June 28, 2020
- Start – Watson Lake Campground (mile 106.4)
- End – 64 Acre Trailhead / Tahoe City (mile 120.3)
- Daily Mileage – 13.9 miles
We didn’t have any issues with hungry bears wandering through the Watson Lake Campground last night. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t another surprise waiting just around the corner for me on the trail this morning…
I was up with the sun and was eagerly looking forward an early start so I could maximize my rest in town today. My feet are continuing to have problems, and I had to pop a good size blister this morning. That’s why I wasn’t packed up and heading out of the Watson Lake Campground until 6:45 am. But, with less than 14 miles to go until Tahoe City, I excitedly wondered it I could make it there by lunchtime! Wouldn’t that be nice?
Unfortunately, I stumbled (literally and figuratively) on an obstacle just 100 yards from my tent site. You see, Watson Lake Campground is a primitive campground. There’s are established campsites with bear boxes, but that’s essentially the end of the amenities there. No trash cans. No bathrooms. Not even a pit toilet.
As I headed back toward the trailhead, I had to follow a dirt road that ran through the campground and toward the woods. That’s when I spied one of the guys from the campsite next to me (aka the car campers) leaning up against a tree with his pants pulled down around his thighs. Apparently, nature was calling early this morning.
I’m not sure of the etiquette when you stumble upon a stranger pooping in the woods – especially when you can see the person clear as daylight, but they don’t realize you are there. This has never happened to me in thousands of miles of hiking. But, I figured the safe thing to do was to back up, turn my head and give him time to finish up, and then politely ignore the entire thing.
So, that’s what I did. I took about ten steps back to give him some notional privacy. But, I couldn’t help wondering about the perplexing pose he’d taken. He wasn’t squatting over a cat hole. Instead he was leaning his back up against a tall pine tree. His legs seemed to be locked straight, but his stance wasn’t all that wide or very far from the base of the tree. So, he’d only given himself the narrowest gap from the “escape hatch” to the “drop zone.”
The other part that had me worried was the fact that his pants were only down to mid-thigh. Combined with his acute angle away from the tree, and I was didn’t how he was planning to avoid getting poop on at least some part of his pants. The physics didn’t seem to work. But, then as I glanced back in his direction, he suddenly produced some toilet paper (presumably to clean up). So, I guess it all worked out; and I figured it wouldn’t be much longer of a wait.
Much to my surprise though, he wasn’t done. Let me rephrase that. He was done pooping. He just wasn’t ready to pull up his pants. I guess he must have figured that since his pants were already down, and everyone else in the campground was still presumably asleep, why not just use the extra morning time to… um…. “get frisky with himself” while leaning up against the tree!
REALLY!?! I don’t need to see THAT.
I probably should have called out to him, “hey, watcha doing over there??” just see him jump out of his skin. But, I decided to be a better person. And, I proceeded to bushwhack off the trail and make my way stealthily around him instead. I just wanted to get hiking for pete’s sake! All this standing around was getting ridiculous.
Unfortunately, in my efforts to get around one hazard, I met another — and I slipped on a bunch of loose scree. Yep, giving this “nature lover” his personal privacy meant I slipped down a small hillside. When I dusted myself off and got back up, I realized my the entire length of my left shin was bloody from the fall. Oh, for crying out loud!!
CHANGES ARE A COMIN’
With that nonsense behind me, I was finally back on trail and ready to get to Tahoe City. It was a windy and chilly morning, and the trail passed through lots of tall forests. I was now on the west side of Lake Tahoe and heading south, but instead of the panoramic lake views from the past five days, I was able to look even further west out into the Sierra Nevada mountains. The views were stunning and they only made me get more excited for the upcoming section of the trail into the Desolation Wilderness just south of here.
The trail had an entirely different feel today too. I’m not sure if the forest composition is different or if it’s just the change in elevation. Tahoe City is the lowest point on the TRT at 6,240′ above sea level, which is still very much in the mountains. The trail also seemed a little more open. And there was a lot more moss on the trees and lots of pine cones littering the ground.
Now that I think about it though, maybe what felt so different this morning was simply the change in the weather. It was sunny out this morning, but the wind was pushing in a noticeable cold front. When I checked the forecast, it showed the high and low temperatures over next few days would be dropping down 20 degrees. It even had the potential of dipping down into the mid-30s overnight!
This knowledge sent me down the rabbit hole of wondering what gear I should swap out when I get to town. I have a leg up on most TRT thru-hikers because I literally have all my gear only an hour from the trail since our RV is parked up in Reno, Nevada. It’s one of those rare time when I have the luxury of changing out anything if I want for the remaining 50 miles of the TRT.
