The word "mountain" has turned more into a regional homograph as we have learned more about living in Berkeley and so close to the Berkeley Hills and Marin County. (Homograph= two words with the same spelling but different meanings). We thought... Marin County- the home of mountain biking- it'll be great! (For those of you new to SF geography, Marin County is part of the "North Bay" region. It is the county north of the Golden Gate Bridge and across the bay from Berkeley/Richmond/Oakland/East Bay areas. I suppose in the baby days of mountain biking, the art of throwing yourself down a hill, on a bike, as if trying out for a "yahoo" drink commercial was created. Thus there has been this fear built up in loud mouth day hikers (who seek political action) of getting run down by an out of control mountain biker who neglected to call out prior to passing. And that brings us to the depressing state of our regional parks where all of the boring "road" looking trails are open to all and the more interesting single track trails are just for hiking and horses.
Now, when one enters the real mountains of our area, those of the Sierra Nevadas, a new perspective of mountain biking is formed... well at least on the Nevada side of the Tahoe Rim Trail. There mountain bikers and backpackers can co-exist. The trails are interesting and moderately challenging for a bike and you really are on a mountain! Thank goodness for Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas. If we were stuck in CA without Lake Tahoe to go hiking around, mountains to go skiing among and the possibility of doing real mountain biking, we'd just about go crazy.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Monday, July 11, 2005
TRT Much needed rest day
It was hard to go to sleep last night because my legs were uncomfortable. But tiredness took over and I slept solid until 7am. We arose, continued our laundry and went down to the main building to officially check-in and pick up our resupply box which had the pancake mix in it.
So, The Echo Lakes Chalet is a green building that provides many services. They have a postoffice and small grocery store with great ice cream. They have boats, canoes, and kayaks for day rentals and they offer water taxi rides across the lake. Many hikers enjoy the water taxi because it saves you about 2-3 miles of walking along the lake, especially for day hikers that want to get to Desolation Wilderness quickly. It also services many of the cottages around the lake which do not have any road access. The chalet also has 8 chaletlees which are small cabins that each have their own kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom and a huge walk around porch to sit in the sun on. We got good at sitting that day. We planned for lunch to be deli sandwiches from the store, followed by ice cream. We sat and watched the fisherpeople.
Inside our cabin, we put two bar stools in the kitchen so we could sit as we made dinner and continued the laundry. Dinner was fabulous. A box of cheap red wine accompanied our veggie chili with pan fried corn bread (no oven) and fritos. We sat outside to eat and enjoyed the lake. We talked about coming back with Jen and Craig, two friend from church and PSR, or other friends from far away that might come visit us some day.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, 48 miles to the car. 4 days to go. We haven't been able to get an updated report about the snow. We don't know if it is safe to go across Dick's Pass yet. If not, I hope that we are smart enough to turn around and come back. The climb will be steep, 1000 ft in 1 mile. Right now my body feels pretty good, the feet only hurt when I put on the shoes. I will have to tape up my blisters before will leave tomorrow.
The only bad thing so far about rest and resupply is that the pack gets heavier with the new food. We tried to pare down the extra food and mail it home. One more night in a bed and then it is back out into the wilderness.
So, The Echo Lakes Chalet is a green building that provides many services. They have a postoffice and small grocery store with great ice cream. They have boats, canoes, and kayaks for day rentals and they offer water taxi rides across the lake. Many hikers enjoy the water taxi because it saves you about 2-3 miles of walking along the lake, especially for day hikers that want to get to Desolation Wilderness quickly. It also services many of the cottages around the lake which do not have any road access. The chalet also has 8 chaletlees which are small cabins that each have their own kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom and a huge walk around porch to sit in the sun on. We got good at sitting that day. We planned for lunch to be deli sandwiches from the store, followed by ice cream. We sat and watched the fisherpeople.
Inside our cabin, we put two bar stools in the kitchen so we could sit as we made dinner and continued the laundry. Dinner was fabulous. A box of cheap red wine accompanied our veggie chili with pan fried corn bread (no oven) and fritos. We sat outside to eat and enjoyed the lake. We talked about coming back with Jen and Craig, two friend from church and PSR, or other friends from far away that might come visit us some day.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, 48 miles to the car. 4 days to go. We haven't been able to get an updated report about the snow. We don't know if it is safe to go across Dick's Pass yet. If not, I hope that we are smart enough to turn around and come back. The climb will be steep, 1000 ft in 1 mile. Right now my body feels pretty good, the feet only hurt when I put on the shoes. I will have to tape up my blisters before will leave tomorrow.
