June 24, 2020
- Start – Trail Junction to Hwy. 89 (mile 18)
- End – Tahoe Vista (mile 39.5)
- Daily Mileage – 21.5 miles
I slept well last night and was plenty warm, even though the temperatures dropped down to 45°F. I expected the sun to wake me up pretty early, since sunrise this time of year is around 5:30 am. But, I didn’t even get to sleep until dawn.
That’s because there was a woodpecker making some crazy noise in the tree above me about 5:15 am!! I tried to ignore it and snuggle down into my quilt, but it was useless. The loud tapping on the tree might have well have been an alarm. I was awake for good.
As I went in search for my bear canister (which I’d stashed up against a stump about 80 yards away from my tent), I was surprised to note that the mosquitos were still out in full force. I guess I expected them to dissipate overnight when the temperature dropped. No such luck.
So, I boiled some water for breakfast (oatmeal and coffee) and hunkered down in my tent to enjoy without the constant presence of those pests buzzing in my face.
I didn’t rush out of camp this morning, and took a little extra time to filter some water and heed the warnings of yesterday’s thru-hikers.
The TRT’s fabled water scarcity on the east side of the lake probably wouldn’t impact me for another day yet. But I want to make sure I enter that stretch of trail as hydrated as possible. So, with that tedious morning chore done, I was back on the trail by 6:40 am.
MR. TOAD’S WILD RIDE
I was barely hiking for 10 minutes, when a voice suddenly startled me. It was an early morning mountain biker heading up toward the Saxon Creek Trail.
I knew this was a multi-use trail and popular spot for mountain bikers, but I didn’t really expect to encounter any quite this early in the day! Honestly, I was zoning out a bit (reveling in the fresh air and morning bird noises) and I never even heard the guy coming up behind me until he opened his mouth.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when he spoke, as he scared the living daylights out of me. From that moment on, I realized I needed to be on the lookout. If one mountain biker was on trail this early, I’m sure more will follow as it turns toward a more reasonable hour.
The morning air was still crisp, but climbing the rest of the hill up toward Armstrong Pass warmed me up quickly. The trail wound its way through giant boulders, and off to the right, I had some views of the peaks to the southeast. I don’t know the topography of the region well, but one cone-shaped mountain seemed to dominate the horizon.
After about 2 miles, I made it to a saddle and noticed an cute hand-painted sign directing mountain bikers to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
Based on its name, I have to assume this trail is for more adventurous or experienced riders, which definitely counts me out. Not only do I struggle riding uphills on bikes, but I am a 100% chicken on the downhills.
My sense of adventure tops out at 3 mph, and I’m always in awe of riders willing to hurtle themselves down steep, rocky tracks. Thanks, but no. I’m good walking.
MOUNTAINS & MARMOTS
I continued on after Mr. Toads, and up and over my first big hill of the day.
Freel Meadows sat near the top, rewarding me with expansive views of snow-speckled peaks beyond the trees. It’s moments like these, when I’m looking out at these panoramas, that I wince at my mediocre photography skills. I start thinking about how I’d love to capture this scenery for the people in my life who can’t hike here. And then I promise myself I’ll carry something better than my phone to take pictures with on my next hike.
But, let’s be honest – it’s difficult to get a still picture to replicate the flood of feelings you encounter when the trail curves around a bend and suddenly treats you with unexpected views that go on for miles, and miles, and miles. Unless you’re really talented (and I’m not), a photo is never going to truly capture that moment.
And so, I’ll probably continue take photos with my phone and hope they’ll spark the memories of what I saw on trail. They’re merely visual cues to pull my back to a time and place.
When I stopped to take a quick rest break and grab a snack, I crossed paths with two more TRT thru-hikers heading clockwise. They were moving like they were on a mission and didn’t seem in the mood to stop and chat, so I just waved and bid them a good hike.
Then, as I was putting my pack back on at the end of my hiatus, a giant animal scurried across the trail. It took me a moment to register what I saw seeing because it was the size of a fat house cat and moving away from me.
