This long holiday weekend, I spent 2 nights in the Golden Trout Wilderness of Inyo National Forest for my first ever solo (+Nali) backpacking trip. This trip was a such a refreshing change of scenery, I had an amazing time.

The first day on this trail was an exhausting 12 miles on Cottonwood pass trail and the PCT. The weather was beautiful, birds were out chirping, and the flowing streams provided a peaceful ambience – Paradise!

The second day, I slept in and hung around Soldier Lake for some meditation, solitary yoga, and journaling. In the afternoon, I made my way on Army Pass trail to Cottonwood lakes to see the amazing overlooks shown in the first picture. There was a moderate amount of snow on the way up, but the trail was still accessible. The way down, however, was completely blocked by snow with no safe way to descend. I unfortunately couldn’t complete the loop I was planning, I had to turn around and camp back at my previous night spot.

This meant that my 3rd and final day was retracing my steps on the 12 mile PCT/Cottonwood pass trail. I was sad that I didn’t get to see Cottonwood lakes, but that just gives me an excuse to come back here!

Needless to say, Nali and I were exhausted both during and after our weekend adventure. Nali loves nothing more than napping in the sun after a long day, so I’ll leave you with this: