Pre Trip Planning
In all the years we have been backpacking we’ve never embraced the ultra-light culture, preferring instead to carry extra weight in order to be comfortable in camp and eat good food. It’s not uncommon for us to carry in wine and appetizers while our friends with lighter packs suffer through the shop bought freeze dried meals. It’s a trade off either way and until now comfort and reward has been our priority.
However this year we are planning some longer trips so before the season started we began to explore how we can cut down our pack weight in order to hike more miles and eat efficiently. We made a few significant changes to our sleep system and came to peace with using our smallest tent which until now we had been convinced was only big enough for one of us and our dog. Mike the King of research focused on the equipment modifications while I went down a rabbit hole researching nutrition and meal planning. It’s been a lot of work and has required intense organization but it’s also been very interesting and quite an eye opener.
The days leading up to this trip I took over all the available space in our kitchen and dining room table and got busy measuring out ingredients and snacks, calculating calories per serving and labeling them so we could pull specific items out of the bear canister each day.
By the time I was finished we had 3 nights / 4 days of food, 2,500 calories per person per day which all fitted in our bear canister and weighed a total of 8lbs. I thought this was a major achievement. I’ll report back at the end of the blog post as to whether it worked out and was worth the effort.
Day 1 | June 30th, 2021
Bay View Trail Head to Middle Velma Lake
5.7 miles / 4 hours / Ascent 1709ft / Descent 765ft
It’s always hard driving up from sea level and getting straight on the trail without any time to acclimatize but it’s even harder when the trail immediately ascends with relentless switchbacks in the midday heat, very little shade and full packs. It’s at this time that I pretty much always question why we do this, is it really fun? But then you reach a level bit of trail and stride out with your lungs filled with fresh mountain air and views unfolding all around you and I remember that I love this feeling, and I love being out here, and this is why we do it.
Middle Velma Lake was our home for tonight. We were surprised how many other campers were here given that it’s mid-week, but we were still able to find solitude and a great spot to camp. It was a bit of a precarious scramble to get to the lake to swim but oh so worth it. Middle Velma is dotted with lots of small rocky islands which made for an enjoyable late afternoon swim safari. The water was much warmer than we’d anticipated, not tropical by any means but it didn’t take your breath away when you jumped in which was a pleasant surprise.
We’d seen on some forums that despite the early snowmelt the mosquitoes were still pretty feisty at dusk and dawn so we made sure we ate dinner early and had everything tidied away ready to jump in our tent when the swarms descended. There were definitely mosquitoes around but it wasn’t as bad as we’d expected so we’re hoping we are at the tail end of the mosquito season, it would certainly be nice not to have to use repellent and nets in the coming days.
Mosquitoes or no mosquitoes we were ready for bed shortly after dusk and retired to the tent by 8 pm to read for a little bit and then slip into a deep slumber. We were serenaded to sleep by a frog chorus which continued into the early hours of the morning and fortunately drowned out the impressive snoring of a camper on the other side of the lake – it’s amazing how sound can travel.
Day 2 | July 1st, 2021
Middle Velma Lake to Lake Aloha via Lake Clyde
10.7 miles / 6.5 hours / Ascent 1,600ft / Descent 1,500ft
You know it’s going to be a good day when the first thing you see when you get on the trail is a marmot and this big guy was a fine specimen, big and fluffy and inquisitive. I do love a marmot, I firmly believe they are my spirit animal and I haven’t seen one in a while, so this made my day. Little did I know that there would be marmots galore to come.
My pack was a few pounds lighter today than yesterday having eaten a third of our food plus it was initially a fairly level trail so I quickly found my groove. We soon left the day hikers and other backpackers behind and truly felt like we were in the wilderness again.
Midway through the day we had 4 miles of trail which was mosquito heaven – heaven for them, hell for us so we motored through as quickly as possible and came through it fairly unscathed. A backpacker we had met going the opposite way claimed that they probably were’t hungry because they’d already feasted on him.
Mid afternoon despite being only a mile from our camp for the night at Lake Aloha we were getting a little over heated so we took a detour to Clyde Lake for a swim. It was beautiful and deserted so we had a quick skinny dip, quick only because the water was so cold it hurt to stay submerged for more than a moment. Refreshed and revitalized we continued on to Lake Aloha and a gorgeous camp spot for the night. It was very windy but we weren’t too concerned since our tent has proved to withstand stronger winds without a problem.
