Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 29, 2009

Day 8 - Echo Lakes to Big Meadow

This section is my only "day hike" on my journey, and it's 17.5 mile hike from the Echo Lake lodge, south along the Pacific Crest Trail to the very southern tip of the TRT, then northeast to Big Meadow.

As opposed to all previous trails, this section has plenty of water, finally! Tony, my new hiking partner, and I headed out from Echo Lakes store, early, and the first section, until you cross Highway 50, is pretty basic quasi-urban hiking. Lots of cabins and a few roads. Not quite the Wilderness experience, but really not too bad, either.

Once we crossed the highway, we started seeing a lot more hikers. Saturdays, right off the main highways, can get very busy.

What I really like about this section is the variety of terrain in such a short distance; from exposed granite, to open meadows, to fairly thick forests, with several lakes and streams. There is a great lunch spot just off the trail, on a large granite outcrop next to Showers Lake, where you can look all the way across Lake Tahoe and see Mt Rose, where this adventure first started.
Since this section has so many water sources, we hiked with a light water load, and filtered more when we got to Showers Lake.
At the southernmost point on the TRT, you have the junction of the TRT and the Pacific Crest Trail. That point is a long way from Lake Tahoe, and is only 3 miles north of Carson Pass!

Near Bryan Meadow

Below Little Round Top

Looking north, all the way to Mt Rose

Face in the mountain (at least I see it, if noboby else does), above Showers Lake

The Lunch spot with a view, next to Showers Lake

Showers Lake.

At the junction of the TRT with the PCT. Southernmost point on TRT.

Looking south across Round Lake.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 13, 2009

Day 7 -

Nothing like a bear in your camp to get the morning started right!

Today takes us from Mud Lake to Tahoe Meadows, at the Mt Rose summit, where the hike began. Ron and John hit their goal of the entire 165 miles for the Tahoe Rim Trail Trough-hike, and due to my time away from the trail, I hit the Meadows with a mileage total of 101 miles.

Back to the bear. At 4:40 am, we all woke up the sound of something HEAVY walking past our tents. We've had enough deer walking by during the rest of the hike to know how they sound. This was definitely not a deer. Mud Lake is just uphill of Incline Village, and the saddle that we were camping on is probably on his usual trail to get to and from the rich raiding grounds of Incline. After the initial andrenalin rush, the only thing we had to worry about was laughing too hard at Ron, with his headlamp shining off into the darkness, holding his hiking pole, like a modern day jousting knight. Too bad we missed getting a picture!
This last day went really fast. It hits the highest point of the whole TRT, the 10,338 ft of Relay Peak, then past the Mt Rose waterfall trail, across the highway at the Mt Rose summit, and finally the 1 mile walk downhill though the Meadows to the initial trailhead. I saw more people in the last two miles of the trail, right near the summit parking lot, than I'd seen on the previous 99 miles combined. Kinda scary how busy that section is!

Ron and John hit earned their "165 Mile Club" membership today, but I still have 64 more miles to go. I can't wait to get started...

Sunrise over Lake Tahoe

Incline Village all the way to Freel Peak on horizon.

Looking north, towards Boca, Stapede, and the Sierra Buttes

Tahoe Meadows, the goal, with Washoe Lake in distance.

On top of Relay Peak, 10,338 ft. John is pointing the way, apparently.

On Relay Peak. Donner Lake an I-80 in background on left side.

The Meadows, our goal.

Ron and John, 100 yards away from joining the "165 Mile Club"!

Celebrating the trail!

Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 12, 2009

Day 6 - Water? What water?

It's amazing how fast you can break camp and get hiking when it's 38 degrees out.

Due to the total lack of water between Watson Lake and Gray Lake (maybe 18 miles?), most people have a water cache at Brockway summit. Since our original plan was to spend the night somewhere near Martis Peak Road, we instead decided to cache water near there, which is 4 miles past Brockway, so we wouldn't have the extra weight to carry uphill. Passing Brockway, there must have been 5 to 10 gallons, labelled for different groups of hikers, sitting by the side of the trailhead. Even though we were getting a bit low, it's total bad karma to touch anyone else's cache, so we trudged onward and upward.

As our water got lower and lower, we just kept thinking about the 4 gallons that Ron had cached there two weeks ago. As we rounded the corner, we could tell by the look on Ron's face that something was wrong, very wrong. Yes, the no-good-dirty-rotten-damn-rodent-varmint-bastard squirrels has chewed through the bottom of all four plastic jugs. Oh well, time to improvise the plan once again, and we hiked the extra 6 miles to get to the next water source.

The lesson, Never, Ever, count on a water source. Keep a bit in reserve, just in case. (ok you *&^$@ squirrels, I learned the lesson, so don't even THINK of ever messing with my water again!)

Somehow missed the turn to Grey Lake, so we camped at the appropriately named Mud Lake. The water clogged Ron's filter, and still came out discolored using mine. Time to boil!

Almost forget, we followed a set of bear tracks for about two miles, right on the trail today. Nobody elses footprints ever covered his tracks, so he must not have been too far in front of us.

Typical trail scenery near Brockway Summit.

At the Brockway Summit trailhead

Fields of Mule's Ears. Some had the yellow flowers still.

What a great sign!

Bear tracks. We followed these for quite a while!

Incline Village and Sand Harbor, from Mt Baldy.

One of my favorite shots of the trip. Near Rose Knob Peak.

Gaining elevation on Rose Knob Peak.

Mud Lake campsite, before the bear came through.

Mud Lake.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 11, 2009

Day 5 of my TRT journey, Tahoe City to past Watson Lake.

We decided that instead of taking our scheduled 4 days to complete the 40 mile from Tahoe City to Mt Rose summit, we'd do it in 3. It isn't the distance that is hard, it's the 4,000 foot overall elevation gain that gets you.

