Carson Pass to Winnemucca Lake: Mokelumne Wilderness

July 19th

I love hiking with the Sierra Club Seniors. They don't go so very fast and make lots of stops. The showstopping wildflowers on this hike made for many many stops.

And I found my own personal paparazza in the group, who thought the red shirt and blue bandana I was wearing (and my tendency to clown) made for great pictures. I'm not so sure. So that was more stops. Stops in stops while stopped.

Oh yeah, did I mention I hike in a skirt and LOUD gaiters?

STOP, already!

This is an easy hike and VERY VERY popular, even on a blustery weekday. One wag in our group declared that the crowded trail was due to the number of folks out of work and spending time hiking.

Lake Winnemucca

The weather was less than perfect (gusty winds and annoying rain showers) when we arrived, but we dug out all kinds of rain gear and set forth.

Most of the group

All I really know is that we went generally north to south on the way out and south to north on the way back. We took a little side trip to scenic Frog Lake.

Frog Lake. Think it's gonna rain?

Just after climbed out of Frog Lake, we saw this lake to the west. I think it was Woods Lake since I think it would have been difficult to see Caples lake from where we were. There was much debate. So. Just call this a landscape with a pretty lake of some name or other.

Part of the route to the lake is on the Pacific Crest Trail so we saw several pairs of PCT thru-hikers on our way into the lake. You can tell them because their packs are often large, they are cheerful, and quite tanned. One fellow said most of it was dirt. I suppose it may have been.

On the way back one of the leaders pointed out a geocache on the trail. My Personal Paparazza left a note on behalf of our group.

Gear-chat: (just use the power of Google if you want to know more).
I used my usual pack (the Molly Mac Pack) with the front pack deployed, which, when covered up by my Packa made me look somewhat like a pregnant waterbuffalo. But I stayed warm and dry so I didn't really care. The Gossamer Gear trekking poles stayed locked in place and I used them about half the time, where the trail was steeply down or rocky. I ended up wearing spandex tights over spandex shorts on the way back (I had goosebumps at lunch) and they fought with each other the whole way back. So I did the 'pants tug' dance many times. My Tilley hat stayed put, although one of the 25mph gusts used the hat to try to knock me over. My Innov8 shoes were perfect, as were my Dirty Girl Gaiters. I even saw another pair of DGG on the trail! I was thrilled!
I did not use my Caldera Cone to make tea at lunch, since we only took a 20 minute break.

As I usually do, I taped my feet to prevent blisters. No blisters! (I blister like nobody's business).
I use Kinesio tape on the areas where I tend to blister (outside of heels, side of big toe and inside of ball of foot).

All the stuff I use, and my feet taped with Kinesio tape

I go around the edges with Compound Tincture of Benzoin (making my feet kind of yellow in spots) to make the Micropore tape stick the edges down better.

Edges stuck down with strips of Micropore tape.

 It is necessary to end and begin the pieces of Kinesio tape on the top of one's foot, or they will just peel up when striding along and make the blister problem worse. I learned all of this from the excellent book "Fixing your Feet".

And this is a good idea, because ... ?

NO MORE pictures. I'll have to go all Russell Crowe on you.