The only bad thing so far about rest and resupply is that the pack gets heavier with the new food. We tried to pare down the extra food and mail it home. One more night in a bed and then it is back out into the wilderness.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
TRT Day 5 Hell Day
We woke up at 6am and left our campsite by 7am. It really doesn't take an hour to pack but we lay in bed too long thinking about getting up before actually doing it. This was our earliest morning yet. We knew we had a really bug day and a great reward ahead of us. Thankfully, we had actually camped farther down the trail then we had thought, only 2 miles from the Big Meadows trailhead. We crossed Hwy 89 and continued for another mile or so for BF.
My spirits were way down after BF. I had a bad cliff bar (cookies and cream) and then my stomach just could not handle the oatmeal. My knees had been giving me trouble, even with the help of the hiking poles. The terrain was flat for once, but I just could not get going fast. Grant was somewhat annoyed with me. Frustration, pain, lack of energy caused me to through down my bag, take off my shoes, eat GORP, and start crying. (it is amazing, all these emotions and basically, I was just hungry). It is in these moments that Grant shows how amazing his love is. So patient and giving. He carried my backpack on his front for the next 30 mins on a very flat section of the Pacific Crest Trail (the TRT piggy-backs on the PCT for the west side of the lake)
We crossed many streams/headwaters of the Truckee River. There was no more taking off the shoes for the crossings, there were just so many of them that I just told myself that I was going to get wet and dirty... I would have a shower that night.
We ate lunch at Showers Lake, which really did sound like a shower because of the wind and the snow melt trickling down the rock walls which made a C shape around one side of the lake. This is where the trail started to get tricky...
Snow patches became more frequent. At times, the snow was so thick that we lost the trail. This is when your other senses come into play. Did you notice that there were signs on the trees? Did you notice that there seems to be rectangles carved out of the trees every now and then? Oh look, there, where the log has been cut. Look I see footprints. Plus we had the map and compass. We had steep downhills by a waterfall, a very serious steep snow crossing that ended with a "I just need to hold you, I am so glad that we didn't fall to our death" embrace. Bursts of energy came out of no where that kept us bookin' as fast as we could. We got real good at boot skiing.
As we got closer to the next trailhead, there were several trail crossings and signs that rallied us on. We came up on Echo Summit Trailhead to find a search and rescue squad in full force. They were organizing the troops of volunteers looking for a older mountain biker with some mental problems who had disappeared the previous day or so. We didn't ask anyone anything. We just used the outhouse, sat down on a rock, ate a snack and watched for a few moments. Only 1.5 miles to the Chalet. Can I say it again? Only 1.5 miles to a building where I can sleep in a bed, clean up, and rest for the next 24 hours.
At 8:15pm (after 13 hours on the trail) we landed at Echo Chalet. Showers, Dinner (the best quesadillas ever!), Washing ALL of our clothes, (which meant sleeping naked), Body Massages (and other activities) to Celebrate our HARDEST day on the trail.
My spirits were way down after BF. I had a bad cliff bar (cookies and cream) and then my stomach just could not handle the oatmeal. My knees had been giving me trouble, even with the help of the hiking poles. The terrain was flat for once, but I just could not get going fast. Grant was somewhat annoyed with me. Frustration, pain, lack of energy caused me to through down my bag, take off my shoes, eat GORP, and start crying. (it is amazing, all these emotions and basically, I was just hungry). It is in these moments that Grant shows how amazing his love is. So patient and giving. He carried my backpack on his front for the next 30 mins on a very flat section of the Pacific Crest Trail (the TRT piggy-backs on the PCT for the west side of the lake)
We crossed many streams/headwaters of the Truckee River. There was no more taking off the shoes for the crossings, there were just so many of them that I just told myself that I was going to get wet and dirty... I would have a shower that night.
We ate lunch at Showers Lake, which really did sound like a shower because of the wind and the snow melt trickling down the rock walls which made a C shape around one side of the lake. This is where the trail started to get tricky...
Snow patches became more frequent. At times, the snow was so thick that we lost the trail. This is when your other senses come into play. Did you notice that there were signs on the trees? Did you notice that there seems to be rectangles carved out of the trees every now and then? Oh look, there, where the log has been cut. Look I see footprints. Plus we had the map and compass. We had steep downhills by a waterfall, a very serious steep snow crossing that ended with a "I just need to hold you, I am so glad that we didn't fall to our death" embrace. Bursts of energy came out of no where that kept us bookin' as fast as we could. We got real good at boot skiing.
