After departing Salt Lake, Mary Kilpatrick (alias number 8 and the first female section hiker of the Appalachian Trail) and I made our way across incredibly desolate northern Nevada to California, the site of the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT). The TRT was the “main event” in some ways of our summer, a 175-mile hiking loop that circumnavigates Lake Tahoe. We aimed to trudge our way through it in two weeks. Like any good Western explorer, we made a provisioning stop before hitting the trail. Ours was in Davis, where we got to see some old friends from our time in Atlanta, hang out with an incredibly cute baby of theirs, and stuff our bearproof containers with as much food as possible from a discount grocery store.
With backpacks loaded to the brim, we left a box of food in Tahoe City (the north side of the lake) and crashed in a cheap hotel in South Tahoe (surprisingly on the south side of the lake). On our first day, as we did most days hiking, we rose before the sun at 5 AM to beat the heat as much as we could. We drove about 30 minutes to the trailhead, where we parked the car for what we thought would be 14 days. The first half of the day felt great, fresh legs propelling me up through the cool morning air. As the day wore on, the legs wore out. The sun seared down on every section without shade. The dogs kept us honest, making us stop frequently for water breaks in said shade. But we made it. We hiked about 15 miles that day from Kingsbury just outside South Tahoe to Star Lake, an azure pool tucked under the highest peaks in the area. I think I fell asleep by 8 that night, my body starting to set itself to the sun.
The second day provided the first snow foreshadowing of the trip. Less than a mile into a climb out of Star Lake we ran into a gauntlet of steep snow fields. Relying on one ranger’s advice suddenly proved to be a risky mistake. Faced with lots of snow on a section we didn’t expect any, doubts started to swirl about the sections several days ahead which we knew had snow. We trudged, slipped, and slid our way through 2 miles that felt like 20. It made the next 12 miles of the day an uphill battle even if much of it was a decrease in elevation. We arrived at a riverside campsite exhausted. Mary had the foresight that night to look at some online trail descriptions of the sections that awaited us. The next one seemed doable with only “expect some snow” while the aptly named Desolation Wilderness after that did not. The Desolation’s description included things like “the entire area is covered in snow”, “dangerous steep slides could lead to serious injury”, and "use caution".
Thus, we had to take heed of all our lessons learned this summer about flexibility and letting plans change. I beat myself up for a bit, lamenting that I should have trusted more sources than one ranger who was more interested in discussing dog breeds than trail conditions. That’s a lesson learned for next time. We quickly settled on a new plan where we would take a couple of extra nights in the section before Desolation, a couple nights in a hotel in South Tahoe, and then pick up the trail at the original halfway point in Tahoe City (beyond which was almost entirely snow-free).
We spent two lovely nights at Round Lake on the southern section of the trail, reading through several Kindle books, contemplating life while looking at the pristine water, and stretching out some sore muscles. We then made our way to Echo Lake, completing the section before Desolation. This part confirmed our suspicions about snow being more serious than communicated with several sections where only a GPS was able to show us the trail that was buried under sometimes 10 feet of snow. All this while the sun beat down and the mosquitoes rioted in the extra snow runoff. Truly a hiking Yahtzee.
Once we arrived at Echo Lake, the plan was for me to Uber 45 minutes to our car at Kingsbury then come pick up Mary and the pups. Seemed like a great plan, until I reached the car realizing I left the keys back at Echo Lake. After screaming into the void and sniffling while sitting on a rock briefly, I succumbed to the dreaded triple Uber, and we eventually got to a hotel in South Tahoe. We spent a wonderful two nights there, eating at restaurants in the ski village, watching crappy TV in an air-conditioned room, and resting our bodies for the 6-day hiking stretch between Tahoe City and Kingsbury. We made our way to Tahoe City, proud of our flexibility but ready to hit the trails in earnest the next morning for Round 2.
Sasha side note: During this section, I had a microcosm of failure and redemption with Sasha. On the third day, we passed some hikers ahead of us on a steep uphill. Some context: I hate uphills, and when I’m tired, I sometimes don’t pay as much attention to Sasha as I should. So, despite knowing that these kind folks ahead of us hadn’t left enough space for Sasha to squeeze through, I barged ahead through a little gauntlet of hikers thinking about getting this uphill over. She barked at them, rightfully frightening them. I felt terrible, muttered sorry, and continued on my way. As life often does, I was given an opportunity to redeem things. These hikers had passed us during a snack break, so we had to pass them again. This time I took a breath, pulled out my treats, checked in with Sasha and passed without incident. I waved to them, and they asked what was up with this crazy dog. I told them briefly about the past abuse etc. and they left me with “good luck and thanks for having her on a leash”. It’s always satisfying to take advantage of the second chances you get.
