Tuesday, August 27
Start: Tahoe City
End: Brockway Summit trailhead
Miles: 20.3
Elevation gain/loss: 3993’/3215′
After restless sleep due to anxiety and the 3rd room’s occupant arriving loudly at 11pm (including the crinkliest bag in creation), I was up at 5:15am. I had a quick breakfast and was out waiting for the 6am bus a few minutes early. I arrived at the trail intersection (6230′) by 6:30am and started hiking. I climbed up past Cinder Cone (7610′) and went over some assorted bumps before getting water at Watson Lake (7770′). From there, it was another 7 miles to the Brockway Summit trailhead, with one last climb before the descent to the road.
I arrived at the road by 1:15pm, after stopping to chat with two older women who were out for a one-night overnight hike between the Brockway summit trailhead and Tahoe City. At the trailhead, it took me only about 10 minutes to hitch a ride into town with Elaina, who does endurance trail riding and used to work at a PCT hostel. I was back in town by 1:30pm and meandered my way back towards the hostel, eating and drinking my way there.
It was nice to finish so early in the day and be in town for lunch; it felt like half a zero day and I’m glad for my decision to slack pack the rest of the trail. My body is starting to slowly get more achy and I finally have acquired a few blisters between my toes due to the constant grit, dust, and sand that manage to permeate my shoes. My feet don’t hurt as much when I’m carrying less weight, and the next 3 days have very limited water (like one water source in the middle of a 20+ mile day) so I’ll have to carry more water to begin with.
Transcending Mountains 