As we got closer to the next trailhead, there were several trail crossings and signs that rallied us on. We came up on Echo Summit Trailhead to find a search and rescue squad in full force. They were organizing the troops of volunteers looking for a older mountain biker with some mental problems who had disappeared the previous day or so. We didn't ask anyone anything. We just used the outhouse, sat down on a rock, ate a snack and watched for a few moments. Only 1.5 miles to the Chalet. Can I say it again? Only 1.5 miles to a building where I can sleep in a bed, clean up, and rest for the next 24 hours.
At 8:15pm (after 13 hours on the trail) we landed at Echo Chalet. Showers, Dinner (the best quesadillas ever!), Washing ALL of our clothes, (which meant sleeping naked), Body Massages (and other activities) to Celebrate our HARDEST day on the trail.
Saturday, July 09, 2005
TRT Day 4 Lakes and Meadows of Flowers
We got up and out by 8am, climbed up to monument pass and had BF at 9:15. I hate multi-grain mix. It is supposed to be full of great protein. I cannot eat it. It choke down a few bites. I ask Grant to please not make as much. I hate the stuff. We eat it every other day. The other days we eat old fashioned oatmeal. Just as disgusting and intolerable for me. Next trip I will be very clear about bringing my own instant oatmeal!
We arrived at Star Lake at 12:05, right on schedule for a lunch by a lake. Whenever we can pair water filtering with a meal, we gain a little time. The lake was beautiful with Job's Sister in the background.
After lunch we walked to Armstrong Pass, about 5 miles, where Grant tells me that his hope is that we make another 10 miles before bed. It is already 4:30 pm. (quick calculation- we'd been going about 2 miles per hour, so 5 more miles of hiking? We obviously didn't make it)
Today we reached the highest point on the trail, about 10000 feet at Freel Peak. We also walked through some of the prettiest meadows and wildflowers.
I'm tired of being dirty. It has been 5 days since the last shower and real bathroom. I'm tired of my legs and feet hurting. I needed better shoes before the trip. Time ran out for shopping and I thought these would do. I now have a twin blister in the inside of my other heal.
Tomorrow we really have to push it, because tomorrow night we sleep in a bed!
We arrived at Star Lake at 12:05, right on schedule for a lunch by a lake. Whenever we can pair water filtering with a meal, we gain a little time. The lake was beautiful with Job's Sister in the background.
After lunch we walked to Armstrong Pass, about 5 miles, where Grant tells me that his hope is that we make another 10 miles before bed. It is already 4:30 pm. (quick calculation- we'd been going about 2 miles per hour, so 5 more miles of hiking? We obviously didn't make it)
Today we reached the highest point on the trail, about 10000 feet at Freel Peak. We also walked through some of the prettiest meadows and wildflowers.
I'm tired of being dirty. It has been 5 days since the last shower and real bathroom. I'm tired of my legs and feet hurting. I needed better shoes before the trip. Time ran out for shopping and I thought these would do. I now have a twin blister in the inside of my other heal.
Tomorrow we really have to push it, because tomorrow night we sleep in a bed!
Friday, July 08, 2005
TRT Day 3 More Danger In the Woods? Theory disproved!
We started our morning packing up to leave just to eat BF 10 mins down the trail from our camp. We finally found the overlook that people were talking about on the way up. It had a wooden bench built into an outcropping of rock. This told us that we really hadn't hiked as far as we though we had the day before, probably 16 miles, still a good ways. After the bench, we headed downhill for about 3 miles. Then the path started rolling. We met many mountain bikers on Kingsbury Grade, rumored to be among the best trails in the Tahoe area. Lots of great thin paths with rocks and roots to jump/climb/roll/fall over. After 7 miles we hit the next trailhead and started walking on pavement. It so fitting that we made our two biggest mistakes of the trip while on pavement walking through a subdivision.
Mistake #1
I had asked a guy on a mountain bike how far it was to the trail head. He said 20 minutes. It really turned out to be 40 but it is hard to tell when you're on a bike. He was going the other way. He must have reached his turn around point, came back to his car, and then he stopped by us as we were walking. He asked if he was right on the time. We told him no in a polite way. He then asked us if we wanted a ride to the next trailhead so we could continue on our way. I really really wanted to say yes. The pavement was hurting my feet. But to respect my husband and our mission, I declined. We kept walking down the pavement. We should have said yes, and this is why...
