Lake of the Woods to camp north of Showers Lake

PCT day 4, Wednesday 9/9/2015: PCT mile 1097 to 1083, day distance 14 miles

We had a wonderful night cowboy camping at Lake of the Woods. On a little peninsula, clear sky above, the view of the stars and Milky Way was amazing. 

We had breakfast at sunrise, followed by a refreshing swim in the lake (water temperature was almost 60F). 

On the way to Echo Lakes we met more and more people, mostly day hikers. One exception was Inbar from Israel, she had been hiking for many weeks and had just aborted her John Muir Trail trip due to the bad smoke from the Rough Fire. This is also my worry, I have a few weeks before I get there. 

After we arrived at the car at Echo Lakes we went to South Lake Tahoe for lunch. Ahhhh, real food and beer. I ate so much. 

Steve brought me back to Echo Lakes and we had to say goodbye as I continued alone. Not even 20 mins later I was surprised by a challenging creek crossing of the Echo Lake outlet into the American River. I managed to walk over a fallen tree without falling into the water. 

Some sections were quite steep, I wondered how this would be possible with a horse?

Last view of Lake Tahoe. 

Initially I had planned to hike only three miles south of HW50, but the campsite beside a tiny creek was disappointing, I'm now spoiled. I decided to add five more miles to get to Shower Lake. About a mile before I got there I came to a nice spot, no water, but a beautiful view which should be even better tomorrow at sunrise. 

Good night, I'm going to watch the stars again.

Trailhead