Hiking Tenaya Lake: Why not stop for awhile?
Recently it has been getting hot down in Groveland, which can mean it will be even hotter down in Yosemite Valley. I love the valley, and it is always a must do if you are only going to the park for a short period of time (I might suggest biking, a dip in the Merced, and maybe a hike up the mist trail in the cooler early morning hours) –…
Kingsbury North & the Finish of Thru-Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trial – Day 12
And at 8:30 am I started walking the final 7 miles back to the car we had abandoned 12 days prior. In this final stretch of trail I began daydreaming about lunch, beer, and my beautiful bed. It is exciting to finish a backpacking trip and return to the wonders of a normal meal, if not a little sad to be leaving this amazing place I had grown accustomed to. True story: at some point over the past 12 days (and let it be known it was not day 1) I had grown accustomed to the aches, the mid morning snack break, the push up switchback after switchback, and the grandiosity of an omnipresent Tahoe vista…
Mud Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 8
I talked about the Pacific Crest Trail hikers we had met while the Tahoe Rim Trail overlapped with the Pacific Crest Trail, but what about our fellow TRT thru-hikers? Thru-hiking the TRT has it’s perks, like discovering Lake Tahoe beyond the casinos and ski resorts in a way not many else have on this relatively new trail. And, speaking practically, TRT thru-hikers don’t have to quit their jobs for a 2 week trek. I mean, why not?
Watson Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 7
Lake Tahoe is known for it’s crystal clear blue waters, a trait it has partially due to an active sediment filtering habitat surrounding the lake. I knew this, but it did not hit me that this would affect water filters until the very beautiful Star Lake (way back on day 1 of hiking) clogged a hardy MSR ceramic filter with silt -And day 1 was only a brief preview of how very silty these lakes surrounding Tahoe can get…
The Truckee River, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 6
The longest backpacking trip I had done before hiking the Tahoe Rim trail had been my 5 day, 50 mile hike around Red Peak Pass. Here on day 6 I was breaking into the new frontier of trip length… and at the end of day 6 we had hiked over 90 miles! WHAT?!
Day 6 was arguable one of our longest days too…
PCT Creekside Camp, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 5
The mosquitoes I tangoed with at Middle Velma Lake on camp night 4 were only a warm-up. The real deal was to be found on day 5, as we exited the Desolation Wilderness and hiked down the TRT to camp besides an unnamed small creek about a mile after Bear Creek.
I am calling camp on night 5 “PCT Creekside Camp” because we did see the most number of PCT hikers passing through here…
Middle Velma Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 4
Beginning June 25, 2014 I thru-hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT), circling Lake Tahoe in 12 days. Accompanied by my friend and fellow blogger, Trails, we bravely took on this 165+ mile loop. I will be blogging a day-by-day rundown of each day’s hike, night’s campsite, and my contemplations while beating down miles. Check out my complete trip report for the TRT here – This is day 4. The Desolation Wilderness is the…
Tamarack Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 3
Resupplies are part of the thru-hiking experience – planning ahead to restock food and personal items. We had 3 resupply stops on this trip, the first of which was at a little store and seasonal post office at Echo Lake.
Originally the plan was to resupply on day four, but instead I had reworked the schedule to bust our behinds into getting there in three days. In my defense, It shaved a day off of our time & the lakes we stayed at were some prime camping spots! Unfortunately that also meant we were 14 miles from the Echo Lake resupply location…
Round Lake, Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 2
Sometime during the early morning hours at Star Lake a it started drizzling. It wasn’t a hard rain, but the wind can really whip up the canyon there if it wants to. Trails was a trooper and ran outside to pull our packs under the rainfly – maybe it would stop by morning time?
Despite our hopeful thoughts the rain did not stop. We hid in the tent cooking and packing up after waking, but it was inevitable. We had to pack up one wet and heavy tent, put on our pack covers, and brave the weather.
Hello! I am a 30-something outdoors-lady, backpacker, and resident of Groveland, California - 
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