Mistake #2
We walked past a house and a woman came out, called to us and asked if we wanted any water. We happily said yes, Grant was almost out and I was a liter or less. I guess this is something that she does fairly after for TRT hikers. The woman's husband said he was working on a building near the next trailhead (construction) and offered us a ride. Being that the pavement was exposed to the sun, it was afternoon, we were hot and tired, and needed to catch up after not getting as far as we had wanted to yesterday, we said yes. As I tried to get into the truck, the man (dim) let the truck roll backwards. The open truck door pinned my hand between it and the side mirror of the car parked next to it. It hurt. I had all of the symptoms of someone about to faint. Dizziness and needing to lie down. We ended up taking the ride from the woman. Grant was awesome and very patient.
About a mile in from the trailhead we stopped for dinner. It was soma noodles with a sun dried tomatos, spices, and olive oil sauce. It was pretty good. We are finding that we packed slightly too much food. We thought we would be hungrier.
About 3 miles in from the trailhead was the first time we found a flat spot. Everywhere is windy. Even in the valley where we camped. The wind seems to accelerate down the hill and through the trees. We only did 11 miles today (14 if you count driving) Tonight bed is early. Hopefully a bright eastern sunrise will get us off to an early start. I'm finding that mornings are the best time for me to hike. It's still cool and I'm still feeling rested.
Mistake #1
I had asked a guy on a mountain bike how far it was to the trail head. He said 20 minutes. It really turned out to be 40 but it is hard to tell when you're on a bike. He was going the other way. He must have reached his turn around point, came back to his car, and then he stopped by us as we were walking. He asked if he was right on the time. We told him no in a polite way. He then asked us if we wanted a ride to the next trailhead so we could continue on our way. I really really wanted to say yes. The pavement was hurting my feet. But to respect my husband and our mission, I declined. We kept walking down the pavement. We should have said yes, and this is why...
Mistake #2
We walked past a house and a woman came out, called to us and asked if we wanted any water. We happily said yes, Grant was almost out and I was a liter or less. I guess this is something that she does fairly after for TRT hikers. The woman's husband said he was working on a building near the next trailhead (construction) and offered us a ride. Being that the pavement was exposed to the sun, it was afternoon, we were hot and tired, and needed to catch up after not getting as far as we had wanted to yesterday, we said yes. As I tried to get into the truck, the man (dim) let the truck roll backwards. The open truck door pinned my hand between it and the side mirror of the car parked next to it. It hurt. I had all of the symptoms of someone about to faint. Dizziness and needing to lie down. We ended up taking the ride from the woman. Grant was awesome and very patient.
About a mile in from the trailhead we stopped for dinner. It was soma noodles with a sun dried tomatos, spices, and olive oil sauce. It was pretty good. We are finding that we packed slightly too much food. We thought we would be hungrier.
About 3 miles in from the trailhead was the first time we found a flat spot. Everywhere is windy. Even in the valley where we camped. The wind seems to accelerate down the hill and through the trees. We only did 11 miles today (14 if you count driving) Tonight bed is early. Hopefully a bright eastern sunrise will get us off to an early start. I'm finding that mornings are the best time for me to hike. It's still cool and I'm still feeling rested.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
TRT Day 2 Getting used to it
Today we tried out part of our new philosophy of backpacking. We hiked before eating breakfast. Energywise this worked great. Timing was thrown off because we didn't end up eating dinner until after 8pm. I was very hunger for dinner but too anxious to eat enough. I guess I'll be hungry in the morning.
The three people that we camped with left before us. We caught up with them twice but didn't get very far ahead because of our breaks. That's another change in philosophy for us. We timed our breaks, about 10-15 mins every hour or so. We took the breaks even when we weren't too tired. When you know that you need to cover 15 miles, you know that you'll be hiking all day, so why be exhausted for the last bit?
We crossed many day hikers climbing up to Snow Valley Peak, so we knew we were getting closer to the next trailhead (Spooner Summit). Sometimes I feel proud to be a backpacker- other times just silly.
We accidentally spent 2 hours at Spooner Lake for lunch. This was our first major water stop. We're entering a part of the trail that we've been warned doesn't have many water sources for the next 20 miles or so (a little over a day away). Together we can carry 7 liters of water. To lose weight, we left the pump part of our water filter at home and opted for gravity. Only bad thing is that gravity is slow, especially for 7 liters. We'll have to finesse this our water techniques as we go, this was way too much time for lunch!
