Echo Lake to bail out point – about 15 miles
PCT Mile 1093.4 to 1097.7 + side trail to Fallen Leaf Lake
July 5, 2026
Sluggy would join us today! He is yet another one of Buffer’s hiking buddies that she hosted last year at their house. He’s from the UK and is also section hiking the PCT over the years. This year he came for 45 days and started his hike with us.
Shawn dropped us all off at Echo Lake and we decided to take the boat across the lake to skip a couple of miles at the beginning because they are somewhat boring miles.
We entered the wilderness and a couple of minutes later we ran into a ranger who checked our permits. In the three years I’ve been hiking this trail, this was the first time I’d ever had a permit checked. I had mine though!
A couple of miles later we hit Aloha Lake. This is such a beautiful way to enter this section. I camped here at the end of my 2024 section hike and now I was doing it in reverse. We stopped for lunch and soaked our feet in the cold water.
We passed a few more lakes as we started to head towards Dick’s Pass. I don’t know why exactly, but I wasn’t feeling it today. I had done this section before and knew there was a bail out point at Glen Alpine Trail junction, so I decided to take it instead of continuing on with Sluggy and Buffer. I think I was just ready to be off trail and start the process of getting home. I took this side trail about 10 miles out to Fallen Leaf Lake and then walked the road out to the highway to meet Shawn for a ride.
As I got down out of the mountains, I passed the old Glen Alpine Springs Inn, which operated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It has been preserved and has a cool history, which you can read below. After that I reached Fallen Leaf Lake where there is a marina with food and drinks.
The next day, Shawn and I headed up to Barker Pass in the afternoon to resupply Buffer and Sluggy and also provide trail magic to whatever hikers happened to be coming through at the time. It’s so much fun to see their reactions when they aren’t expecting trail magic. That’s what makes it magic!
This was the end of my section hike and I enjoyed it very much. It was a very different experience for me: hiking with dedicated hiking partners and also being so close to resupply and having a dedicated trail angel in Shawn. I slack packed and just generally went with the flow of however I felt. About 60 miles total with great views and good friends.
I’m already planning for next year’s hike. I’m thinking I may go back to the desert since I’ve done the mountains for the last 3 years. Thinking maybe around April from Agua Dulce, CA to Tehachapi where I can walk the LA Aqueduct. I’ll update here when plans start to come together.