With backpacks loaded to the brim, we left a box of food in Tahoe City (the north side of the lake) and crashed in a cheap hotel in South Tahoe (surprisingly on the south side of the lake). On our first day, as we did most days hiking, we rose before the sun at 5 AM to beat the heat as much as we could. We drove about 30 minutes to the trailhead, where we parked the car for what we thought would be 14 days. The first half of the day felt great, fresh legs propelling me up through the cool morning air. As the day wore on, the legs wore out. The sun seared down on every section without shade. The dogs kept us honest, making us stop frequently for water breaks in said shade. But we made it. We hiked about 15 miles that day from Kingsbury just outside South Tahoe to Star Lake, an azure pool tucked under the highest peaks in the area. I think I fell asleep by 8 that night, my body starting to set itself to the sun.
The second day provided the first snow foreshadowing of the trip. Less than a mile into a climb out of Star Lake we ran into a gauntlet of steep snow fields. Relying on one ranger’s advice suddenly proved to be a risky mistake. Faced with lots of snow on a section we didn’t expect any, doubts started to swirl about the sections several days ahead which we knew had snow. We trudged, slipped, and slid our way through 2 miles that felt like 20. It made the next 12 miles of the day an uphill battle even if much of it was a decrease in elevation. We arrived at a riverside campsite exhausted. Mary had the foresight that night to look at some online trail descriptions of the sections that awaited us. The next one seemed doable with only “expect some snow” while the aptly named Desolation Wilderness after that did not. The Desolation’s description included things like “the entire area is covered in snow”, “dangerous steep slides could lead to serious injury”, and "use caution".
Thus, we had to take heed of all our lessons learned this summer about flexibility and letting plans change. I beat myself up for a bit, lamenting that I should have trusted more sources than one ranger who was more interested in discussing dog breeds than trail conditions. That’s a lesson learned for next time. We quickly settled on a new plan where we would take a couple of extra nights in the section before Desolation, a couple nights in a hotel in South Tahoe, and then pick up the trail at the original halfway point in Tahoe City (beyond which was almost entirely snow-free).
We spent two lovely nights at Round Lake on the southern section of the trail, reading through several Kindle books, contemplating life while looking at the pristine water, and stretching out some sore muscles. We then made our way to Echo Lake, completing the section before Desolation. This part confirmed our suspicions about snow being more serious than communicated with several sections where only a GPS was able to show us the trail that was buried under sometimes 10 feet of snow. All this while the sun beat down and the mosquitoes rioted in the extra snow runoff. Truly a hiking Yahtzee.
Once we arrived at Echo Lake, the plan was for me to Uber 45 minutes to our car at Kingsbury then come pick up Mary and the pups. Seemed like a great plan, until I reached the car realizing I left the keys back at Echo Lake. After screaming into the void and sniffling while sitting on a rock briefly, I succumbed to the dreaded triple Uber, and we eventually got to a hotel in South Tahoe. We spent a wonderful two nights there, eating at restaurants in the ski village, watching crappy TV in an air-conditioned room, and resting our bodies for the 6-day hiking stretch between Tahoe City and Kingsbury. We made our way to Tahoe City, proud of our flexibility but ready to hit the trails in earnest the next morning for Round 2.
Sasha side note: During this section, I had a microcosm of failure and redemption with Sasha. On the third day, we passed some hikers ahead of us on a steep uphill. Some context: I hate uphills, and when I’m tired, I sometimes don’t pay as much attention to Sasha as I should. So, despite knowing that these kind folks ahead of us hadn’t left enough space for Sasha to squeeze through, I barged ahead through a little gauntlet of hikers thinking about getting this uphill over. She barked at them, rightfully frightening them. I felt terrible, muttered sorry, and continued on my way. As life often does, I was given an opportunity to redeem things. These hikers had passed us during a snack break, so we had to pass them again. This time I took a breath, pulled out my treats, checked in with Sasha and passed without incident. I waved to them, and they asked what was up with this crazy dog. I told them briefly about the past abuse etc. and they left me with “good luck and thanks for having her on a leash”. It’s always satisfying to take advantage of the second chances you get.