At first my mind thought, “look, it’s beaver!” because of it’s grizzled, brown fur. But that made no sense. I was currently standing at over 9,000′ elevation and there weren’t any rivers or lakes nearby.
That’s when I deduced that it was probably one of the yellow-bellied marmots that live up in these alpine meadows. Well, that was a pleasant surprise! I didn’t expect that this morning.
THE FLOWER GUY
After my marmot encounter, I continued on over a summit with some sublime flat spots for camping and views of Lake Tahoe in the distance. Then it was down to Armstrong Pass, where more mountain bikers were stopped talking about which direction they wanted to ride next.
A day hiker was just departing the junction when I arrived, and he was headed in the same direction I was going. When I caught up to him and asked to pass, I noticed he had a pair of binoculars around his neck. And he had a very expensive looking camera strapped to one of the shoulder straps of his daypack.
I asked if he was a bird watcher (my assumption based on the binoculars) and he surprised me by telling me that he wasn’t. He was out on the trail to photograph rare flowers that were beginning to bloom.
That got me thinking. I’d seen a lot of small alpine flowers and wildflowers over the past day and a half, but couldn’t say if any of them were rare. Yet, after talking to him I learned there are a number of endangered flower species in the Tahoe area, and there are numerous efforts to bolster or reintroduce them to the area.
The ‘flower guy’s’ interest in the local flora piqued my curiosity. So I downloaded this really helpful webpage to my phone to help me visually categorize some of the wildflowers I spotted during my journey. And before long, I began to think of it like a scavenger hunt or ‘flower bingo.’
Jagger & Tick Magnet
As I headed up toward Freel Peak, I passed more and more hikers going clockwise and even stopped to chat with an older couple stopped on trail.
I soon learned they were from Indiana and the husband’s trail name was Jagger and his wife was Tick Magnet. They’d hiked the TRT before and were out here to hike the majority of the trail again (i.e. the 130 miles from Mt. Rose to Tahoe City) with their son and his girlfriend in preparation for their upcoming thru-hike of the John Muir Trail in August.
I took a moment to ask about the trail conditions north of me and they had lots of good info about the water sources and terrain. Then we must have stood there on trail talking for the next 20 minutes about unusual gear (he was carrying a fishing rod), lamenting the weight of our bear canisters, discussing our packs (Tick Magnet was carrying the Gossamer Gear mariposa pack and was remarked how much she loved the color of my blue G4-20), and chatting about different trails.
It was one of the more pleasant and memorable encounters I had on trail with other hikers thus far, and the two of them left quite an impression on me.
I love how friendly and open other hikers can be, and this meeting reminded me of why I enjoy being part of this community so very much. Most hikers are genuinely enthusiastic about their hobby, and you can get pulled right into a in-depth conversation with strangers with just a simple question or comment!
My only regret is that I didn’t take a photo of the two of them. I spend most of my time capturing my surroundings, but when I think back about my longer hikes – it’s always the fellow hikers I remember most.
One of these days I might get over my shyness (or fear of sounding weird and creepy) and just start asking to take a picture with people so I can capture those fun moments on trail!
SNOW
After saying goodbye to Jagger and Tick Magnet, it was time to make my way up toward Freel Peak. Freel Peak is the highest mountain in the Carson Range at 10,886′ and named after James Freel, a local settler who lived at the foot of the mountain.
The TRT doesn’t actually have to summit this beast, but I did need to get up and over the pass beside it. Luckily, most of the trail was covered in shade, so the trek up wasn’t as exhausting as it might have been later in the day when the sun was high overhead.
When I made it to the top, there was a handful of mountain bikers hanging out in the shade taking in the views. Fields of snow clung to the north side of the pass, and off in the distance I could make out the blue basin of South Lake Tahoe’s waters.
For the next several days the lake would be a constant presence off to my left. Every peak would give me further evidence of the progress I was making as I traversed this loop around its circumference.
