After a busy zero day in S Lk Tahoe, (we walked to breakfast, walked to the Library, ate lunch, bought food at a store, walked back to the Motel...lots of walking and traffic!) Peggy called about 15 people off a list we got at an outdoor store, we needed to get a ride back to the trail & those on the list were willing to provide transportation. Grace responded that she would meet us after breakfast the next day, 8/7/14. We were told that Bert's was a good breakfast place. The next day, after leaving our Motel, we walked to Bert's. The parking lot was full of cars so we knew it would be a good place to eat. Bert met us when we walked in, directing us to drop our packs in his office and have a seat at the counter. I had a pecan waffle and eggs. As we ate, Bert talked to us from behind the counter about the recipes that he uses for the restaurant. They make all their recipes from scratch and the food was wonderful. He was proud of his restaurant and it was fun to talk to him about what makes his business unique, he was very interested in our hike. After breakfast we went outside, making phone calls to home while waiting for Grace to pick us up. She drove us up to Echo Lake, about 30 minutes from S Lk Tahoe, while we shared information with her about lightweight gear and ideas for her own backpack trips.
The trail south from Echo Lake was a little hard to find as we poked around the buildings trying to locate a path that looked likely. Finally we found it and took off uphill out of the parking lot. It was warm but there were serious dark clouds in the sky. After about 3.5 miles we arrived at a big rock wall & began to climb up 1200 ft. in 2 miles.
Granite steps led up some parts of the trail as we wound up & up stopping for a lunch break. Then we heard thunder. Around a bend we came to a spring with some campsites beneath the rock peaks where we decided to quickly set up camp. 
It poured rain & hailed as well while we sat in our tents reading. After we had dinner the sky cleared quite a bit so we ventured out to explore the hillside of big boulders. Climbing up above our camp I could see far down the valley, even our tents looked small.
8/8/14 Friday. 14 miles
This morning we had to finish the steep climb we started yesterday but both of us felt as if we were walking against water. Once the climb was done we noodled in beautiful open meadows and forest for some miles.
We came to a bowl surrounded by high crags, the bowl was meadow, willow thickets, boulders & wildflowers.
The trail angled across the bowl and down the far side where I saw a huge granite wall terraced like a garden with trees growing on ledges until it fell to a lake far below. Tiny springs ran through the bowl. Marmots whistled loudly and ran across granite shelves to disappear into cracks in the boulders.
Angling around beside a creek we came to the drainage of Showers Lake where we climbed up to another small bowl which held the lake.
8 people were camped around the lake enjoying the warm sun and cool water.
We took a short break here.
Hiking into the next valley we crossed a flat basin to come upon Meiss Cabin & homestead. He was a German immigrant from the 1840's who grazed sheep & cattle from this homestead during the spring and summer. The headwaters of the Truckee River run through here.
Hiking out of the valley the hills were bare of trees, rocky and dry. We hiked up and over the hills to view really high rocky granite walls in front of us. Winding down we came out at trailhead parking after passing many groups of hikers and kids going backpacking to Showers Lake. Arriving at Carson Pass & Visitor Center we left our packs outside and enjoyed cookies and water that the ladies had for PCT hikers. There was so much history information there, we read all about Fremont, the mapmaker, and his expedition for the US Government of 1844, Kit Carson was their hunter. A quarter mile down a side road there was a place we went to look over a steep hill and see where pioneers tied ropes around trees letting their oxen rest while dragging their wagons up the incredibly steep hillside. We could still see the rope marks around at least one tree.
Some 50,000 people used this trail in 1850!
Back at the Visitor's Center, packs on again, we headed out going over another pass where 6 backpackers were sitting on rocks looking out over a spectacular vista. We began contouring around the mountain and down into this new basin looking for a campsite in the trees at the bottom.
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