I was going stir crazy sitting around at home thanks to the government shutdown, so I had to get out! My original plan to explore Kings Canyon National Park was out of course, so I had to look around for something fun that didn't require national park access or whatever. I have wanted to explore more of the mountains around Lake Tahoe and found that a short 3.5 hour drive from the bay area brings you to a trailhead off of highway 50 at Echo Lakes. The mountains traveling north along the tahoe rim trail (TRT) looked pretty interesting with a cool name like "Desolation Wilderness". So the initial plan was to do the TRT to Tahoe City and back, about 100 miles.
I started from Lower Echo Lake at just before 3 p.m. It was a pretty nice day, maybe a little windy. I found the travel pretty easy. Not very big climbs or descents. Some rocky, technical stuff on day 1.
Lower Echo Lake
Upper Echo Lake w/Talking Mtn in back
The sun was starting to set and I had made up my mind to get up and over Dicks Pass before calling it a day. I underestimated the climb, and the wind was crazy. By the time I crested the pass the wind was blowing so hard I was walking sideways and freezing, shivers and all. The sun had set at this point and I was dealing with a little bit of twilight. I decided to run the descent down to the lake to try and get some warmth in my body. I was so cold that I didn't even bother getting out my headlamp and was bombing down some rocky, technical trail (I found out how rocky and technical it was on the way back) in the darkness. I think I was lucky not to wipe out horribly. By the time I got to Dicks lake I was still shivering pretty bad. I got out my headlamp but still couldn't find the lake until I heard the waves crashing. I fumbled around trying to filter some water and then setting up camp with fingers that were barely working. Fun times. I then sat in my sleeping bag, cooking some dinner, and then wore most of the clothes I had inside of my sleeping bag. It was still pretty cold, tough time sleeping... The wind was so crazy that the waves were crashing all night. I had visions of bears splashing around in the water, just to torment me.
Packing up the next morning was pretty much just as fun, but I got this pic of Dicks Lake:
Dicks Lake, Pass, and Peak
Day 2: Dicks Lake to Page Meadows/Tahoe City. 33 miles.
Friday was cold and windy. Still, the views and trails were pretty fun until the TRT leaves Middle Velma Lake and enters a deliriously long stretch of forest trails that all look the same, with basically no views. I will dub this stretch "Sherwood Forest". I had visions of Robin Hood jumping me in the middle of nowhere and taking my titanium spork. To make it worse, I just never could warm up much. Here is a picture of a "stream" during this section:
Then I reached Barker Pass, and things got better. Well, at least the views and trail got more interesting. It was still windy and cold. I couldn't hear myself think. There were cool ridges, peaks and volcanic rock formations to check out:
Lava Formation
Reminded me of Devil's Postpile
Twin Peaks
Right before you reach Twin Peaks the trail splits: The Pacific Coast Trail (PCT) goes north into the granite chief wilderness, and the TRT goes east, down the ridge to Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe. I was tempted to explore more of the PCT and see some more high alpine landscape, but the thought of staying up on the ridge in the cold put an end to that plan pretty quickly. I decided to decent down to the city, but purposefully stopped two miles short to camp in the forest. You don't know how many times I considered walking straight into town, sitting down to a steak dinner at the brewery and getting a hotel room for the night. But I decided that that would not fit my goals for this trip. I find that "roughing it" in the wilderness allows your mind to reset, to humble yourself, and to make yourself thankful for the things that are in your life, including warm beds and steak dinners...among other things. Dropping down off of the rim helped with the wind and the temps. The night was a restful one.
Day 3: Tahoe City to Susie Lake. 37 miles?
I had decided as I was descending to Tahoe City that I didn't want to go back on the TRT. The thought of enduring Sherwood forest yet again numbed my mind. I drafted a new plan. Go to Tahoe City, and then head south along the bike trails that line the lake until Meeks Bay where I would pick up the trail back to the rim and reach the "Tahoe Yosemite Trail" which by the looks of the map looked really enticing with multiple high alpine lakes to explore. This trail would then hook back up to the TRT at middle Velma, where I could return to my truck on the "fun" trails.
