My Hiking Life: Thank Goodness for Tahoe City

Day: 2
Start: 161 and 0
End: 173 and 5
Miles: 17
Running total: 26
Hours: 7
High temp: 85
Low temp: 44
People met: 14

This mornings sunrise

Stars everywhere in this crystal clear sky. The occasional airplane and 1 falling star too add that little bit of flair. The still night air is punctuated with the soft call of an owl. Such a pleasant evening. The air is dry with virtually no morning dew so I slept without a rain fly on my tent.

Morning comes gently as the sun breaks the eastern mountains. As I begin my day I follow the trail back into the forest, heading North towards Ward Canyon. I stop to view the water tower and Alpine Meadows ski lift at end of Ward Canyon. I can almost see the home Carolyn and I built.

Looking North into Ward Canyon

Not sure if the water tower will show up

The soft trail and cool morning allow me to make good time.

Nicely maintained trail

The beginnings of Ward Creek

The trail crosses Courchevl Road, we lived a mile or two up the road. I climb out of the Canyon heading for Page Meadows. So far the morning has been quiet without another soul to be seen. The grade out of Ward Canyon is gradual and so I'm in the meadows in no time.

Page Mwadows

Now the trail descends 3 miles to Tahoe City. I make the Truckee River walking on the opposite bank across from the lumber yard and the Caltrans Yard, where I used to work.

I hike over the Rod and Kris's house to do a variety of chores.

Throughout the night I had to refill my air mattress about 5 times. The best campsite was rocky so I was easily persuaded to refill the mattress. After about 2000 miles on this mattress it finally gave out in a most unique way. I got some new pants with zippers in the rear pockets, great for not losing gear, not so good for sitting on the mattress. The little zipper pull punctured the mattress, unbelievable. So I patch it but the mend won't hold with my weight on it. So I need a new one. Rod, a true friend, drives me to the local outfitters in town. They don't have the mattress but Mountain Hardware in Truckee might. Rod is ready to drive to Truckee but I persuade him to just get me to my pickup because I may have to go to Reno. Nothing in Truckee, so I get everything I need at REI in Reno and head back to Rod and Kris's. Enjoy my short visit with a them as my blog goes up and my iPhone completes it charge. Then I park my truck back in Tahoma and catch the bus to town.

So it's 1730 hrs as I pickup the trail. I pass the end point at 174 miles and cross over to the begin point just up from the new firehouse. It's all uphill from here as I follow the trail up following the Truckee River Canyon.