We thought Lake Aloha would be colder than Clyde because it’s so big but this wasn’t the case, it was bliss. We had an easy in and out on granite rock shelves and the water was Caribbean blue in places, just gorgeous.
The wind kept the mosquitoes at bay and sunset was an ever changing pallet of pinks and purples. We were tired and wanted to go to bed but just couldn’t tear ourselves away from the scenery until the show was over by which time the wind abated and we had a peaceful and calm night.
Day 3 | July 2nd, 2021
Lake Aloha to Dick’s Lake via Gilmore Lake
Distance 9.78 miles / 6.5 hours / ascent 2395 / descent 1663ft
Marmots galore this morning, scurrying around the lakeshore on their early morning patrol. We had a pretty early start and were on the trail at 8:30 am which was good because we had a lot of elevation ahead of us today. We stopped for a break after a couple of hours at Gilmore Lake for some high energy snacks and a swim before the hike up and over Dick’s Pass. Thanks to the snacks and refreshing swim it didn’t seem too much of a grind plus the scenery was spectacular with dramatic vistas at every turn.
At the top of Dicks Pass we spotted a plume of smoke in the distance which grew within minutes, it looked to us to be over in the Carson Pass area and within 15 minutes fire spotter planes were flying overhead shortly followed by a helicopter.
We made it to Dicks Lake early, about 3 pm and scrambled up rocks to get to our favorite private side of the lake away from the crowds. When I say it was a scramble, it was just short of a rock climb which I always love at the end of a high mileage day when I’m tired and hot and carrying a pack 🤣. It was stonkingly hot so we went for a swim before setting up camp. We enjoyed drying and sunning on the rocks before spotting some very ominous storm clouds so we got to it setting up camp, filtering water and cooking an early dinner while the thunder rumbled ever closer.
Of course once we’d shoved down our dinner and packed everything away expecting to have to take shelter from the storm the skies cleared and it became a glorious evening so we sat out on the rocks reading for a while and watched the late arrival backpackers coming in seeking a spot to pitch their tents. It’s going to get busy this weekend, glad we’re heading out tomorrow!
As evening fell a fire fighting plane carrying retardant canisters flew over so low we felt we could reach up and touch it, it was heading in the direction of the fire we saw earlier, fingers crossed they can extinguish it quickly.
Day 4 | July 3rd, 2021
Dick’s Lake to Bay View Trailhead
Distance 5.5 miles / 3.75 hours / Ascent 545 ft / Descent 2,000 ft
When I unzipped the tent I could sense a presence and as I turned and looked up at the rocks there were 2 marmots watching me quizzically. I’m telling you, they’re my spirit animal.
We had a fairly easy hike out ahead of us today so we didn’t rush to pack up and instead enjoyed taking our time.
For the most part it was downhill all the way and with light packs we rolled out at a good pace. Lots of weekend backpackers were heading in tackling the uphill in the heat we had faced on Wednesday. We stood aside to make way for them offering encouragement, their red flushed faces and expressions reminiscent of how we had felt a few days ago.
There were lots of day hikers too doing the 4 mile round trip to Granite Lake. You could smell them before you could see them, all fresh laundry and coconut sunscreen and then they’d appear on the trail in front of you in their clean well coordinated workout clothes and beaming white smiles and remind you that the lake swims had been wonderful but a shower and fresh set of clothes is probably overdue. Fortunately both of these were only a few hours drive away, as was a burger and a cold beer.
Post trip thoughts on menu planning
The menu planning worked out great, a definite game changer. The food we had on the trip was nutritious, calorie rich and varied enough that every meal and snack was enjoyable. With the labeling system it was easy to pull everything out of the bear canister each morning and have it to hand. I can honestly say it’s the first time we’ve returned to the trailhead not salivating for a burger and milkshake.
May I get the recipe food menu too please? We are seriously considering doing this route in Sept, smoke depending
Toni, I’m really interested in your backpacking recipes and prep. Are you willing to share?
Absolutely, I’ll PM you via WhatsApp.
Me too please