There is a steady climb out of Tahoe City, on not the prettiest parts of the TRT, but at least we started out with bellies full of great bagels and cream cheese. Yes, the feet hurt the first hour or so, but then they were fine. That break sure helped.

Watson Lake, at 14 miles, is a nice-enough lake, but the other end of the lake had a road, campsites, and RVs, so we decided to just keep moving. With no water sources for the next 15 or so miles, we loaded up. Nothing like a nice heavy pack to carry, right after lunch. Siesta, anyone?

Went another 4 miles to a small meadow, and set up camp. We're still about 4 miles from Brockway summit.

Dinner was early, and everyone was in their tents by 7 pm (like a bunch of old men). What we didn't expect was the friendly family of coyotes who sang to us for quite a while. Just exactly how tooth-proof is a thin nylon tent, anyway? I didn't spill any food on my clothes, did I??? Just remember, you don't have to outrun the coyotes, just your hiking partners...

High above the Truckee River

Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley

Watson Lake

Nice flat trail, with a few mountain bikers

Our stoves in action.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 10, 2009

Time to join back in on the hike!
Drove from Reno to Tahoe City, to the Tahoe SRA campground, right on the beach in Tahoe City. Wow, urban camping, right next to the Safeway!
Ron and John had continued their hike, past Echo Lakes, up through Desolation Wilderness, and had just arrived in Tahoe City when I got there. After we ate a good lunch and dinner (ok, they ate a BIT more than me), we got ready for the next section of the hike. Although I brought up their resupply boxes, Tahoe City is a perfect place to purchase anything you need, from junk food, to dehydrated food, to any equipment replacement needed.

My TRT journey, though not my originally planned "through-hike", is now being broken up into segments. The first, southbound across the east side, next is eastbound across the top, then a short section on the bottom, then finally a long section hiking south across the western side of Lake Tahoe.

Miles today, zero. Walking to pizza and beer just doesn't count...

Urban camping, at Tahoe SRA, between Hwy 28 and the lake.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 3, 2009

Day 4 - Star Lake to Big Meadow. 14 miles.

Freel Meadows

ok, the feet are really hurting today, plus my heel is having issues. Started off with a beautiful climb up to Freel Pass. From this area, we got our first good views where we could look all the way back to where we started this trip. Mt Rose is easy to pick out on the horizon. There are also great vies down to the south, towards Hope Valley.

As the day went on, my feet and heel hurt more and more. Not a good sign.

Ran into a lot on mountain bikers on this section. Most coming from South Lake Tahoe, and doing 20 mile loops up to the ridges. On the whole, the riders on this part of the trail were pretty respectful. Much more polite than the North Shore riders we'd see later.

Mt Rose on the horizon; where we started this trip

Water is an issue on this section, too. We were pretty thirsty by the time we got to a creek about a mile from Big Meadow campground. Absolutely beautiful views along the ridges from Armstrong Pass to past Freel Meadows.

Had to make a huge decision today. After hobbling into the campground, I realized that my foot problems were getting worse and worse, and not healing at all during the nights. So, I decided to change the trip from a "through-hike", to a "segment hike", and take several days off to let my feet heal. I called Teri to pick me up, and I had a long, depressing ride back to Reno. The plan is to join back up with Ron and John when they get to Tahoe City.

Trail between Star Lake and Freel Pass. Amazing trail construction here!

Ron near Freel Pass

John near Freel Pass

Ron, John, and I at Freel Pass. A good place for a rest.

Da feet and da poles.

At least we know we aren't lost!

Ridgeline hiking near Tucker Flat.

Tahoe Rim Trail - Aug. 2, 2009

Day 3, South Camp to Star Lake, 18 miles of trails plus 3 1/2 miles on paved roads at Kingbury Grade.

ok, we woke up knowing that this day would be a bitch! It is the longest mileage day of the entire trip, plus it has a lot of elevation change, and the annoyance of several miles of paved road. Morning was great, though, 7 or 8 miles in about 2 1/2 hours (a good pace for us old guys), through nice shaded forest, to get to Kingsbury North trailhead. Walking on the road the next few miles really gets the feet hurting. Great brunch of french toast and fresh fruit at the Fox and Hound Grill. Highly recommend it! Water up, we've got some climbing to do, with minimal water sources along the way. You actually climb up and across several ski runs that are part of Heavenly Valley. You get the feeling that this climb will be a bitch. How? you ask? Easy, the less day-hikers you see, the harder the trail is going to be. That's Dave's Rule #5 of trail diffculty.

The views out over the Carson Valley are amazing. One thing so great about the east side of this hike, is that each day you get views not only west, over to Lake Tahoe, but you also get view east, out over the basins of Nevada.

Got to Star Lake, all of us are sporting some nice blisters. I really need to change socks sometime during the day, instead of using one pair for the whole day.

One interesting thing about the TRT, is how it makes you view the Tahoe Basin from a different perspective. For most people in the Tahoe area, the highway passes are the very highest point in their trip. They start someplace lower like Reno or Sacramento, hit the pass, and then drop down to the lake level. When hiking the TRT, the mountain passes are the very lowest you go, with all hiking actually done ABOVE the passes. There is a good feeling, each time you cross a highway, that you are just hitting a low spot, and all the cars are hitting their high spot. If they only knew what they were missing!

Tahoe Keys Marina, with Pyramid Peak on the horizon

Grouse by the trail

Kingsbury "asphalt hiking" really sucks, visually, and on your feet.

Fox & Hound - great breakfast and lunch place

Last views of the Carson Valley

Star Lake, with green water, due to an algea bloom.

Star Lake campsite