We crossed our first sites of civilization in 36 hours, a four lane highway US-50 (opposite side of the lake from where we entered yesterday). As always, you drop elevation coming into a trailhead and then you immediately gain elevation leaving a trailhead.
As the evening came on, Grant and I, still spooked about mountain lions and bears, same songs together to "scare" away the wildlife. This also made going uphill a little easier. This evening we chose to camp close to the lookout/vista at South Camp Peal. Almost as far as we wanted to go for today.
Tomorrow we look forward to 7 miles of trail, ~5 miles of road in between trail heads, then 3+ more miles of trail. People, cars, stores, hills. The feet are cranky but not in too much pain. My legs are stiff until warmed up a mile in or so. Quite the opposite of Grant who is ready to go once on his feet and then slows down. My shoulder hurt. Good thing we're eating to lighter backpacks.
The three people that we camped with left before us. We caught up with them twice but didn't get very far ahead because of our breaks. That's another change in philosophy for us. We timed our breaks, about 10-15 mins every hour or so. We took the breaks even when we weren't too tired. When you know that you need to cover 15 miles, you know that you'll be hiking all day, so why be exhausted for the last bit?
We crossed many day hikers climbing up to Snow Valley Peak, so we knew we were getting closer to the next trailhead (Spooner Summit). Sometimes I feel proud to be a backpacker- other times just silly.
We accidentally spent 2 hours at Spooner Lake for lunch. This was our first major water stop. We're entering a part of the trail that we've been warned doesn't have many water sources for the next 20 miles or so (a little over a day away). Together we can carry 7 liters of water. To lose weight, we left the pump part of our water filter at home and opted for gravity. Only bad thing is that gravity is slow, especially for 7 liters. We'll have to finesse this our water techniques as we go, this was way too much time for lunch!
We crossed our first sites of civilization in 36 hours, a four lane highway US-50 (opposite side of the lake from where we entered yesterday). As always, you drop elevation coming into a trailhead and then you immediately gain elevation leaving a trailhead.
As the evening came on, Grant and I, still spooked about mountain lions and bears, same songs together to "scare" away the wildlife. This also made going uphill a little easier. This evening we chose to camp close to the lookout/vista at South Camp Peal. Almost as far as we wanted to go for today.
Tomorrow we look forward to 7 miles of trail, ~5 miles of road in between trail heads, then 3+ more miles of trail. People, cars, stores, hills. The feet are cranky but not in too much pain. My legs are stiff until warmed up a mile in or so. Quite the opposite of Grant who is ready to go once on his feet and then slows down. My shoulder hurt. Good thing we're eating to lighter backpacks.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
TRT Day 1 Mt. Rose and Dead Fawn
Today we walked from Mt. Rose campground down hill towards the Tahoe Meadows trail head where we officially started our TRT journey. The meadows were beautiful. Small flowinf streams leading to patches of wildflowers. Just out of the meadows, inside the trees we crossed our first of many snow patches. Navigating with a topo map and compass is getting easier yet I find myself becoming a map snob. Does the map have good colors? Clear elevation marks? Does it have shading? (I especally like shading) We passed by and got passed by a handful of mountain bikers. Today is an even day. Bikes are allowed on this section of trail only on even days. We were going to try to avoid this but the earliest we could drive to Tahoe was yesterday since it was the first day we had a chance to check our mail in about 10 days. Our camp stove, a cute little snow peak giga, was arriving.
About 10 miles in we saw dried up twin lakes, a planned water stop that we knew had the potential to be dried up already. Most of the snow on this side of the lake was already gone, just patches in the more dense tree areas. Upon Grant's request, we hiked up an extra mile to this overlook that actually was amazing to eat dinner. You could see just about all of Lake Tahoe. We also saw a dead fawn in the middle of the trail. It was freshly dead. I actually could not see any markings of how it died. This made us very paranoid about mountain lions. On the drive up, Grant read about them liking to kill their prey and then come back later to eat it. We were quite a site trying to make as much noise as possible as we nervously walked back down off of the overlook and back onto the main trail. Grant took what we hope will be great shots of the lake from Christopher's Loop/Sand Harbour Vista.
We hiked into camp about 8pm, finally was able to get some water from a clean stream, and were greeted by some fellow hikers just doing a three day hike. On the north east side of the lake you're in Nevade State Park so there are specific walk-in campground that you can stay at. We walked in later then we hoped but thankfully already ate dinner and were ready to set up our tent and sleep.