I cruised down the trail on the far side, and encountered more snow on the trail – though none of it impeded my progress.
The novelty of walking across snow though in the middle of summer simply filled me with delight. Before too long, I was crossing a water source pouring down the side of the mountain. The ice cold water was flowing UNDER the snow lying on the hillside above me and making a waterfall as it rushed down the rocks. Talk about a cool sight!
STAR LAKE
Two more miles of easy walking downhill, and it was just about time for break for lunch. I had my eye on stopping at Star Lake because I’d heard how beautiful it was – and the hype was worth it.
This alpine lake was surrounded by tall trees and seemed to emerge right out of nowhere. The water looked like glass reflecting the mountain backdrop was dotted with trees and snow. So I found a nice spot to set up the tent in the shade just above the lake.
I normally don’t go through all the effort of setting up a tent for lunch. Heck, I never did it once on any other trail. But, lounging around in the tent with my shoes off for an hour during yesterday’s rainstorm had me thinking that extended lunches were something I wanted to try on this trip.
I could set up my mesh tent and feel the breeze, smell the trees, enjoy the vistas, WHILE keeping all the mosquitos at bay.
And so that’s what I did this afternoon. I opted for a leisurely lunch along the lakefront – scoring a flat spot I’m sure would make the other hikers jealous if I was staying here overnight – and I peeled off my shoes and socks.
After soaking my feet in the shallow waters on the edge of the lake, I sprawled in my tent to reflect back on the past 12.5 miles I’d hiked thus far today and how much further down the trail I might want to push onward to this afternoon.
After a 90-minute siesta, I was packing up to hit the trail again when I stumbled upon two younger, 20-something ladies. Their packs were off and leaned against a boulder beside the lake, while one of them was on her cell phone talking in panicked tone.
I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I could overhear she was attempting to make some sort of doctor’s appointment and explaining she wouldn’t be back in town for another week.
Before ending the call, she asked the oddest question. She said, “Is there anything I can do to keep my teeth from moving in my mouth between now and then??” Um, what?!
If I discovered any loose teeth during a hike, I’m not sure I’d opt to remain on trail. A local dentist would be my immediate priority. But, maybe I’m a wuss like that.
A NEW STATE
The afternoon had definitely warmed up during my long lunch break, and the sun was feeling pretty intense this afternoon. There weren’t any clouds in the sky, so it felt like the I was being pelted with the UV rays when I emerged from the tree cover near Star Lake.
Consequently, I was grateful I’d decided to wear a long sleeve shirt to keep the sun off my arms. At least it was breezy out, making the temperature more tolerable.
The next big milestone on the trail was my transition across state lines. When I started the trail yesterday, I was in on the southwest side of Lake Tahoe and in the state of California. This afternoon, approximately 34 miles into my thru-hike, I expected to cross into Nevada.
Given how well marked this trail is all the trail junctions have been, and the number of TRT emblems on trees – I assumed there would be a sign of some sort at this state border crossing.
Unfortunately there wasn’t though, so I almost missed it entirely. It was just happenstance that I looked at my phone when I was about 25 feet away and noticed I was nearly there.
Over the years, I’ve learned a fair bit of Nevada history. It’s only one of two states admitted during the U.S. Civil War (hence it’s nickname, ‘the Battle Born state.’) and I already knew that the diagonal line between Nevada and California is one of the most surveyed state boundaries in the country.
So perhaps the lack of signage announcing the border was intentional. Maybe its omission paid homage to the many people (like George Goddard, J.F. Houghton & Butler Ives, and Alexey Von Schmidt) who tried to resolve the dispute over this land.
Intentional or not, I was a bit saddened not to have something to commemorate my departure from one state and into the next. So, I built a hasty marker on the trail with some rocks, and took a celebratory photo as I (notionally) passed from one state into the next.
Once in Nevada, the trail continued to gently drop in elevation on the east side of the mountains, and soon views of the Carson Valley emerged off to my right.
