Day 11 on the Tahoe Rim Trail: Drinking Lonkero

• Miles they walked: 15.3
• Miles covered: 115.3-130.6
• Miles remaining: 44.4
• Number of cans of Lonkero drunk: 1

After the disappointment of my chicken sandwich for dinner last night, I also woke up with a bout of heartburn probably caused by eating dinner too quickly and the tent tilted slightly so that my feet were higher than my head.

I sat for a while and then walked around and swapped tips, but I couldn’t get rid of the heartburn feeling. This was enough to wake Ben, who got up and went to get the Gaviscon tablets that were with the other toiletries, not in the store. I chewed a couple of these, the burning sensation started to pass and I was able to go back to sleep.

An early start

Last night we decided to start today a little earlier than usual, since we had to go up and over Dick’s Pass. It was a lovely morning, nice and cool but sunny. Part of the path was clearly marked with small stones marking the outer edges of the path, giving it a sort of red carpet feel as we walked.

The climb was absolutely fine and much easier than I expected. It probably also helped that we had done it a bit yesterday and he was already acclimatized to the altitude. Dick’s Pass is at 9,400 feet or 2,865 m. The views kept appearing as we climbed and it was a wonderful way to start the day’s hike. At the top it was very windy but the views were magnificent.

At the top of Dick’s Pass

Taking a dip in Lake Fontanillis

After Dick’s Pass it was all downhill on easy to navigate sandy trails. We saw many more lakes from above, some easily accessible and others not so much. As we approached Lake Fontanillis, I really wanted to stop and paddle. It was starting to get warmer and I was still a little gutted that I didn’t have time to stop yesterday.

Since entering the Desolation Wilderness, we had had virtually no phone signal for the first time since we started the TRT. This wouldn’t have been a problem except that we had no idea where Kelly was on her way to meet and we also couldn’t tell her where we were.

We knew when he left his house and based on that and a few other things, I made the decision that we could make a quick stop at the lake. I paddled in the cold waters and aired my feet while Ben took a half dip.

Fontanillis lake in the sun

More walks over rocks, meadows and forests

After the lake stop we continued walking. The views had changed after descending from Dick’s Pass and now we were back walking through meadows and woods and I really enjoyed being near the water.

A quick lunch break in the shade (another bag of chicken!), and then we filtered and refilled our Phipps Creek water. We chatted here with a trio from Santa Cruz who were also walking the TRT and who we would see several times over the next few days.

Another chicken bag lunch

Compared to yesterday, the hike so far had been relatively easy. And I felt like he had walked much further than us. We also left Desolation Wilderness behind.

Goodbye Desolation Desert

Where’s Kelly?

We arrived at Richardson Lake, which was our objective for the day, and had not yet run into Kelly, who was walking south from Barker Pass. We still didn’t have a phone signal, so we didn’t know how far Kelly had gone, but by our estimates she shouldn’t have been too far.

After quickly sitting down, grabbing a drink, and some gummy worms, we decided that Ben would stay at Richardson Lake with our backpacks and I would continue walking for half an hour in hopes of meeting Kelly. After just over ten minutes I did it, which I was very happy about as I’m not entirely sure what we would have done if I hadn’t.

Kelly was in a good mood but also very happy to soon be able to stop carrying her backpack, which she said no longer felt as light as when she left.

Evening drinks by the lake

Now that the three of us were at Richardson Lake, we set up camp. Kelly had decided to bring us all a drink to enjoy during dinner, which was a lovely and very welcome gesture. We cooked and toasted the day: Ben with beer, Kelly with cider, and I had a can of Lonkero, a Finnish gin-based long drink.

Drinks at night in the camp.

It was fun to be able to share the TRT experience with Kelly, especially since she had driven us to our starting point and had been following our progress from home. As the sun set, the bats began to come out and we also saw crayfish in the lake.

It was also the first night we camped (not in a campground) with other people relatively close by.

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