Day 10 on the Tahoe Rim Trail: singing without a tune to the rhythm of ABBA

• Miles they walked: 12.4
• Miles covered: 102.9-115.3
• Miles remaining: 59.7
• No. of trapped buses: 3

This morning we left our “boutique” motel where we had stayed the last two nights to go to Safeway to replenish our food supply. The South Lake Tahoe buses are free which was a plus and we ended up taking three of them this morning to complete our tasks. They don’t necessarily run very often, so we were lucky that all the schedules worked out for us.

Getting our permits for Desolation Wilderness

After a quick trip through Safeway, we went to the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to get our free TRT hiker permits that would allow us to camp in the Desolation Wilderness. It was a quick process and, barring personal information, we only had to give the date we would enter Desolation, which was the day we were there.

There is the option to call ahead (two weeks before) to request a permit, but I was in the wild in Alaska at the time and Ben was still in the UK. At the time we also didn’t know where we would start our hike, so we wouldn’t have been able to guess when we would reach Desolation. Going in person was much easier for us and was really painless.

Back at the Tahoe Mountain Inn, we packed up, made the most of the bathroom, and took a Lyft back to the PCT/TRT Highway 50 interchange to continue our hike. And then we walked again and carried all our equipment.

Where did all the people come from?

We started walking considerably later than usual due to our morning chores and it was already mid-morning. First, we walked through the woods to Echo Lake, where we saw more people than we had seen in a long time. I used the pit toilets at Echo Lake which were clean but they were out of toilet paper and we were glad we didn’t rely on the Echo Chalet store to restock us as it was closed (possibly for the season) – it was 5^th September.

Many people we saw were carrying huge backpacks. Some looked big enough for me to fit inside, but their tents and camping mats were tied to the outside, so who knows what was actually inside. This was the first time on the trail that we saw so many other hikers either entering or exiting the Desolation Wilderness, and our Friday schedule may have meant more weekend hikers.

West Highland Way dalready seen

The trail along the shores of Echo Lake was not fun at all despite the scenery. There were lots of people and lots of ups and downs over three miles, much like along the banks of Loch Lomond on the West Highland Way. Slow and difficult progress given the size of some of the rocks and boulders.

With all the climbing and descending over the rocks, my knee started to hurt and I wasn’t sure how the day would play out since we were only a few miles away. It was the rocks on the West Highland Way in May this year that ended my attempt (see also my blog posts on The Trek about this). We took a break to sit in the shade and moan a little. My cold also lingered and I was still coughing on the side of the trail.

Meeting up with some fellow TRT hikers and listening to the mood-breaking ABBA music.

When we set off again, fortunately the crowd had thinned out a bit. We ran into two TRT hikers we had seen days before who were walking in the opposite direction to us. It was nice to see them again and they told us how much they enjoyed Desolation Wilderness.

Entering the desert of desolation

Although the terrain was still rocky, it improved a little. Ben suggested I put on some music to distract myself a bit and I sang tunelessly to ABBA for a while. I’m not sure what anyone close to me made of my musical endeavors, but ABBA’s upbeat music definitely helped with motivation and mood.

And into Desolation Wilderness we went

We entered the Desolation Wilderness and the rocks continued. But now there were also more lakes. Aloha Lake was shining in the sun and Ben found the same spot he had taken a photo of in July 2006. We stood in the sun for a while and enjoyed the views. It was very hot in the sun and I was looking forward to having time later to paddle.

lake owners

After Lake Aloha we had Lake Heather and Lake Susie and many unnamed ponds. The views were still stunning and I really enjoyed seeing so many lakes and the different ways the trees and surroundings were reflected in them. In the end, unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stop and paddle. We were trying to get as far as possible to climb Dick’s Pass as we were due to meet Kelly the next day.

One of the many lakes we passed. We filter water from a stream near this one.

We started climbing towards Dick’s Pass, reached our water stop, filled our bottles and found a place to camp. It was quite late because we had started later than usual and I was tired. And also a little sad because we hadn’t been able to enjoy Desolation Wilderness as much as we would have liked.

Our campsite for the night.

One of the great advantages after the Nevada stretch was the abundance of water. We crossed many small creeks and streams and no longer had to carry much water, which helped lighten the load.

My disappointing chicken sandwich.

In the morning I bought a fresh bagel from Safeway and some sliced ​​chicken with the intention of having it for lunch. With a larger breakfast, I hadn’t actually had much lunch and was excited to have a different trail dinner.

What a disappointment! The bread tasted bitter and the chicken was mushy and flavorless. It was a really sad looking dinner that tasted bad.

Ben, however, had opted for a classic hiker dinner where he added peanut butter to ramen noodles to create a satay-style dinner. She looked and smelled good and I was very jealous.

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