The top items currently on my list to change tonight are:
- Getting rid of this heavy bear canister (the URSACK I ordered weeks ago was finally delivered to the Reno REI)
- Swapping out my 30 degree quilt for my warmer sleeping bag
- Transitioning from my Patagonia shorts to a pair of capri leggings so I’m not freezing in the mornings/evenings during this next section of the trail.
- Ditching these trail shoes for the new pair already waiting for me back at the RV. I’m convinced my current feet issues are mostly due to my terribly worn out gear, not my mileage.
- Resupplying with more food.
BIKE PACKERS
The first 8 miles of the day were a series of ups and down. The trail got a bit rockier as it wound its way through the tall pine forests, and there were a lot more mountain bikers out this morning too. It wasn’t quite as busy as Tahoe Meadows, but there was certainly enough riders out to demonstrate that it was still the weekend.
At one point, I crossed paths with five mountain bike packers in their early 20’s headed my way. They were moving pretty slow and looking rather ragged given this early hour. The guy in the lead stopped when I reached him, and then he feverishly asked me if there was any rivers from the direction I’d just come from. Apparently the entire group was all running low on water.
I hated to disappoint him when I told him the closest water wasn’t until Watson Lake – nearly 6 miles behind me. I considered offering up my own water, but I had less than a liter left, and I still had close to 8 more miles to go before Tahoe City. So, I would probably need every bit of it.
I tried not to feel bad about the my lack of assistance. But then I quickly realized that, while those 6 miles to Watson Lake would take me close to two hours on foot, it would probably only take them another half hour or so to get there on their bikes. They would survive. And at least they wouldn’t waste any more precious time hoping for non-existent water sources.
EARTHQUAKE NEWS
My next encounter on the trail came just a few miles later with two hikers heading up a short, steep climb toward me. The gentleman was well into his 60’s and looked like Ernest Hemingway with a giant pack. Meanwhile, his female partner wasn’t carrying a thing! I wondered what the story was there.
We stopped to talk, and I quickly learned that the guy’s trail name was Papa (clearly a reference to his Hemingway likeness) and the woman beside him was his wife. Papa was getting out on the TRT for a thru-hike while she was just doing a few miles with him for moral support at the beginning of his journey.
I noticed Papa also had a new-looking PCT thru-hiker tag strapped to the side of his pack, so I asked him about it. It turns out he had a permit to hike the PCT in 2020 and got on trail down at the southern terminus back in early March. He’d made it all the way to Warner Springs (the same distance I did on my PCT section hike this past winter) before the news of COVID-19 made its way to the trail. With much deliberation and disappointment, Papa decided to end his PCT thru-hike in Warner Springs rather than risking anything bad happening. He called his wife (they live in central California near Sequoia National Park), and she drove down the next day to pick him up from the trail.
Since then, he’s been holed up in his house riding out the pandemic and feeling a sense of loss about his inability to hike the PCT. I could empathize with the feeling completely. So many of us hikers felt like all our big dreams were shattered this year. But, now that the weather was improving, and travel restrictions were easing a bit, Papa decided to get out and hike some local trails. And that’s how the TRT hit his 2020 agenda.
I told him how I was similarly disappointed about canceling my own spring plans to hike in Turkey and Italy. And to top it off, the US Forest Service cancelled my coveted Mt. Whitney permit a week before I was supposed to summit the peak in early June. That’s when Papa broke the new that it might be quite a while before I actually get the opportunity to hike Mt. Whitney in the future, even if I score another permit. It seems that while I was out here on the trail, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred near Lone Pine, California and it triggered landslides forcing local officials to evacuate the area and close Whitney Portal until further notice. Ah man. That stinks!
VOLCANOES
Not long after crossing paths with Papa, the tread of the TRT changed dramatically. Instead of the standard soft dirt path, it was filled with tons of rocks – which, admittedly, really hurt the soles of my tender feet. The blister I popped this morning wasn’t the only uncomfortable spot on my feet, and I should have stopped to rest them more. But, like a barn sour horse itching to return to the comfort of its hay-lined stall, I was hyper-focused on getting to Tahoe City as quickly as possible. There would be time to rest in town. And the sooner I got there, the sooner I could put my feet up.
Much of this rock seemed to be basalt or some sort of volcanic rock with lots of dimples and air pockets. This was a new sight on the trail. Although Lake Tahoe area isn’t volcanically active any more, 1-2 million years ago the northwest side of the Tahoe Basin produced so much basaltic lava flows that it dammed the lake multiple times!
So, I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that there were be fields of basalt boulders and rocks running beside the trail and across it right about here. It’s just a shame I couldn’t 100% enjoy it because of the miserable pain that it was causing me. But, at least I took some good photos so I can look back in the future and remember this unique aspect of the trail.
TRUCKEE RIVER
I was now reaching the part off the trail that gradually heads down toward Tahoe City on the northwest side of the lake. As I mentioned before, Tahoe City is the low point of the trail because it’s sits at mouth of Truckee River (the lake’s sole outlet).
