Day 65: Lake Tahoe!

Day 65 – 6/25/16

Showers Lake 1081.81 to Echo Lake (Lake Tahoe) 1092.27

Total miles: 10.46

I was woken up by a pine cone hitting my tent. Either a squirrel is posses that I’m encroaching on their tree or 5 Star is using his patented Pine cone alarm clock. It was the latter. I pack up my stuff and we are off by 5:30. Ready for our milk shake at the Echo Lake chalet and then spending a few days in Lake Tahoe.

The trail is uneventful. Mostly flat but there is a lot of snow patches. We have to do a bit of snow navigation for a mile but aftee that the trail becomes wet and muddy. After the mud it is rocky and rooty. A nice trip hazard free trail is out of the question apparently.

We do catch a glimpse of Lake Tahoe early in the morning. It’s a big lake that’s for sure.

As we are getting closer to the road crossing we start seeing day hikers. Including Mad Dog’s sisters. They hiked from the road to meet us. We wereally on a mission to get the the chalet and so we quickly outpaced them.

We got to the road and it was very busy. Cars going by very fast. It was so loud! We quickly dash across the road. The next mile goes up and almost through people’s backyards. We can see houses through the trees. We eventually come down to a huge parking lot at Echo Lake. Cars everywhere. People everywhere. It’s overwhelming. We walk up to the Chalet and there is Mad Dog’s sisters. We go into the chalet and get a milk shake. I get coffee and butterfinger. So good.

We get into Mad Dog’s truck, with his wife Alice driving, and start heading to Lake Tahoe. We are going so fast. So so fast. It’s only 55 but it’s overwhelmingly fast. Cars are flying past us and pulling out in front of us. It’s hard to look out the window. I joke that I’m going to drive like a grandma when I get back.

We get to the Burger Lounge at 10:30 but it doesn’t open until 11. Noooooooo!

We wait until they open and then I get the Hangover burger with garlic fries. So good!

After lunch we go to a few gear strores. We are in one store that has a register and takes pictures of hikers and puts it on the wall. I’m looking at the pictures and see the trail name of a girl hiker, “Happy Snatch.” Lol too funny.

We head to our motel and check in. We are staying one night at a cheap hotel and then the next 3 nights at the Best Western. We get settled in and take showers while waiting for my parents to show up.

After my parents show up we walk over to a pizza place and eat dinner with Mad Dog and Alice. The pizza is good but the waiter was like a brick wall. After pizza we head over to Cold Stone and get some ice cream.

It was really good to see my parents. Definitely the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing them.