TRT Day 3

Miles: 26.1 - 41.2

Photos: PCT Junction + Phone Wallpaper Material

Woke up this morning feeling really nauseous and exhausted. I had to hold in my gut to prevent myself from vomiting out my breakfast. I packed up and right before I was about to pack my tent, I sat for 10 minutes and thought about what I was going to do. I could either go back 3 miles to the nearest road and head into town or go forward towards Echo Lake 15 miles away and decide what to do during the day. I thought I should just keep pushing and if I ended up regretting it, I would just use that as a lesson for the future to bail when needed. I took the riskier option and decided to head forward. 

The sick feeling went away after 20 minutes of hiking or so. Maybe I just needed fresh morning air pumped into my lungs? Not exactly sure. 

I eventually made it to the junction where the PCT and TRT meet. The landscapes were absolutely gorgeous. Large meadows, and tall cliffs nearby, with the trail right in the middle of the little valley. I had to pause several times just to look around and appreciate each moment. It reminded me of this wallpaper I used to have of the PCT when I was hyping myself up to go do the trail. 

Around midday was when I formulated my plan. I would go to the Echo Lake chalet before it closed to get a snack, hitchhike into town, and then do all the usual town stuff. While it was possible to do an okay resupply at the chalet store for my next 45-mile stretch, I felt like I needed to go into town to evaluate my minor ailment. I made it to Echo Lake 15 minutes before the shop closed and got a cup of matcha ice cream, a premade Italian sub, and a can of coke. Reminded me a lot of what I got at Montezuma market on the PCT.

After I was done eating, I ran into @roaming_raes and we both somehow knew we were hikers instantly. She was off trail for a few days and was now doing trail magic for her friends around the area. She asked if I needed a ride into town and I of course said yes!  After a bit of waiting, we were off to Lake Tahoe!

I got dropped off at the same hostel I stayed in on Day 0. Since it was a Saturday they didn’t have any beds available, but they allowed thru-hikers to camp out back and use all the facilities for a small fee. Seemed good to me. I got cleaned up, did laundry, ate a nice dinner, and just relaxed. Exactly what I needed.
 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TRT Day 12

Image
Miles : 160.8 - 174.0 Photos : Done, Done, Done, and Done I woke up to the smell of smoke around me. I panicked a bit thinking that there was a fire up the trail and that I wouldn’t be able to finish my hike. It didn’t help that helicopters were going back and forth not too far away from me. With the limited cell reception I had, I looked up to see if there were any fires around me. Nothing showed up. I was so anxious that I tried calling some rangers but none picked up. Oh well. I calmed myself down knowing that there probably wasn’t a fire and just tried to go about things as planned. Since I was now at the top of Spooner Mountain, the walk to the next water source at a creek 11 miles away was all downhill. It seemed easy enough but I still ran into some hiccups along the way. I think I was mildly dehydrated because of the gap between water sources, and my post-tib was in the same pain as yesterday despite the taping. I took the tape off, walked a bit, and realized the pain wasn’t go
Read more

TRT Day 10

Image
Miles : 121.1 - 139.6 Photo : Highest Point on the TRT Today was the latest start I’ve ever had while backpacking. I didn’t leave camp until 9:30 AM. I knew I’d still be able to get to camp on time though since the entire day’s climbing was only in the first 4.5 miles. The rest of the day would all be downhill from there (in a good way) The climb up to the summit of Relay Peak was brutal of course, but I was energized after eating breakfast and hyped because I knew it was the highest point on the TRT. I reached the summit at noon and caught up with a few day hikers that were trailing behind me. I asked if they wanted a group photo, and then they took this photo here. They were all having beers after eating their snacks to celebrate and I named their group “Summit Sippers”.  We parted ways and I started my descent to the next stop, Galena Falls. A beautiful waterfall where I took a nice break, filled up some water, and talked to more hikers. Then it was more descending to Mt. Rose campg
Read more

TRT Day 11

Image
Miles : 139.6 - 160.8 Photos : East Lake Tahoe Overlook + East Lake Tahoe Ridge + Spooner Mountain Sunset It’s always fun to change plans on the fly. This morning when I woke up I checked the comments on FarOut to see if there was a water cache at this trail junction up ahead. With no cache, I would do a mellow 17-mile day and then be forced to walk 1.5 miles off trail to a water faucet, stealth camp near, then do a 16.5-mile water carry the next day (my last day). With the cache, I could fill up, continue walking until dusk, dry camp, and then just fill up after a 10-mile hike the next morning. No extra miles to the faucet, and fewer miles to do on my last day. To my surprise, someone had just left a cache at the junction in the morning and left 5 gallons for public use. The trail provides. Once I had the plan in place, I was in a hurry to get there in case it ran out. I had 6 miles until my first water source which was a hand pump at a drive-in campsite. Getting there proved to be a
Read more