Daily Miles: 12
Total Miles: 173
It was a slow start to the day today. We decided to wake up without alarms since we only had about 12 miles to do before being picked up at 2:30pm by the trail angel, Carrie. It was beautiful at camp this morning. Perfect temperatures and great views.
Our 17 mile dry spell ended after a short 1.5 miles this morning. It was a really nice spring that we remembered from our other hikes on the TRT. Smiles and Mismatch were already at the spring, so we chatted with them for a bit.
When we went to get back on the trail, we didn’t realize that we were at a fork in the trail, and we accidentally got on the wrong trail. We were chatting and not really paying a lot of attention to the trail. We did see some unexpected water on the trail, but with the high snow this spring, we have been seeing a lot of unmarked water on the trail, and didn’t give it much mind. When we got to a larger stream, we decided to check our GPS and realized we were on the wrong trail. By that time, we had gone almost 1.5 miles on the wrong trail and had dropped down about 900 feet! The cruel irony is that when we finally realized our mistake, we were probably within a mile of Tahoe Meadows, which was our end destination for our hike.
We didn’t want to miss the 10+ miles of trail by just continuing out to the road to Tahoe Meadows, so we decided to hike all the way back up to the TRT and continue on as planned. The problem was that we had lost a lot of time with our mistake, and we didn’t have much wiggle room for finishing on time to meet Carrie. So that meant that we were racing for the remainder of the day.
We hiked back up the 900 feet we had just gone down. Once we were back on the TRT, we went right into a climb up to the highest point on the trail. Just racing up the 900 feet was exhausting. SweetPea felt pretty over-exerted…to the point where she was on the verge of either throwing up or crying. Luckily neither happened and we made it up to the high point.
Most of the trail after that was heading down, which was easier to deal with. The trail wasn’t too busy, even around Galena Falls which is a popular day hike destination.
We didn’t take any breaks during the day and just ate a few snacks as we were walking. We finally made it down to the Tahoe Meadows trailhead where we were meeting Carrie and she was already waiting for us. She had cold sodas for us in the car and the air conditioning felt amazing. After a quick twenty minute drive, we were back to our car.
After what felt like a crazy day, we were happy to be done. Our feet were sore and we were very ready for showers. After a celebration lunch at Chipotle we were headed to showers and laundry.
As usual the trail experience ends very abruptly. We’ve gotten used to it, but it is still something we remark on. Even though this was our third time on the trail, it always feels like a new and unique adventure…different friends to hike with, different direction, different trail conditions. But the Tahoe Rim Trail never disappoints…it is a pretty incredible trail.
We always love to read about your adventures and the pictures were absolutely beautiful. I hope you two are nursing those knees and feet and getting back to life after the trail. Take care and hugs to you both.