I suspect most people have a pretty narrow idea of what Nevada looks like. Las Vegas and dry, sandy deserts probably come to mind. And there certainly is a fair bit of that. But, the Carson Valley was a green oasis of farmland stretching out toward Gardnerville with marshmallow-like clouds resting above it. Not too shabby, in my humble opinion!
HEAVENLY
From there, the trail wound back and forth toward Mott Canyon and into the Heavenly Ski Resort. I’d planned my evening water source to be the South Fork of Daggett Creek, which runs right below the Heavenly ski lifts.
The water pouring down the ski slope looked so cool and refreshing, so I took an extended break in the shade of some nearby bushes while filtering water and resting my sore feet. I’d hiked close to 18 miles, and I knew I needed to try to maintain a 20 mile average if I wanted to arrive in Carson City in four days.
I briefly considered pushing on to camp near the next water source at Edgewood Creek in another 6 miles. But I set that plan aside pretty quick when I read the following comment in Guthook (posted just yesterday):
Flow is clear and consistent. Locals say to watch for a 200 lb young bear in the area.
OK, that’s not good. A juvenile or adult bear curiously nosing my tent with hopes that I didn’t secure my tasty food isn’t something I want to deal with out here.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not scared of black or brown bears. But, I’ve also been to Yosemite and Shenandoah enough times to know that bears who live near places where it’s easier to scavenge our trash can become a real nuisance.
And so, I figured I’d tank up on water here at Heavenly and find a nice spot in a few miles where I can set up camp. I don’t know what radius this bear might roam, but the further I am away for its regular water source, the better.
TAHOE VISTA
I ended up finding the most idea campsite for this evening. I had plenty of water, and would pass Edgewood Creek early tomorrow morning, so I could virtually camp anywhere that struck my fancy.
Somewhere just past the junction with Van Sickle Trail, there was a sign for a small side trail leading to a vista point for Lake Tahoe. I decided to explore this blue blaze and was treated with some awesome lake views, and noticed there were 2-3 good stealth camping sites up there.
What better place to camp than near this spectacular overlook? I was on the east side of Lake Tahoe, so I could take in a sunset over the water during dinner. And, the likelihood of the bear wandering 2.5 miles to to the top of this rocky outcropping was probably pretty low.
As I set up my tent for the evening, I definitely started to notice all the aches and pains setting in after two full days of hiking.
There was a small circle on the bottom of my left heel that developed a sharp pain while I walked this afternoon. I stripped off my shoes, but I didn’t see a blister forming. Yet, the spot was still tender to the touch. I’ll need to keep an eye on that in the upcoming days so it doesn’t get worse.
My shoulders were also feeling like they’d been pinched for hours from carrying my heavy load in this frameless pack. I cursed my dang bear canister yet again. I don’t think this pack was designed to have quite this much weight in it.
I’d tried to shift the load to my waist during the day, but it hasn’t done much to relieve the tenderness in my right shoulder, in particular. I guess my only recourse is to continue eating as much as I can to lower the food weight I have to carry each day. 🙂
Other than those two physical complaints though, my body seems to be holding up.
I’ve hiked 39.5 miles over the past two days, which is pretty respectable mileage – especially given that it’s been a 5 long months since I’ve been on a backpacking trip with all my gear.
And so, I feel pretty proud. And it it was time to settle in for the night to cook my dinner and enjoy the views.
DAY 2 OVERVIEW
HIGHLIGHTS
- Meeting Jagger and Tick Magnet and swapping trail stories with some really cool folks.
- My relaxing lunchtime siesta in the shade near Star Lake. What a truly beautiful spot!
- Picking a camping spot up on the overlook with those epic sunset views over Lake Tahoe.
CHALLENGES
- Readjusting my hiking plans to account for reports of bear activity bear one of the water sources.
- The aches and pains are starting to emerge today. I expect I’ll wake up tomorrow wanting to add a dose of Motrin to my breakfast routine.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