I got the funniest blister on the inside of my heal. My feet and shoulders/neck ache but all else is good. The spirits are back up after the lion and water shortages are over.
About 10 miles in we saw dried up twin lakes, a planned water stop that we knew had the potential to be dried up already. Most of the snow on this side of the lake was already gone, just patches in the more dense tree areas. Upon Grant's request, we hiked up an extra mile to this overlook that actually was amazing to eat dinner. You could see just about all of Lake Tahoe. We also saw a dead fawn in the middle of the trail. It was freshly dead. I actually could not see any markings of how it died. This made us very paranoid about mountain lions. On the drive up, Grant read about them liking to kill their prey and then come back later to eat it. We were quite a site trying to make as much noise as possible as we nervously walked back down off of the overlook and back onto the main trail. Grant took what we hope will be great shots of the lake from Christopher's Loop/Sand Harbour Vista.
We hiked into camp about 8pm, finally was able to get some water from a clean stream, and were greeted by some fellow hikers just doing a three day hike. On the north east side of the lake you're in Nevade State Park so there are specific walk-in campground that you can stay at. We walked in later then we hoped but thankfully already ate dinner and were ready to set up our tent and sleep.
I got the funniest blister on the inside of my heal. My feet and shoulders/neck ache but all else is good. The spirits are back up after the lion and water shortages are over.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
TRT Day 0 Traveling up to Tahoe
The drive to the Tahoe area was uneventful. We had no trouble with traffic and the scenery look much different without the piles of snow we had faced last December. Most of the traffic was headed in the other direction, back home after the long 4th of July weekend. We drove in the south route to Lake Tahoe to drop off the resupply package and visit the Desolation wilderness Visitor Center to get our permit. We winded up into the mountains on US50 and drove into Echo Chalet, a resort with little cabins on Echo Lake about 5 miles outside of South Lake Tahoe. We had already packed up our resupply box, full of food for the second half of our trip, the camera battery charger, and a card reader/hard drive to download all of the pictures. The echo chalet has its own post office which the manager made us use to mail ourselves a package that really wouldn't leave its spot in 5 days. It cost over $10 dollars. I wonder if we could have found a spot to hide it in the woods, but then there are those wild animals to worry about. Next stop was the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit trailer. The ranger said there would be much snow through Desolation Wilderness (on the west side of the lake) and that we would need crampons and ice axes to avoid falling off the mountain ridges. We still had a week and we were hopeful that the snow would melt to a passable state by then. We decided to not get the recommended supplies (who wants to carry these things anyways?) and that if we did get back in a week and find that we still needed an ice axe that we would re-evaluate our hiking itinerary which means hitch a ride back to South Lake Tahoe and take a bus back to our car.
After the visit with the ranger, we drove north to Tahoe City, parked the van, hopped onto a bus and went east to Incline City, Nevada where we called for a taxi to take us up to Mt. Rose campground. The taxi dropped us off at the end of a long park road where a sign had been posted "closed for season." The driver said that there was probably just some snow on the ground still and that it was fine to go in. Walking through this abandoned campground was the eeriest feeling. No running water. All the bathroom buildings were locked. No bear boxes. We had been planning on bear boxes because we had too much food to fit in our bear canister. Our site had snow on it but wasn't covered. Camping in a campground has become so easy for us. What a luxury is having a picnic table on our site and a fresh snow melt stream trickling away during the evening to get our water from.
I wasn't prepared to see all of this snow. I guess I always knew that there would be a chance of snow. I am worried about slipping on the snow on the trail. We have our new hiking poles with us, that will help.
After the visit with the ranger, we drove north to Tahoe City, parked the van, hopped onto a bus and went east to Incline City, Nevada where we called for a taxi to take us up to Mt. Rose campground. The taxi dropped us off at the end of a long park road where a sign had been posted "closed for season." The driver said that there was probably just some snow on the ground still and that it was fine to go in. Walking through this abandoned campground was the eeriest feeling. No running water. All the bathroom buildings were locked. No bear boxes. We had been planning on bear boxes because we had too much food to fit in our bear canister. Our site had snow on it but wasn't covered. Camping in a campground has become so easy for us. What a luxury is having a picnic table on our site and a fresh snow melt stream trickling away during the evening to get our water from.
I wasn't prepared to see all of this snow. I guess I always knew that there would be a chance of snow. I am worried about slipping on the snow on the trail. We have our new hiking poles with us, that will help.
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