Enjoying a Eastside Distilling Bourbon night cap before getting off trail for High Sierra Music Festival!
6/27/14
Milage: 15
Miles: 1078-1093
SLACK PACK DAY!
Weather: light breeze, beautiful
Ride: Mike and Jan, the trail angels drove us to Cardon pass, Matt, a visitor from San Jose drove us from echo to Tahoe.
I slept so well in the real bed last night. Motel 6 was a great, cheap place on a Thursday night.
Mike and Jan picked us up at the Key cafe and we headed to Carson pass with Boombox carrying just our day pack.
The trail was full of people for the first few miles but we were speedy without packs and quickly got out of the crowd.
It took about 4 hours to hike the section and we got to the end and saw the glorious sign "Coppertone is here"!!!
Coppertone greeted us with ice cream floats and cookies before we hitched back to Tahoe.
This town is so spread out so we tried to hitch, again, from one side to the other and the nicest guy, Joel, picked us up. Others refer to him as the Tahoe mayor. He helped us find the Keep Tahoe blue event and took us on a little tour. The keep Tahoe blue event has free tacos, ice cream and beer!!! We hung out there with Yardsale, Soft Egg, Tail boner, and Thor the hiking Viking.
We made our way to Mike and Jan's house for a wonderful BBQ with amazing food and company!! There were three couple there that were so friendly and fun to chat with. The night ended with a hot tub soak, of course!!
6/28/14
Mileage: 4
Miles: 1093- 1097
Trail angels, Mike and Jan, made us a wonderful breakfast after we got up late and had a nice morning shower. Mike and Jan have been such amazing hosts with great friends that we got the pleasure of spending time with the night before. Mike dropped us off down by the lake where we watched a SUP(stand-up paddle board) race that was going on on that morning. I found the whole thing to be hilarious and a nice way to spend part of a morning. I think SUP, although it might be fun, is going to be one of those sports that fades out when the next new trendy thing comes along.
We ventured down to a quieter beach and lounged in the early sun, took a swim in the crystal clear waters, and sipped on some wine before walking down the street for lunch. We ate at Sprouts, which is a delicious vegetarian resteraunt that I ate at last summer when I came down here for Phish. After lunch we walked to the post office and got our box, then walked back to sprouts to organize everything.
All our chores were done and all we wanted to do was drink some beer and lounge on the beach. We walked down to the Riva Grill which is down toward the Nevada side of things. Last summer I had an epic day at the Riva with my friends Neva and Ephraim and I wanted to show Glitter Bug what's it all about. We swam, we drank, we chatted with locals, and then our ride showed up to take us back to the trail.
Our ride was another trail angel named Mark. He was a very kind fellow that aspired to hike the PCT at some point in his life. We got back to the trail around 6 PM so we didn't get very much hiking in. We made it to the Desilation Wilderness boundary and called it a night. We have been so used to tons of water every where that we didn't think we would need to get water before camp....mistake! We went to bed thirsty. Was a great stop in Tahoe.
6/29/14
Milage: 27
Miles: 1097-1124
1,100 miles!!!!!!
Went to bed with limited water, and was soooo thirsty this morning. We were such amateurs and asked day hikers if the next water was close, they had extra and gave us some. We were so happy to drink!! Now that we're out of the Sierras we need to carry more water.
Passed so many lakes today it's been beautiful. Aloha lake was one of the most amazing lakes we've seen. We passed by it early in the morning so we didn't want to swim but I'd love to go back and jump around the islands. After Dick's pass, we made it to Dick lake which was perfect for swimming!
The Mosquitos were awful tonight. While I was crossing a creek on a log I was suddenly swarmed by them, I literally froze. Two of the things I dislike the most (Mosquitos and crossing creeks on high logs) were happening at the same time and I almost lost it. Luckily we got to camp a few miles later and Boombox set up the tent quickly. We enjoyed our dinner in our tent tonight :)
Gear of a champion, whiskey included!
Eastside Distilling's Burnside Bourbon made the climb to Dick's pass much easier.
Shared a little with our friend Itis.
6/30/14
Mileage: 25
Miles: 1124- 1149
Woke up late! Seems to be the usual these days. Slow morning on the trail. Feelin groggy. After breakfast felt great. Phish flyin down the trail. Magnificent views of the lake and the granite chief wilderness. Ridge walk most of the day. On the boundary of alpine meadow and squaw valley ski resorts. Want to come ski here this winter. Got really hot today, dipped in every creek we passed. Big climb to end the day at Tinker's knob. Camped on a ridge, beautiful sunset. Windy night maybe....
We are celebrating tonight with our Eastside Distilling bourbon!!! So excited to have a short day tomorrow and then we begin our little adventure to High Sierra Music Festival.
Lake Tahoe in the distance
7/1/14
Miles: ZERO!
Mileage: HIGH SIERRA!
Picked up by acoustic pronghorn in truckee. Went to breakfast, swam in the lake, watched the World Cup at Fifty-Fifty, grocery shopped, then drove to the brewer's lair. Played 9 holes, grilled sausages, and drank beer. Camped on a random dirt road.The rest of this week will be summed up as a hootin hollerin good time at High Sierra Music Festival. I have been going to this festival since 2006 with only 1 year missed! I love this festival and it feels good to be home with so many lovely friends to celebrate this beautiful life with! See you back on the trail!
(We're not writing on the blog while at the festival! )
Acoustic Pronghorn (Brian) and Boombox making a real breakfast!!
