Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 4

Daily Miles: 13

Total Miles: 50

We got up early this morning to make sure we had time to resupply and get some town food before continuing on.  Sonja had her feet bandaged up enough to get her on the trail, but it was not possible to eliminate the pain.

It was decided that Sonja’s best option would be to get off trail and be completely off her feet for a few days.  She made plans to stay at a motel in Stateline and then to meet back up with us in three days, when we hit our next resupply point.  We are hopeful that her feet will feel better quickly.

In the morning, we had about two miles (half on blacktop roads) to get to our resupply point.  Tramway Market has always been super hiker-friendly and will hold packages for hikers.  We picked up our box and augmented it with a few bags of salty treats.

Frank, Sonja and Annika were surprised with two resupply boxes at Tramway.  They had mistakenly sent their first box by USPS (the market asks folks to use UPS or FedEx), and the tracking had shown that the package was being sent back to their house in NC.  So, before flying out to California they had sent a second box.  Well, it turns out that both boxes arrived!

It took them a bit of sorting to figure out all the food excess.  Since Sonja will be meeting us at our next resupply point, she will be able to bring a lot of the extra food back to the trail for their final stretch.

After organizing our food, we went next door to a local bar and grill that happens to be open for breakfast.  We were able to wash up a bit in the bathroom sinks which was nice.  We had a nice breakfast and Sonja tried to sort out her plans.  There was a free local bus that would pick her up right outside the restaurant and bring her very close to her motel.  It was coming just before 11am, so we all went out to the road to wait for the bus.

We were really bummed that Sonja wouldn’t be with us on the trail for a few days.  But surely she was more disappointed as they have been looking forward to and planning for this trip for awhile.  It is hard when foot pain override one’s desires to keep going.  We are very hopeful that she will be able to join us back on the trail in a few days.

Once Sonja left on the bus, the four of us headed back to the trail.  We walked paved roads to the Heavenly Ski Resort where we were able to get on an access trail to the Tahoe Rim Trail.

The theme for the afternoon was “uphill.”  We had a steady climb of about 1,800 feet.  We passed by ski lifts, views of the Carsten valley, and views of Lake Tahoe.  We also passed the CA/NV border.  So after spending our first three days in Nevada, we have made it into California.

We took several relaxing snack breaks as we wanted breaks from the sun.  We did get a bit of breeze, which actually had Beardoh feeling cold when we were sitting in the shade.

We got to Star Lake a little before 6pm and set up our camp.  This is our third time sleeping at Star Lake (we’ve camped here each time we’ve hiked the TRT), and it is as picturesque as we remembered.

We sat around chatting while preparing dinner.  Frank and Annika had a freeze-dried dessert which they’re kindly shared…blueberry peach crisp…a real treat!

We did some laundry and general washing up after dinner and then headed to bed.  We’re camping around 2,000 feet higher tonight, so we expect it to get a bit chilly tonight.