney between July 15 and August 28 of 2009. All of the main long distance trails along the Sierra Nevada Crest had regular traffic, with generally no more than two or three hours between Northbound backpackers. But off the main trails you could find some seclusion.

In July of 2009, I saw nobody for two full days (in mid-Summer!)on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail between 4th of July Lake to half-way up the Northern flank of Mount Reba. Likewise between Lake Alpine and Highland Lakes. Between Iva Bell and the Graveyard Lakes trail junction, on the way down to Vermilion Valley Resort, I saw one person from a distance, during the span of one night and two full days. This demonstrates that a degree of seclusion can be found even during mid-Summer, if your route puts you onto the long-distance side trails through the High Sierra.

I think it's real important to have as many days each year as you possibly can when you don't talk or listen to another human. I can run up a bunch of two day silences on the High Sierra side trails during Summer.

As these side-trails off of the main Pacific Crest and John Muir trails compose my personal "standard route" between Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney, I know when I head South from Lake Tahoe during Fall that I am going to have a lot of miles and a lot of days with few backpacker encounters.

If you want seclusion, you are going to have to develop skills to survive the possibility of late Fall and early Spring snow storms. The Sierras are much quieter during late Fall and early Spring than during Summer.

Because my standard routes always go off the main routes, this allows me to enjoy the higher density backpacker areas. Here's how I see it: One in a hundred people in the city is civil, let alone social. One in a hundred backpackers is not civil, if not downright social.

Sneering Yuppies searching for Meaning

If you want seclusion in the High Sierras, take the remote side trails. Too many people, generally composed of sneering citidiot yuppies, dislike meeting people on the trail. Let me set you Yuppies straight: The Pacific Crest Trail between Lake Tahoe and Mount Whitney is THE SUPERHIGHWAY OF TRAILS. It is full of backpackers from the first drips of the Spring thaw to the first snows of Fall.

Sneering Yuppies along the main High Sierra trails are projecting their own unreasonable expectations on nature and man, just as they do in their massive cities, and should reassess their perspectives. Hell, I'm tired of them sneering at me in the nasty cities they created, let alone in the mountains.

I do not come to the mountains to get away from people, only the millions and millions of sneering citiodiot yuppies, flatland fools, and mindless "consumers" that we have created to populate the nasty massive urban centers that have spread like a cancer across California during the last few decades.

So all of you sneering yuppies, flatland fools, and nasty "consumers" need to either mellow out, or travel the remote side trails if you want seclusion. Or stay out of the mountains. But I have hope for your lame asses.

The mountains can cure or kill any bad or misguided spirits. I am hopeful that the mountains will "scrape" you clean of your spiritual filth, of your unreasonable expectations, and your bad attitude. But please don't splash any of your spiritual filth on me. Be Nice.

If you don't like seeing people on the trail, don't sneer at them, but rather seek out the truly secluded side trails. Learn to backpack in Wintertime, when you will be guaranteed total isolation. Learn to travel cross country, where you craft your own routes.

In any case, the physical pollution from your massive cities is already too much for man or nature to handle, and both are moving to resolve the error. Don't carry these bad spirits into the backcountry.

This all sums up neatly: Be Cool to your fellow backpackers. They are the ones who will help you out when you sprain an ankle, run out of food, or get totally lost. And you'll be damn glad to see them then.

My Showers Lake campsite marked my fourth night out of Meeks Bay, though it was only my third full day on the trail, as I started South from Meeks Bay just a bit before sunset on my first day into the mountains.

And I made little progress today, dallying to soak in the pleasures of backpacker culture.

7.5 Hiking Topo Map: Echo Summit to Carson Pass

   30 min Hiking Topo Map: Echo Summit to Carson Gap

Miles and Elevations

Next page South: Showers to Meiss Cabin

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Section: Echo Summit to Carson Pass

Segment: Showers Lake