Tuesday, September 1st, 2020
I was happy to see that the smoke cleared a little bit in the morning. We had some views of Lake Tahoe and the terrain was pretty mellow so far. It’s also so quiet out here! We met one another at Watson Lake for a food break. When Frisbee showed up, he told us he saw a bear. All I’ve seen so far were birds and squirrels. Nothing exciting. I hiked ahead of Frisbee and would startle him shortly after. I hopped off trail to poop and was walking back to the trail as he was passing through.
“I’m not a bear.”
“What were you doing down there?”
“Exploring.”
He told me he just saw a coyote. I was envious. I was missing out on all the cool wildlife somehow. After passing through a forestry operation, we all met at the water cache. Then it was all uphill. We passed several day hikers on the way up. I was dragging the last 5 miles of the day. Fortunately there were plenty of views to enjoy as I putted along.
Frisbee and I reached the Nevada state line. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the U.S. (second to Crater Lake in Oregon). Most of its shoreline is in California, but about one third of it lies in Nevada.
We entered the Mount Rose Wilderness and after a lot of climbing, we’d leave the trail at mile 29.9. Down, down, down we went over a half mile to camp by Gray Lake. Dr. Thunder beat us both there. He would take the lead most of the hike. The dude has some legs on him! After eating dinner, we crashed. I wasn’t looking forward to the climb back up to the trail in the morning!
26.6 mi + 0.6 mi of Gray Lake loop = 27.2 miles (43.8 km)
Jump Ahead to The Tahoe Rim Trail: Part 3
Jump Back to The Tahoe Rim Trail: Part 1
or
Start from the Beginning: Tales Between Trails: Colorado to California
Stubbs Rambles On 