Day 2 on the Tahoe Rim Trail: Fighting to Breathe

• Miles they walked: 14.2
• Miles covered: 3.9-18.1
• Miles remaining: 156.9
• Number of people lying on the path: 3

I slept well the first night, which I was very happy about since I wasn’t feeling well. I hoped that getting a good night’s sleep would make me feel much better. He did and he didn’t. I woke up with a gagging cough that sounded absolutely horrible and like I was going to throw up. I had a hard time catching my breath, especially with the altitude. However, my sore throat was gone and my head felt a little less like it was in a bubble.

Ben didn’t have the best first night. He woke up several times feeling like he was drowning. Something he said he also experienced while hiking the Colorado Trail, another high-altitude trail.

Everything is better with a beautiful sunrise.

There was a beautiful sunrise over Lake Tahoe. Probably as good as the sunset they had given us the night before. It definitely lifted my mood and was a great start to our first full day on the trail, even though I wasn’t feeling well. We had our first breakfasts on the trail (muffins), packed up camp and left.

Altitude and cough don’t go well together

The hike was fine at first, but it wasn’t long before the trail started to climb. Nothing steep, but the altitude and my cough made it very difficult for me to move forward. Progress towards Mt Baldy, our first stop was slow and I had to stop many times just to try and catch my breath. The weight of my backpack only made coughing and breathing more difficult, and this is because my backpack didn’t even weigh that much.

We crossed from California to Nevada. I had another coughing and gagging fit on the side of the trail not realizing there was another hiker nearby who could unfortunately hear everything. We met him later and he asked us if everything was okay.

It wasn’t the only time today, but I had to take out my camping mat and lie down on the trail. I was so glad my mat was unfolded and ready to use. Everything together made me feel very tired and I had a hard time breathing. Every time I coughed it took a lot of energy and breath and then I struggled to get it back while trying to walk.

Having to lie down on the road

The views keep coming

The views throughout the day continued to be impressive as we looked out over Lake Tahoe and were able to see the other side of the lake as well. It still felt strange to think that we would hopefully be looking at this side again in a week.

We stopped for lunch near a stream where I lay down again. Lunch consisted of a wrapped bag of tuna. Pretty tasty, but I wasn’t sure I’d feel that way after several days of eating the same thing.

Persevere in climbing

Ben filtered some water from the creek and refilled our bottles, ready to climb Relay Peak, the highest point on the trail at 10,338 feet or 3,151 m. This was a fight. I felt like I had to stop many times even though I was going slowly on purpose. My walking poles definitely helped and I’m glad I decided to bring them. But my breathing was labored. I really hoped this cough would go away soon.

Again, it was not a steep climb as there were a lot of curves which sometimes made things worse as the distance was longer. Every time I coughed I was out of breath and the altitude made things worse. I very slowly trudged my way to the top of Relay Peak and had to go to bed immediately. Thankful again for my folding camping mat.

Enjoying the views from the top of Relay Peak

And then it all went downhill

After the climb, it was downhill for the rest of the day as we aimed for Galena Falls to refill our water. The path down was sometimes steep and full of scree. I found my foot slipping and fell once, fortunately I came out with only a few light scratches.

Upon arriving at Galena Falls, I tried using the water filter for the first time, which was faster than I expected. Ben filled the bag with water from the falls and I just had to squeeze it into a bottle.

We stopped for the night just after the falls and set up camp. It’s not the most exciting place, but it was adequate and I was done for the day. Devastated, we made a quick dinner (water wasn’t a problem either since we had just refilled) of instant noodles. And then we went to bed.

Tired and waiting for the water to boil.

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