7/3/18 - South Lake Tahoe

Daily Miles Hiked: 0.0

Miles This Trip: 5.1

Last night was spent at the cabin rental with Cookie Monster, his girlfriend Laura (still don’t know if or what her trail name is), another hiker named Bison who they knew from thruhiking a previous year and would be hiking a stretch with them and flew in from Philadelphia, and Laura’s friend Sarah who flew in from Toronto for the week for a few days.  I was kind of a last minute edition when I arrived, so I was glad to sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag but at the last minute last night decided it was beautiful weather out, so I would sleep on the porch.  In the middle of the night I awoke to what sounded like 2 dogs fighting in the empty lot across the street (this cabin is in a somewhat residential section on the edge of town).  It was then I realized the temperature had dropped down well into the low 40’s, so I decided to move back in the cabin for the rest of the night.

This morning as I was packing up the car, I looked across the street as a man was walking by with his dog.  There was trash strewn everywhere across the property opposite ours.  He commented that there were 3 or 4 more houses like that up and down the street and that the bears knew that today was trash day, so they knew to come by when the cans were full despite all properties having (what must be mandatory as i looked up and down the street) bear boxes installed in front of each house specifically for trash.  It then clicked in my head that what had awoken me the night before as I slept on the porch wasn’t dogs fighting, but most likely was either multiple bears, or a single bear wresting with trash.  I hiked over 1000 miles in 2016 and never got to see a bear, and here I missed my first one 50 feet away in the dead of the night as I lay on the porch across the street.

They had to leave the cabin rental today, so we packed up the cabin and headed out by about 10:45.  The plan was in exchange for letting me stay I would drive them back to the trail today at Carson Pass before heading north myself.  Sarah was taking a bus from Tahoe to Reno to fly home as well.  First however, the girls wanted to head down near the stateline casinos where there is a very touristy shopping area to find some souvineers to send home, while us guys would go and watch Cookie Monsters home countrymen playing in the World Cup against Columbia at Base Camp Pizza.  After a very close scare, England was able to secure the victory.  We said goodbye to Sarah as she headed home and I packed the other 3 into the rental car and headed up to Carson Pass.  

The drive to Carson pass took about a half hour.  I did this drive about 10 times back and forth 10 years ago when I was supporting hikers after my first PCT hike had to be aborted.  Arriving at Carson Pass, We said our goodbyes and they all started their hike south towards the Sierras.  They are hiking south right now because they made the decision in May/June to try to avoid the snowpack that was still pretty high in the Sierras and skip up from Lone Pine to Mt. Shasta and hike south back to Lone Pine.  When they get there they will drive back to Mt. Shasta and head north being most likely about 400 miles behind me by that time.

On the porch at Carson Pass were about 8 hikers.  I had to go back through Tahoe anyways so I asked if anyone wanted a ride into town.  Most declined as they planned on going in at the next crossing which is closer to Tahoe and an easier hitch back out.  One gentleman jumped right up and accepted my offer.  His trailname was Birdman and he was 50 years old with a wife and 2 kids back home in Germany.  On the ride back to town we both talked about our hikes.  He said that this trail had always been on his bucket list and when he turned 50 he got permission from his family and quit his job and came over here to finish out his dream of hiking the PCT.  This is why I love thruhiking.  Being able to connect with people from all walks of life, all parts of the country, and all countries all over the world.  

After dropping Birdman off at the post office, I made the decision that it was getting close to 3:30 and I would really be reaching to try to get to Sierra City, hike my clean-up spot # 2, and get back out and find somewhere to stay at a decent hour, so I made the call to stay another night in South Lake Tahoe instead.  I have always loved this town having probably spent about a month of my life here without actually living here.

Hotel room at the Howard Johnsons and I walked the 2 miles each way back to stateline.  Spent a couple hours in the casinos (don’t worry I didn’t blow that much money) and walked back.  It’s the day before July 4th which is the biggest day of the year here, so I was forced to pay a bit more than usual for a hotel room, but I figured I can try to make a long day of it tomorrow and knock out both final clean-up spots in one day.

Keep on keeping on

- Patch