I woke up and walked the final two miles into town and then headed south, sure to make a stop at this bakery that my wife was a big fan of when we visited here this spring. I decided one little luxury wouldn't quite spoil my wilderness experience...
Tahoe City
Coffee, Bacon and Cheddar Scone, and a fireplace. Roughing it!
Views of the lake from the bike path
The Tahoe Yosemite Trail did not disappoint. It was fantastic. Nice and steep and rocky with awesome views. If Sherwood forest gets a rating of 1 out of 5 stars, I would give this one a 4 (with 5 being reserved for the SHR at Twin Lakes, which isn't even a trail at all) Even better, Saturday was basically perfect from a weather standpoint. It was like the calm after the storm...
This is what I did with my shutdown. Thanks Government!
View down to Grouse Lakes and "the bowl"
Tahoe Yosemite Trail Rocks!
Lower Velma and Middle Velma Lakes. Eagle Lake is just on the other side of the ridge to the left.
As I headed back along the TRT I was treated to some wonderful reflection shots like the one above. I got up and over Dicks Pass as the sun was setting once again, but this time the weather was wonderful and I timed it a lot better. It got dark just as I picked out my camping spot at Susie Lake. The only downfall was that there were a bunch of more hikers out and there was a fair amount of racket at Susie. Sleep was so-so.
Day 4: Susie Lake to Lower Echo Lake. 10 miles.
The final stretch back to the car was ok, but I felt like a zombie marching. It seems to happen to me on the last day of these adventures sometimes. It's almost like the body realizes that you are about done and meters out the exact amount of energy that you need to get it done, even though you know you could keep this up for days. Another calm and wonderful day for pictures:
Reflections off of Lake Aloha of Pyramid Peak, Mt Agassiz, and Mt Price.
That last picture is probably my favorite from the trip.
Small world: about a half mile from my car I run into Jason Reed. He is in his running setup and all and I just assume he is around to pace Victor Ballesteros in his TRT FKT attempt. But instead, his race at the lake got cancelled and he decided to bag Echo peak instead. Small World.
Video clips:
Gear and Food Notes:
I think if you see a forecast for a low of 25 at night at lake level, you need a sleeping bag rated lower than 30. Live and learn.
I used basically everything from the previous trips and it all worked well. No significant issues besides the bag not being warm enough.
I could have used some warmer bottoms. Running shorts just didn't do it. I did have some arm sleeves that I used on my calves (runners can get away with this...) and they helped a little bit, but some sort of wind pant would have been nice.
I replaced my normal round of clif bar products with some home made bars that my wife prepared, they were delicious and I will definitely keep those on my list.
I added chocolate to my goodie list. Keeper.
I had an Epoch bar. It was okay, but I prefer normal jerky, or the salmon that I brought along on this trip. The salmon was delicious.
New thing I did that would almost certainly freak out everyone that gives advice for these trips: I put my food bag in my bivy while I slept. If any animal wanted my food, it would have to deal with me first. And I have a beard.
Total: 71.86 miles running. Back is still not back to normal, but it doesn't seem to be impacting the training too much. I am pretty sure I am slowing it's recovery with the amount of stress I am putting on it. But there is no rest until after Firetrails. I am not getting in quite as many miles as I was hoping for this stage of my training, but given the circumstances, I will take it. The legs seem to be fairly peppy, but the body has been tired a couple of times this week, I am starting to look forward to being done with this!
The miles have not been coming easily lately. Neck, then back issues, and then a cold made me limit my runs in the last couple of weeks. But I have still managed to get in some nice long runs on the weekends. The first two pictures are of a foggy morning at Rancho.
Then on Saturday I got out for one of my favorite loops, the Saratoga FA course. This time in reverse, or clockwise direction. I started out with an overcast, cool morning and then got hit with a rare September rain storm. It was one of my favorite runs of the year. Hearing the rain filter through the giant trees and the pit-patter on the ground in the middle of the forest, where you are the only person around for miles. It is an awesome feeling! I thoroughly enjoy running in the rain, even more so after 5 completely dry months.
