Tahoe Rim Trail – Day 5

Daily Miles: 15

Total Miles: 65

Last night was SweetPea’s worst night of sleep so far, but everyone else seemed to sleep really good.  The other campers at the lake seemed to quiet down around dark, so we were able to fall asleep pretty quickly.

We got up before 6am and packed up before the other campers had woken up.  As we left Star Lake, the lake outlet appeared to have flooded the trail.  We were able to use some rocks and some unstable logs to cross over without getting our shoes wet.

The day started with a continued climb up to a junction for a trail that goes to Freel Peak, the highest peak in the Carson Range.  We didn’t go up to the peak, but even at the junction, we were at 9,700 feet.  The highest point so far on the trip.

The rest of the day was mostly downhill, as we lost over 2,000 feet of elevation by the end of the day.  There were certainly times with some uphill, so it wasn’t straight down all day.

The trail was very quiet for the first three hours and we didn’t see anyone else.  After that, we started to see some day hikers and lots of mountain bikers.

Frank supplied lots of brain teasers and math problems to solve for a good stretch of the day.  Whenever we would get tired of them, we would just wait for Annika to solve them. She is a pretty smart kid, so it would never take her long.

We took a long break for lunch in the shade.  It was pretty hot again today, but sitting in the shade felt nice and cool.  Frank pulled out his compass and showed Annika and us how to tell the time using a compass.  Somehow we managed to spend about an hour and a half at lunch.

In the afternoon we leap frogged with couple who had passed us several days ago.  We ended up talking with them and they are from Michigan, hiking the trail and really enjoying all the great things about the TRT.

Today was a bonanza of wildflowers, and even a few new varieties we hadn’t seen yet on the trail.  We are pretty lucky that the flowers are at their peak now, because it is such a highlight of the trail.

Near the end of he day, we passed by Big Meadows Trailhead.  We were able to use the bathrooms and throw our our trash.  Definitely a nice bonus at the end of the day.

We went less than mile after crossing Hwy 89.  We found decent spots for the tent and hammock.  Unfortunately the mosquitoes are insane here, but we only had to be out with them temporarily.

We cooked our dinners and washed up quickly so we could escape the mosquitoes.  We are all in our shelters by 7:45pm with the buzzing just inches from our heads.

Tomorrow will be an especially early start so we can meet up with Sonja at the end of the day.  We are all really excited for her to come back on the trail.