From this vantage point on the trail, I couldn’t see the town yet. But I could stand on the edge of some rock cliffs and view the clear, turquoise water of the Truckee River as it cut through the mountains several thousand feet below me. The rock ledges reminded me quite a bit of being out at McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs in southern Virginia last year. It was one of those sheer drop-offs into a spectacular valley below.
And I stood there taking it all in, I could spot people floating down the river in their brightly colored rafts. The river looked refreshingly cool and lazy at this point of their journey. But, I know from prior drives along along Highway 89 from Tahoe City to Truckee (which parallels the river on its way toward Reno) that the gentle flat water doesn’t last long. The river also roils with serious rapids ranging from Class II to Class IV along the way.
DOWN, DOWN, DOWN
I called Keith from the top of the cliffs to update him on my progress and coordinate a new pick-up time. When he dropped me off six days ago down at Echo Summit, I had no idea what type of mileage I might be able to make each day on the trail. I was aiming for 20 miles/day based on other thru-hiker’s trail journals and my current physical conditioning, but that was just a general estimate. So, out an abundance of caution, I told him to plan on a late afternoon pick-up at the 64 Acres trailhead in Tahoe City.
I was pretty much able to stay right on target with my mileage thanks to the well-graded trail and long summer days. Plus, those extra miles I pulled on day 3 of my journey to get up to the Marlette Peak Campground put me just enough ahead of schedule that I only needed to hike 13.9 miles today. (Note: last night I wrote it would only be 13.5 miles to town. But, then I realized I was accidentally measuring to the North trailhead in Tahoe City, not the additional half mile to the 64 Acres trailhead where Keith planned to meet me).
Keith had no conflicts with driving to Tahoe City early to meet me for a late lunch and I was in high spirits as I headed down the remaining few miles of the trail. It was now more evident that I was losing elevation, but I still wasn’t able to pick up the pace due to the insane number of rocks on the trail. As I approached the final two-mile stretch before town, I encountered dozens of day hikers and even a few trail runners headed my way.
One of the more humorous sights of the day came just before town as the mountain cabins and homes began to back up to the trail. Situated between the TRT and an A-frame cabin with a red metal roof, I could spy an old 1930s or 40s pickup truck and another rusted out antique car on the hillside. I’m not sure if this was someone’s idea of eclectic yard decoration or just some junked-out vehicle skeletons resting on the hillside. But, it was an amusing sight.
Tahoe City
When I eventually popped out of the woods at the North trailhead, I was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from being done for the day. It was an easy road walk down to River Road, and then a quick game of Frogger as I dashed across the busy 2-lane road to avoid the cars.
On the opposite side of the road, the TRT followed the paved bike path over a bridge where weekenders were launching their rafts into the Truckee River to head downstream. The river was lazing along, and I could see beer coolers and all the makings of a relaxing Sunday afternoon as I headed toward the 64 Acres trailhead where Keith was already parked and waiting for me with a cold bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper.
Good man that he is, Keith even brought me a fresh change of clothes (though this was probably as much for his benefit as mine – after all, we had an hour drive back to Reno in the confined space of a warm car!). After I cleaned up with some baby wipes and change, it was time to grab some pizza from Front Station Pizza. And then were were heading back to the RV so I could resupply and adjust my gear for the second leg of this hike. I’d even get a night in my warm, comfy bed tonight!!
I was grateful for the extra time off trail too because my resupply was going a little more complex this time around. Although I already had my food purchase and ready to go back at the RV, I had a bunch of gear changes to make. That’s because my 13 year old son, Finn is planning to hike the remaining 50 miles of the TRT with me. So, in addition to my own preparation, I needed to finalize his packing list too.
The upcoming section of the TRT will be Finn’s longest backpacking adventure ever. And now that he’s old enough to carry most of his own weight, I’m super excited to share my passion for long distance backpacking with him. It’s a lot of “alone time” together for a mother-son duo, but hopefully, it will be a journey we both remember fondly. I certainly couldn’t pick a finer trail for it!
DAY 6 OVERVIEW
HIGHLIGHTS
- Views of the Sierra Nevadas to the west this morning. Although I’ve loved the panoramic views of Lake Tahoe these past few days, those mountains just make my heart swoon.
- Looking down on the Truckee River from the atop the cliffs and watching the rafters lazily floating down the river. I only wish I had more time here, so I could join them.
- Arriving in Tahoe City, where I was able to eat some delicious pizza, change out of my smelly clothes, and rest my weary feet!
CHALLENGES
- The crazy rocks on the trail today were doing me no favors. My feet are crying out for as much rest as I can give them this afternoon before heading back out on trail tomorrow.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
