Dave's Hiking Adventures: Tahoe Rim Trail

Day 11

Middle Velma Lake to Lake La Conte, about a 10 mile day. After today is done, there will be only 7 more miles until I reach the goal of hiking the entire 165 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail!

Dick's Peak, Fontinillis Lake

Instead of making the trip to Echo Lakes one long day, we though it'd be nicer to break it into two shorter days, so had a nice and easy day distance-wise, but still, going over Dicks Pass isn't a cakewalk. There are much steeper climbs on the TRT, but this does get the heart rate going a bit.

Dick's Lake, from Dick's Pass

Walking along Dick's Lake, we ran into our first Ranger of the day. I'm guessing that they send more Rangers out on the weekends, due to the higher foot traffic. And yes, they do ask you about campfire permits and Wilderness permits. This one, and very nice and helpful woman in her late 20s, only asked about it, but the young guy we saw later in the day at Suzie Lake actually had us take them out so he could see them. The female Ranger was carrying a shovel, which looks kind of strange so far away from a trailhead. She said she used it mostly to bury fires left smoldering, although you can't even use anything other than a campstove in this area. Kinda reminded me of that crazy-looking old guy in the movie Home Alone, but a whole lot prettier.

Since there were so many hikers on the main trail, we decided not to stay at Aloha Lake, and instead went 100 yards northeast of the main trail, and camped at the very well hidden Lake La Conte. You'll never find it unless you have a map, but it's worth the effort. There aren't many good sites to pitch a tent, and since the area we were in had such small flat areas, my tent had opposite corners up on sloping granite slabs. Meses with the stability of the tent, in case you've never slept that way! Dave's hiking tip # 72: if you pitch a tent without your rain fly, and it gets colder in the middle of the night than you like, instead of putting on the fly to add some insulation, just stay in your sleeping bag, and drape the rainfly over your bag. Works like a charm!