Sat: Hit the sauna to try and get the lower back better.
Sun: 28.6 miles. Rancho to Alpine Pond and back. Went ok, but was a little stiff due to the tight back.
Mon: Nothing.
Tues: am: 3.2 easy, pm: 5k race. I didn't go all out but ran a nice, fast 18:25. Back is still getting better.
Wed: am: 7 miles easy pm: walk. A cold took the wind out of my sails...
Thur: pm1: racquetball, pm2: racquetball
Frid: afternoon walk, back is still tight.
Total: 47.6 miles running/walking. Still haven'f fixed the bike. Neck and then lower back have really cut back on the mileage I was hoping to get in. Then the cold. Oh well, it's just the way it is sometimes...
Total: 46 miles running. Still haven't fixed the bike. Disappointing week for sure. Shortly after logging my miles one week ago I was standing at my computer when a pain crept up through my shoulders and then onto my neck. It rendered me useless for the next couple of days, but I forced myself to get out for 21 miles at rancho on Sunday morning. Then, true to my commitment to a "deload" week, I backed off of the mileage and generally was trying to take it easy. Still, the runs felt labored and I was more sore than I should have been. It was bewildering. Then after an easy 3 mile jog on Wednesday I bent over to tie my shoes and pulled something in my lower back which has rendered me useless to this very moment. Who knows when things will get back to normal...
Total: 89.16 miles running. 8 miles bike (got a flat-too lazy to fix). Biggest running week yet and miraculously my legs feel peppy again, totally unexpected. The neuroma that was acting up a little last week gave no issues this week. Thinking about taking a de-load week next week. Really hard to do since everything is coming along so nicely, but I think discipline is in order here.
Nice sunny weekend in the bay area, like usual. Decided to run the trails at Joseph Grant County Park since I haven't been there in a while. This park was one of the first big hikes that Joanne and I did when we first moved to the bay area. It consists of an old ranch but has some really hilly terrain. Some of the unique features is the fact that the park is centered on this valley and includes the ridgetops that surround the valley. One of my favorite runs is to do the "loop", which is basically circumnavigating the park on the outermost trails that follow the ridge-lines. Those ridges, tbw, offer some of the best views of the bay area as you might observe in the little video I took.
On one of these "loop" runs I observed a stampeding bunch of feral hogs, wild turkeys "fighting", tarantula, and coyotes, in the period of about two hours. You can definitely get your wildlife tour at this park...
There is not much single track, so mostly old farm-roads, but that makes for a pretty intense workout as much of these roads are very steep.
Lick Observatory
I love this picture of an old oak standing lonely in a field of gold. It reminded me of a couple of things. One, was that Ansel Adams used to try to take pictures of his landscapes with various filters or lighting to recreate his "feelings" and interactions with experiencing the moment of being there. This is one of those pictures where I was just flowing along the trail and when I spotted this tree and experience around it, I just felt like I needed to capture the moment with the hopes that it would elicit a similar experience when later viewed. Two, it is such a contrast of an image. This beautiful old green oak standing by itself in a uniform sea of gold. The uniformly bright, clear, blue sky in the background is the pudding on top because it makes for such a simple, but elegant picture.
Tree
Herbert Hoover used to hunt here. Well, fish I guess. The owner guy knew an "ancient trail" that lead to some terrific trout fishing. This is what Hoover came for. It got me thinking I should keep my eye open for an ancient trail...
Have no idea what this is, but it is hooked to a pipe and looks really old...
Vid from one of the highest points in the park:
I only got in about 20 miles at Grant before I ran out of water and got really hot and decided to call it a day, so I decided to get in another long run at Rancho Sunday morning. I did the Black Mountain from main parking lot via the windmill pasture trail. Then I added the bella vista to indian creek loop on the other side. About 20.5 miles. I felt surprisingly fresh for long run two. Two factors for that: I gorged myself on about 2500 calories as soon as I walked through the door after run number one, including three pints of whole milk. Second, my red-blood cell count must be topping off from my elevation exposure the weekend before. It was a wonderful run.
